St Petersburg: Soccer star criticizes fans’ anti-gay, racist views

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Brazilian striker Givanildo Vieira de Souza has spoken out against the homophobic and racist views of his Russian soccer club’s fans more than three months after they released a manifesto saying they wanted only white, straight players on the team.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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