LGBT football fans going to Russia receive threats, as groups voice concern over increase in anti-gay chants in country.
There were 12 reported incidents of homophobic behaviour by Russian football fans over the past year [Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP]
England football fan Di Cunningham was a little apprehensive about travelling to Russia for World Cup 2018.
There have been concerns among rights groups over the rise in homophobia and the safety of homosexual fans in the socially conservative European nation.
Homosexuality, which was classified as a mental illness in Russia until 1999, is a controversial issue in a nation which does not recognise same-sex marriages.
Russia decriminalised same-sex interactions in 1993, but hate crimes against the LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) have been on the rise since the country passed a controversial law banning the spread of "gay propaganda" to minors in 2013.
Russia is ranked 45 out of 49 European countries in terms of gay rights by the ILGA-Europe, a network of European LGBT groups.
Cunningham, who will be attending England's first match against Tunisia on Monday in Volgograd, said her alliance of LGBT football fan groups has received threatening anonymous emails, warning that they would be "stabbed" if they made the trip to Russia.
"We have received several warnings that LGBT fans will not be welcome in Russia and some were quite drastic in terms of what would happen to us if we did go," said Cunningham, organiser of Three Lions Pride, an LGBT football fan group of England supporters, adding that it was "unfortunate" that FIFA is holding such a prestigious football tournament in a country where "some people are unwelcomed".
Pride in Football, the UK alliance for fan groups that belong to the LGBT community, has since lodged a complaint with FIFA - football's governing body - and were told that the threats are being investigated by the tournament organisers.
Despite the reassurances, Cunningham says a lot of LGBT fans are scared to attend the month-long sporting spectacle in Russia.
"There aren't many openly gay LGBT fans going because most people don't feel that their safety is guaranteed," Cunningham told Al Jazeera.
Fare network, the anti-discriminatory body that works in collaboration with FIFA, reported an increase in anti-gay and racist chanting in Russian football over the last year.
There were 12 incidents of homophobic behavior by fans inside the stadiums, according to the report by Fare network and the Moscow-based SOVA Centre, released last month.
The report noted that fans increasingly labelled opponents as "gay" as a means of abuse.
"These levels of discriminatory chanting indicate that xenophobic views remain deeply rooted among many Russian football fans," the report said.
There aren't many openly gay LGBT plus fans going, because most people don't feel that their safety is guaranteed
Commenting on the findings, Pavel Klymenko, Eastern Europe development officer for Fare network in Moscow, said: "Given the evidence of, and the seriousness of these issues in Russian football, of course, some concerns remain for the visiting minorities especially, LGBT fans."
Troy Townsend, education manager at UK-based anti-discriminatory group Kick It Out, said he was "very concerned" about the homophobic trend in Russian football that was present ahead of the World Cup.
"It's just a continued spate of lines that have been coming out of Russia - those that we see or those that maybe we don't see - that would mean there has to be concern about what happens during the actual tournament," he said.
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