A Russian Priest Called the Colorful World Cup Cleats a “Homosexual Abomination”

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Complex Original

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If you've been following us here at Sneaker Report leading up to the World Cup, you noticed that a large amount of the boots designed by Nike, adidas, Puma and others for the soccer spectacle this year were brightly colored, and covered just about every edge of the color spectrum. One priest in Russia, took his intolerance to an all new level, when he proclaimed the colorful boots were a "homosexual abomination".

In a story covered by the Russian People’s Line, a Christian website, Orthodox priest Alexander Shumsky claimed the bright colored green, yellow, pink or blue boots were promoting the "gay rainbow", and even went on to say that football is being used to "oppose Christianity" around the world.

"Wearing pink or blue shoes, [the squad] might as well wear women's knickers or a bra," Shumsky wrote, adding that he was also offended by the "unthinkable" hairstyles of some players.

Shumsky went on to say, "The liberal ideology of globalism clearly wants to oppose Christianity with football. I'm sure of it.”

The Russian team wasn't the only group wearing these specially designed boots, as just about every team hit the pitch in Brazil wearing a eye catching form of the latest Nike, Puma or adidas footwear. If Shumsky didn't sound narrow-minded enough already, he actually praised the fact that the Russians had a bad performance at this years Cup, saying "“Therefore I am glad that the Russian players have failed and, by the grace of God, no longer participate in this homosexual abomination."

It's not surprising that these views are coming out of Russia, however, as the country recently came under fire from the LGBT community following a law against so called "gay-propaganda" that was passed last month. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out going forward, as Russia was awarded the host honors of the 2018 World Cup, but people have already started complaining about gay discrimination and alleged racism at their football matches.

All we can hope is that the big box brands keep rolling out these boots in brighter, more striking colorways, because the views of intolerant should not affect the masses.

[Independent]

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