Esport Canada unable to guarantee LGBTQ+ players' safety at WEC 2024 in Saudi Arabia
On March 11th, Esport Canada opened up applications for the Canadian women's Counter-Strike 2 team that is set to compete in the 2024 World Esports Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Following the release of the application, current ESL Impact Season 5 competitor Ariane "ARIANARCHIST" Lafrenière denoted her interest in signing up for the event via a post on X.
However, ARIANARCHIST, an openly transgender competitor, was alerted to the fact the event in Saudi Arabia may prove dangerous because of her identity. This concern is not without merit as Saudi Arabia is known for its historic and ongoing mistreatment of the LGBTQ+ community alongside other minority groups. Per Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia has subjected transgender individuals to flogging and imprisonment and given LGBTQ+ individuals the death sentence for "homosexual acts" in recent years.
Shortly after this exchange and in response to ARIANARCHIST, Esport Canada Founder and CEO Melissa Burns stated that Esport Canada "cannot make any promises/guarantees" about the safety of LGBTQ+ competitors at the Saudi event. She also noted that Canada even has a travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ individuals about traveling to the Middle Eastern nation.
Despite this, at the time of publication Esport Canada still seems set to send a delegation to Riyadh, joining a growing list of national delegations planning to attend WEC 2024 that have admitted they cannot guarantee player safety. On the Esport Canada website, the organization lists "Equity, Diversity & Inclusion" as a "core value" of the organization, something that seems untenable with sending a team to the repressive country.
The statement from Esport Canada's CEO Burns follows similar statements given by Norwegian Esports Federation President Elin Yoojung Moen to Erik Fossum of pressfire.no. In the interview, Moen brushed aside the ethical concerns of working with Saudi-backed esports ventures while also similarly stating that she cannot guarantee that "a Norwegian gay or transgender person [won't be] arrested for being themselves" while in Saudi Arabia.
Dust2.us reached out to Esport Canada outside of normal operating hours to clarify Burns' statement and to ask whether a lack of assurances about the safety of LGBTQ+ competitors will affect the body's participation in WEC 2024. Dust2.us will post an update should Esport Canada respond.
