15-02-2025
FA's LGBT rainbow laces used to ‘strong arm' trans women into female sport, High Court hears
A Newcastle United fan has accused the Football Association's (FA) Rainbow Laces campaign of trying to 'strong arm' the public into accepting biological males in women's sport.
Linzi Smith has launched legal action against football's governing body to force it to scrap the campaign, which she claims goes against its own ban on political activity.
The 34-year-old has told the High Court that the wearing of rainbow armbands and laces on the pitch effectively endorses the contested notion of gender ideology – the belief a person's gender can differ from their biological sex.
Ms Smith, who launched a crowd-funding drive to finance her case, says the FA's annual Rainbow Laces show of support for the LGBTQ+ community serves to pressure women to accept biological males into their separate activities.
In a writ lodged with the court on Tuesday, her legal team states: 'The colours generate significant objection from many quarters.
'The movement with which they are associated is controversial because it is considered by many to embrace what is sometimes called gender ideology; to present a serious threat to free speech; and to seek to strong arm its opponents into permitting biological males into women's spaces or activities.
'These disputes have played out in areas such as policing, education … rape crisis centres, the medical treatment of children … and sport – in the latter case particularly in connection with the issue of participation of natal males in women's sport.'
The FA's Rainbow Laces campaign was launched in 2013 as a joint initiative with the Premier league and Stonewall, the controversial LGBTQ+ charity which has campaigned for self-identification of gender, including among young children, and for children to compete against the opposite sex in sport.
In her writ Ms Smith, a self-proclaimed LGB advocate and member of the Free Speech Union, told the High Court: 'The Rainbow Laces campaign may be presented in an innocuous way as being 'inclusive'.
But the reality is that the colours that underpin the FA/Stonewall campaign signal support for a political movement seeking policy or legal changes and which is based on the contested viewpoint of gender ideology.
'The result is that gender-critical people like me feel firmly excluded where these insignia are displayed.'
Ms Smith's battle comes amid recent controversy over the Rainbow Laces campaign. During last year's Rainbow Laces week Marc Guehi, the Crystal Palace captain, was reminded about the FA's rules against messaging on kits after he wrote the words 'Jesus loves you' on his captain's rainbow armband in a match against Ipswich Town.
At the same time, Manchester United scrapped plans for players to wear a rainbow-themed jacket after defender Noussair Mazraoui refused to do so.
Ms Smith has previously been banned from attending Newcastle United matches after expressing gender-critical views on social media. She was accused of being transphobic by a complainant who told the football club that trans people would not feel safe sitting near her.
Although Northumbria Police informed Ms Smith that she had not committed an offence, the club revoked her membership and banned her from games until 2026.
She told The Telegraph: 'The FA rules explicitly forbid any expression of religious or political beliefs from anyone involved in the game.
'However, it has become apparent that the FA don't believe their rules extend to themselves, because year after year they impose this highly controversial and contested ideology onto players, staff and fans, and if you refuse to participate, you then find yourself the target of harassment and abuse from activists.'
Paul Conrathe of SinclairsLaw, Ms Smith's solicitor, said: 'By partnering with Stonewall the FA has lost its way and is using its monopolistic unaccountable powerful platform to advocate for a controversial toxic ideology.
'This is oppressive for fans and players alike. So many are fearful of raising concerns.'
The FA has defended the Rainbow Laces campaign.
A spokesman for the FA said: 'We believe that football should be for all, and we have supported the Rainbow Laces campaign for over ten years.
'Together with our partners and the leagues across English football, we have helped to promote this inclusive and voluntary campaign to provide allyship to the LGBTQ+ community across all levels of our game, and we do not consider the campaign to breach any of our rules. We are not in a position to comment further at this time.'
