FILE – In this Monday, March 16, 2020 file photo, cars pass the illuminated ‘Allianz Arena’ soccer stadium in Munich, Germany. Hungary may play its final group game at the European Championship in a stadium lit up in rainbow colors. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said Sunday June 20, 2021, he was going to write to UEFA to ask for permission for Germany’s stadium to be lit up with the colors as a sign against homophobia and intolerance when the team plays Hungary on Wednesday.
MUNICH (AP) — UEFA has declined the Munich city council’s application to have its stadium illuminated in rainbow colors for Germany’s final European Championship group game against Hungary on Wednesday.
The governing body said in a statement Tuesday that it understands the intention behind the proposal but “must decline this request” because of its political context — “a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament.”
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter’s application on behalf of the council made clear it wanted to protest a law passed by Hungarian lawmakers last week that prohibits sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment. The law was denounced as anti-LGBT discrimination by human rights groups.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó blasted the German plan on Monday.
“In Hungary we have passed a law to protect Hungarian children, and now in Western Europe they are griping about it,” Szijjártó said in Luxembourg. “They want to express this by including politics in a sporting event, which has nothing to do with the passing of national laws.”
UEFA said it believes “that discrimination can only be fought in close collaboration with others” and it proposed that Munich illuminates the stadium with the rainbow colors on June 28 for Christopher Street Day or between July 3-9 for the Christopher Street Day week in the city.
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