Borja Iglesias is possibly one of the most publicly aware soccer players of the LGTBI movement. The Betis striker has been neither afraid nor ashamed to defend the group on multiple occasions through his social networks, advocating for a healthy space to come out of the closet. In addition, he is convinced that sooner rather than later a footballer will be able to reveal his homosexuality in LaLiga. Meanwhile, “el Panda” continues to spread the message to all possible corners.
“Hello, I’m Borja Iglesias and I’m heterosexual.” This is how the video that the soccer player has published together with the communication agency Mucho Bambú begins. In it, the Betis player reveals his heterosexuality in a public message, something that generates newspaper front pages, Hate reactions on social networks, interviews to find out about his case and even an attempt to repeal a “heterosexual marriage law”. The message ends with a clear question from the attacker: “Why would this never happen? And why would another yes?”
In this way, Iglesias wanted to denounce the fact that assaults and crimes against sexual orientation increased by 70 percent in 2022. A message that comes 48 hours after celebrating LGTBI Pride Day, with which the footballer has given the return to a situation that has happened on more than one occasion in different countries around the world: the persecution of homosexuality in sport. The video has also had the collaboration of journalists such as Lolo García, Gonzo and Siro López.
Since its publication, the message has nearly 24,000 “likes” on Instagram, in addition to some 600 comments congratulating “Panda” on his initiative. “Thank you for breaking the rules, thank you for championing a movement that has been needed for a long time in football specifically and in sport in general. Thank you for not backing down when orangutans pounce on you for ‘not being like the others’. Thank you infinite ”, commented a user openly.
Borja Iglesias is precisely not a stranger when it comes to receiving critical and hateful messages that the LGTBI collective also regularly receives. The Betis player and his teammate Aitor Ruibal were lynched on social networks last week, after some photographs were published in which they both carried a bag to the wedding of Eneko Angulo, a member of the Seville club’s technical staff.
Iglesias and Ruibal, the latter in particular for showing colored nails and hair, received all kinds of discriminatory and unpleasant comments, to which both had forceful responses. “Every time these types of situations happen, they give me the strength to continue fighting so that everyone can do and enjoy themselves and others as they really want,” replied “el Panda” on his social networks after the messages received.
