Spanish Soccer Stars Slam Trolls' Homophobic Responses to their Handbags
Spanish soccer stars Aitor Ruibal and Borja Iglesias, who play for Seville's Real Betis, went after social media trolls who posted homophobic remarks about the handbags they carried to a recent wedding.
ESPN reported that the two "attended a wedding of a Betis staff member in Seville, Spain, on Saturday [June 10] and posted photographs on their Instagram stories. Among the photographs was one in which both posed with other guests while holding their respective handbags."
"In a photo alongside other teammates, Ruibal was seen with a small hand purse, while Iglesias had one around his shoulder," the Associated Press detailed. "Ruibal also had his hair dyed pink and blue."
"The image posted on Instagram ignited a wave of homophobic messages directed at them," the AP article added. "Ruibal had also posted a photo of him carrying the purse alongside his female partner."
Anti-LGBTQ+ trolls lost no time in launching "vicious attacks" on the two players "for their choice of clothing and accessories," ESPN recounted, but the athletes promptly pushed back.
"After the frustrating attempts by a noisy minority to ridicule my colleague Borja Iglesias and me, in reference to our clothing as well as its supposed connection to our sexual orientation, I just want to underscore this: the importance of maintaining respect toward any person, regardless of their sexual orientation or anything else," Ruibal posted at Twitter.
The 27-year-old cited the "need, once and always, to harmonize and live together, rejecting and moving away from any type of phobia, to make it possible to live normally in our society," and called for the condemnation of "homophobia, which evidently continues existing in greater or lesser ways, and fight for its eradication."
"Those who at this point still show behavior of this type urgently need help," Ruibal added. "The problem lies with them because of their intolerance and their complexes."
Iglesias signaled his approval of his teammate's message, and tweeted his own response.
"Every time these types of situations happen with respect to the phobias that continue to exist, they give me strength to continue fighting in order that everyone can do and enjoy themselves and with others as they truly wish," the 30-year-old striker tweeted.
Following up, Iglesias thanked supportive fans for "all the messages of affection that you always give me."
"And to those of you who are still in prehistoric times," he added, "I send you a lot of encouragement, it must be very difficult not to evolve and continue conditioning yourself instead of enjoying the preciousness of life."