U.S. Soccer to adopt official legislation addressing anti-gay chants

The United States Soccer Federation on Friday moved to establish an official policy on banning anti-gay chants at all sanctioned games played in the country, regardless of what national teams are involved.

The resolution now awaits approval from the U.S. Soccer Federation rules committee.

Fans of the Mexico national team have a history of shouting an anti-gay chant toward opposing goalkeepers. While curtailing the behaviour has been a goal in the United States and elsewhere, there were no specific policies adopted on how to handle the situation.

With the new legislation, the USSF intends to have a zero-tolerance policy on the matter, according to ESPN, with the intention of using FIFA's three-step protocol to address discriminatory actions by pausing games. The policy will be in place for all sanctioned games, including those played by Mexico in the United States that do not include the United States Men's National Team.

In January, the Mexican Football Federation adopted legislation that would ban any fan for five years if they are found to have made an anti-gay chant.

Mexico was supposed to play recent World Cup qualifying games at home with no fans as a punishment for continued abusive chants. That ban was lifted, though, after Mexico adopted its legislation, although only 2,000 fans were permitted at games against Costa Rica and Panama.