The Anti-Trump Prize: FC St. Pauli Honors a Queer Soccer Bar in the United States

Among other things, as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump, the football club FC St. Pauli has launched a “Peace Prize” in the United States. The inaugural winner is Wes Burdine, a bar owner from Minnesota, whose venue, the “Black Hart of St. Paul,” serves as a gathering place for queer soccer fans and their friends.

Wes Burdine explained that his bar exists “because we wanted to create a queer football space — a place where people from very different life realities come together, celebrate, and experience themselves as a community.” Lately, however, the climate has grown tougher: “In recent months we have seen how our neighborhoods are coming under pressure. Many of our migrant neighbors have been afraid to leave their homes. We believe football is a way to share emotions and derive responsibility for our communities.”

New Instagram Channel for the USA

St. Pauli president Oke Göttlich had already in January, in several interviews, urged at least to discuss boycotting the World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The club leadership is currently lamenting developments in the United States, “in which authoritarian tendencies and targeted restrictions of rights and freedoms can be observed.”

In response to that, FC St. Pauli intends with its “Peace Prize” to honor people and initiatives that “actively promote solidarity, participation, and a respectful togetherness.” The club also launched a dedicated Instagram channel for the United States. (dpa)