Gay Gooners

Gay Gooners
Established2013 (2013)
FounderStewart Selby
Co-chairs
Carl Fearn and Jacob Jefferson
Parent organization
Arsenal F.C.
Websitearsenal.com/fanzone/gay-gooners

The Gay Gooners, occasionally stylised as GayGooners, are the official LGBTQ supporters' group for Arsenal F.C., a British association football club. Formed in February 2013, they are widely recognised as the first LGBTQ supporters' club in English football and have since grown to become one of the largest such groups worldwide, with more than 2,000 members and allies as of 2025, according to the club.[1] Their Bluesky account states that the group now has over 2,500 members, making them the world's largest LGBTQ+ football fan group.[2]

The group was founded with the aim of fighting homophobia in football,[3] and functions as a social and community space for LGBTQ Arsenal fans to attend matches together and participate in club events.[4] The group works with organisations such as Rainbow Laces and Kick It Out, and have marched at Pride in London since 2013.[3][5]

Organisation and leadership

The Gay Gooners are run by a volunteer committee. As of 2025, the group's co-chairs include long-standing member Carl Fearn and former campaigns manager Jacob Jefferson, both of whom have represented the group in Arsenal's official LGBTQ+ programming.[1] Fearn has spoken publicly about the importance of visibility and belonging for LGBTQ supporters, including during Arsenal's participation in Pride in London 2024.[6] Jefferson has highlighted how the group provides a safe space for LGBTQ fans to enjoy football without fear of discrimination.[1] In 2024, the current Gay Gooners co-chairs Carl Fearn and Jacob Jefferson were photographed with Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard during the club's LGBTQ+ inclusion activities.[7]

An oral history project published by London Metropolitan University in 2025 documented the experiences of LGBTQ Arsenal supporters, including Gay Gooners members, and described the group as the “world's biggest LGBTQ+ football fan club”.[8]

History

Months after the group was founded in February, the Gay Gooners attended Pride in London 2013

According to Arsenal F.C., the Gay Gooners were founded in February 2013.[9] Its origins came from a friendship between two amateur referees who had officiated together at the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association tournaments, Stewart Selby and Dave Raval.[10] Selby and Raval had discussed forming an LGBT+ supporters' group that was modelled on the German practice. On 26 January 2013, Arsenal's internationally televised FA Cup tie away to Brighton & Hove Albion contained sustained homophobic chanting, which then prompted the club to offer its LGBT+ supporters a space in its matchday programme. Around thirty people responded to this offer, and the club hosted them in a box at its 16 February 2013 home fixture against Blackburn Rovers, the date which the Gay Gooners regard as its founding. Raval and Zed Lomax became the group's first co-chairs.[10]

Arsenal became the first major English football club to recognise a group of its kind that year.[11][12] Following this recognition, there was an increase in LGBTQ football fan groups that were officially recognised by their clubs.[13][11]

The Gay Gooners attended their first Pride in London parade in 2013. There was an apprehension from some members about being identified on television, so Arsenal supplied them with "some caps and a small banner" to represent the club. Their presence as an officially backed football supporters group drew comments from other participants of that parade.[14]

At the beginning of the 2013–14 season, Arsenal became the first football club in Europe to drape a rainbow banner over one of its stadium's hoardings.[3] By February 2015, they had 250 members and Arsenal was allowing the group space in their programme and other official channels to publicise their message. That month, the Gay Gooners played their own version of the north London derby by taking part in a five-a-side match against fellow prominent LGBTQ supporters' association for Tottenham Hotspur, the Proud Lilywhites. The match was officiated by Steffen Freund.[15]

As of 2017, actor and comedian Matt Lucas was a patron of the Gay Gooners.[16] By June 2018, the Gay Gooners had over 650 members,[5] and in March 2019, they had 775 members, of which 40% were women and 10% lived overseas, in some cases in countries where being gay was illegal.[3] Héctor Bellerín, a right-back for Arsenal, spoke with the group over a video call in 2020, noting that he had received homophobic abuse himself.[17] They had around 1,000 members by November 2021.[18]

The Gay Gooners riding an open-topped bus at Pride in London 2023

On 23 February 2024, the group were awarded second place in the Football v Homophobia Supporters Group Award, behind West Bromwich Albion's Proud Baggies.[19] Earlier, on the eve of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Gay Gooners members protested outside the Qatari embassy in London alongside LGBTQ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, opposing the country's anti-LGBTQ policies.[20] Jen Beattie joined the group for Pride in London 2022.[21] As of 2023, the Gay Gooners had attended every Pride in London parade since 2013 according to co-chairman Carl Fearn. That year in June, they attended the march on an open-topped Routemaster bus. The Gay Gooners by this point had 1,600 members across 51 countries.[22]

In November 2025 when Arsenal ended an eight-year partnership with the Rwanda Development Board that had included the words "Visit Rwanda" on the team's kit sleeves, the Gay Gooners welcomed the decision, stating that they were "uncomfortable with the deal from the start and made signification [sic] representations to Arsenal through official channels since 2021."[23] In a survey of its 2,500-strong membership in July 2025, the Gay Gooners found that only two per cent of respondents wanted the sponsorship renewed, whilst 86 per cent wanted it ended and a replacement found.[23]

The Gay Gooners send a representative team to the annual Arsenal for Everyone tournament at the community hub.[24]

In 2025, the group's visibility within Arsenal's supporter culture was highlighted during Pride in London, where the Gay Gooners marched alongside a specially designed Arsenal Pride float, and were joined by Arsenal W.F.C. captain Kim Little.[25] BRICKS Magazine described the group as playing “a vital role” in fostering belonging among LGBTQIA+ supporters, with co-chair Jacob Jefferson noting that the Gay Gooners banner being displayed at every home game signals that LGBTQ fans “belong here just as much as any other fan”.[26]

