April 9, 2014
Footballer Guilty of Anti-Gay Gesture in England
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A British court has found Turkey striker Colin Kazim-Richards guilty of making an anti-gay gesture at a match while playing for Blackburn.
The 27-year-old Kazim-Richards claimed he was bantering with the crowd at former club Brighton when he made the gesture in the second-tier match in February 2013.
But magistrate Darren Reynolds, sitting at Brighton Magistrates' Court, says "these gestures were insulting."
Kazim-Richards, who now plays for Turkish club Bursaspor, was fined 750 pounds ($1,256), ordered to pay 620 pounds ($1,038) of court costs and a 75-pound ($126) victim surcharge.
Fans of second-tier English club Brighton last year published a dossier highlighting the constant anti-gay abuse they face at matches. The southern city is known for its gay and lesbian community.
