David Beckham Slammed by LGBTQ+ Fans Group for Qatar Ambassador Position

David Beckham, the former captain of England's national soccer team, was heavily criticized on Wednesday by the leader of an LGBTQ+ fans group for his decision to accept a paid ambassador position for Qatar at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Di Cunningham, co-founder of Three Lions Pride, spoke out on Beckham's paid role for the World Cup during a webinar hosted by the Sports and Rights Alliance.

"We're just so disappointed because the LGBTQ+ community has had David Beckham on a pedestal as a great ally, and then it turns out he's an ambassador for this World Cup and that's incredibly disappointing," she said. "So I hope the message has got through that people will be criticized for that."

Same-sex "sexual conduct" between men is criminalized in Qatar under Sharia, but a top soccer official from the country previously assured LGBTQ+ fans they would be safe and welcomed to attend the international competition. However, Qatar World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman stirred controversy earlier this week when he called homosexuality "damage in the mind" during an interview with a German television station.

Last year, multiple news outlets in the United Kingdom reported Beckham signed a ten-year deal with Qatar to be a face for soccer there. The deal is reportedly worth approximately $175 million.

Cunningham also said during the Sports and Rights Alliance talk that she did not believe the assurances from FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Qatar's Supreme Committee about the environment being safe for all fans were accurate. She added that Three Lions Pride would not be traveling to attend the games.

"We're hearing what seems to be a kind of robotic insistence that all will be well, that we'll be safe, that we will be welcomed, but it's not backed by evidence or documented plans," Cunningham said.

Last month, Human Rights Watch published a report that accused Qatar of "arbitrarily" arresting and abusing LGBTQ+ people in recent years. HRW said it had found six cases of LGBTQ+ individuals being subjected to "severe and repeated" beatings as well as five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022.

"While Qatar prepares to host the World Cup, security forces are detaining and abusing LGBT people simply for who they are, apparently confident that the security force abuses will go unreported and unchecked," Rasha Younes, LGBT rights researcher at HRW, said in the report. "Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people. The world is watching."

Newsweek reached out to Beckham for comment.