Clubs across England’s Premier League are once again showing their support for members of the LGBTQ+ community in soccer and beyond through the Rainbow Laces campaign.
For fixtures between November 29 and December 5, Premier League players are wearing rainbow boot laces and rainbow captain’s armbands. Other materials around stadiums will be adorned with rainbows, including corner flags, ball plinths, handshake boards, pitchside advertising boards and substitute boards.
The Rainbow Laces campaign is an initiative of Stonewall, an organization in the United Kingdom that aims to “drive positive change in public attitudes and public policy” and “ensure LGBTQ+ people can thrive throughout our lives by building deep, sustained change programmes with the institutions that have the biggest impact on us.”
Football has the power to bring us together. Clubs and communities are stronger when everyone feels welcome, and it’s down to all of us to make that happen. That’s why we, the Premier League, proudly stand alongside Stonewall in promoting equality and diversity.
— PremierLeague.com
The Rainbow Laces campaign has driven conversations around LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports since 2013. Stonewall and the Premier League have officially been partners since 2017.
During the two matchweeks of the campaign, Premier League clubs will also showcase the work they do year-round “to support and celebrate their LGBT communities, showing there is no place for discrimination and demonstrating the power football has to bring people together.”
By highlighting these initiatives, the League aims to create lasting change where everyone in the football community feels a sense of belonging.
— PremierLeague.com
