Jordan Henderson slammed by Saudi LGBT+ community for "total bulls***" claims
Jordan Henderson's claims that he can help to improve the lives of LGBT+ Saudis has been slammed by members of the community who have been forced to flee the country.
Henderson joined Al-Ettifaq from Liverpool in the summer transfer window. During his time at Anfield, the England international was a vocal supporter of the Rainbow Laces campaign and also sent messages to Jake Daniels after the Blackpool striker came out as gay.
But he was accused of betraying the community when he opted to move to Saudi Arabia, where LGBT+ people face the death penalty. The midfielder has tried to claim that he can help to change those attitudes and laws by his presence in the Middle East state.
Those comments have now been rubbished by Wajeeh Lion, a gay Saudi human rights advocate who has political asylum in the US. Lion has hit back at Henderson, insisting his move will not change a thing.
“It’s total bull****. It’s the exact same rhetoric the Saudi government would push: ‘We’ll be inside to make change! How do you expect change will happen without us getting involved?!’ Footballers are only going there to play a football game," Lion told iNews.
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“There’s no actual change. The laws haven’t changed, the constitution has not been changed. You will not have any effect over the rhetoric the government has, because once you speak up they could easily cut your pay, or kick you out of the country.
Jordan Henderson has been slammed for his claims about helping to improve the lives of LGBT+ Saudis (Abdul Ghani Bashir Issa/MB Media/Getty Images)"They’re still your boss. You’re not there on a legislative or political perspective, you’re there to kick a ball. We don’t want a saviour, we want our rights back. We want our justice, we want prisoners to be out, we want concrete changes to the Saudi legal system.”
Henderson faced protests from England fans when he played for the Three Lions for the first time after making his move. Daniels, who remains the only openly gay professional footballer in England, has also taken aim at the former Liverpool skipper.
The Blackpool star last year became the first active English professional footballer to come out for more than 30 years. And he recently branded Henderson's move to Saudi as a 'slap in the face'.
"He was backing me and said: 'We're proud of what you've done.' Seeing him move to Saudi, it kind of like, slaps me in my face really. But I guess the money pays well, and money must mean more to people," Daniels told BBC Sport.
Henderson's manager Steven Gerrard also messaged Daniels, but the striker has been left "frustrated" by the Reds icon's own move to Ettifaq. He added: "I met him in person and he said, 'If you ever want to get in contact then message me' - but he moved over."
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