Guelph woman nearly ejected from World Cup match after police find Pride flag

Helen Loftin of Guelph was at the Canada-Belgium match in Qatar when she held up a Pride flag inside the stadium. She was later told by police not to fly it.

There have been many incidents where soccer fans from around the world have been forced to refrain from expressing support for the LGBTQ2 community at the men’s World Cup in Qatar.

A Guelph, Ont., woman, shared her experience of being in Qatar with Global News on Thursday.

Helen Loftin was at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium Wednesday afternoon to see Canada take on powerhouse Belgium in their opening match of the tournament.

She told 640 Toronto radio host Greg Brady that she brought a Pride flag with her to the venue.

“I had it out without incident for a good five minutes,” said Loftin. “But as soon as the team came out for the warm-up … I was really waving the flag and maybe I got a bit too enthusiastic. Then the police showed up and took it away.”

Loftin explained that the police officers at the stadium told her that she was not allowed to hold that flag.

“I said to them, ‘This is my country’s flag and I’m proud of my country and I just want to show everybody,'” Lofton said. “They said to me, ‘That’s not your country’s flag,’ and pointed to another flag and said, ‘That’s your country’s flag and you’re not permitted to fly this, and frankly you are being disrespectful of our country in doing so.'”

Loftin said she was then threatened with ejection from the stadium if she did not hand over the Pride flag, which she later did.