Campaigning

In January 2022, co-chair Carl Fearn heard homophobic chanting in a pub near the Emirates Stadium after a home match against Burnley, and raised it with the club. Arsenal responded by distributing anti-discrimination material to pubs around the Emirates Stadium, and dedicated the following month's home fixture against Brentford to the Gay Gooners group, showing a film featuring members on the stadium screens and allocating an executive box to LGBT+ supporters attending a match for the first time.[27]

In December 2024, ahead of Arsenal's designated Rainbow Laces fixture against Manchester United, co-chair Jacob Jefferson told the Daily Mirror that the group's priority for the campaign was making supporters feel safe in stadiums and making it easier to report abuse without leaving their seat. He noted that allies were an important part of this, since "quite often the reporting comes from non-LGBT people".[28] Jefferson also said that visible player support had become less common than in the campaign's early years, when Arsenal players appeared in some of its first advertising, suggesting that online abuse had made players more reluctant, and that the group's reach depended on the club actively giving it a platform.[28]

Criticism

The group's name has drawn internal criticism. Zed Lomax, one of the group's first co-chairs, later left the group, saying the name was not intersectional and excluded parts of the LGBT+ community. Arsenal had also produced the group's original flag, but without consulting members over the wording that they wanted included, which was added to later versions. The question of the group's name, however, was not resolved.[29]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "How we celebrated LGBTQ+ History Month 2025". Arsenal.com. 28 February 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "Gay Gooners Bluesky profile". Bluesky. 5 May 2025. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Moss, Molly (14 March 2019). "Arsenal Gay Gooners: fighting homophobia in football". Islington Now. Archived from the original on 19 March 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  4. ↑ Topping, Alexandra (21 April 2014). "Gay football fan groups take the lead on equal rights on the terraces and pitch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  5. 1 2 Leavey, Joe (26 June 2018). "Arsenal's Gay Gooners lead the way at London Pride". Sports Gazette. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  6. ↑ "Marching at Pride in London 2024". Arsenal.com. 2 July 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Howard, Laura (24 February 2024). ""To not feel different for my sexuality is amazing": GayGooners on making Arsenal a safe space". Sports Gazette. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  8. ↑ "Arsenal gaygooners oral history project launches". London Metropolitan University. 4 July 2025. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  9. ↑ ""Gaygooners has changed my life in so many ways"". Gaygooners has changed my life in so many ways. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  10. 1 2 Millward, Peter (2023). Football Fandom, Sexualities and Activism: A Cultural Relational Sociology. Critical Research in Football. Routledge. pp. 74–78. ISBN 9781000866070.
  11. 1 2 Mundy, Ben (7 August 2015). "Football's LGBT fans want more help from clubs". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  12. ↑ Magrath, Rory; Anderson, Eric (2017). "Football, homosexuality and the English Premier League: a changing cultural relationship". In Elliott, Richard (ed.). The English Premier League: A Socio-Cultural Analysis. Routledge. p. 155. ISBN 9781317265801.
  13. ↑ Magrath, Rory (2 October 2022). "The Experiences of Bisexual Soccer Fans in the UK: Inclusion, Engagement, and Digital Lives". Journal of Bisexuality. 22 (4): 580–598. doi:10.1080/15299716.2022.2065557. ISSN 1529-9716.
  14. ↑ Millward, Peter (2023). Football Fandom, Sexualities and Activism: A Cultural Relational Sociology. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN 9781000866070.
  15. ↑ Nakrani, Sachin (5 February 2015). "Proud Lilywhites and Gay Gooners fly (rainbow) flag for LGBT football fans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "Coming out still taboo for players, say Arsenal's Gay Gooners". The Times of India. 4 October 2014. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  17. ↑ Holmes, Jon (6 December 2020). "Rainbow Laces: Hector Bellerin discusses culture and allyship with Arsenal's LGBT+ fans group". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 26 November 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  18. ↑ Holmes, Jon (27 November 2021). "Rainbow Laces: Gay Gooners co-chair grateful for club's year-round support ahead of Arsenal vs Newcastle match". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  19. ↑ "Football v Homophobia Awards 2025 shortlists announced". Football v Homophobia. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  20. ↑ Howard, Laura (24 February 2024). ""To not feel different for my sexuality is amazing": GayGooners on making Arsenal a safe space". Sports Gazette. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  21. ↑ Chudy, Emily (8 March 2023). "Arsenal star explains why it's still so important for footballers to come out". PinkNews. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  22. ↑ Desouza, Danielle (4 June 2023). "It's Pride every day at our football club, says co-chair of Arsenal LGBT+ group | indy100". indy100. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  23. 1 2 Blitz, Sam (19 November 2025). "Arsenal end eight-year sleeve shirt partnership with Visit Rwanda". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  24. ↑ "Gay Gooners". Arsenal.com. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  25. ↑ "Bringing Pride to our LGBTQ+ community". Arsenal.com. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  26. ↑ Reid, Madeline (18 July 2025). "Arsenal's legacy of pride and belonging unites supporters on and off the pitch". BRICKS Magazine. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  27. ↑ Watts, Charles (22 February 2022). "'We love football as much as anyone else' - How the Gay Gooners and Arsenal are tackling homophobia". Goal. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  28. 1 2 Leeks, Jacob (4 December 2024). "Arsenal fan group issue Rainbow Laces plea to fellow supporters ahead of crunch Man Utd clash". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
  29. ↑ Millward, Peter (2023). Football Fandom, Sexualities and Activism: A Cultural Relational Sociology. Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 9781000866070.
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