FIFA 17 may be banned in Russia because its rainbow kits violated Russia’s gay Propaganda law

Recently EA has done something which makes FIFA 17 may be banned in Russia. Last month England’s Premier League ran a weekend campaign called “Rainbow laces”, where players across one of the world’s most popular sporting competitions would wear rainbow-coloured laces on their boots in support of lesbian, gay, bi and trans players and fans. Because this was in the game, and because that’s literally EA Sports’ motto, FIFA 17 joined in and offered an entire rainbow-themed kit free for download. Just like the pic below.

But This has upset some Russian MPs. The country’s infamous 2013 “gay Propaganda law” prohibits “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” being available to minors. 

Russia’s attitude

United Russia MP Irina Rodnina, a former figure skater who won three Olympic gold medals for the Soviet Union, told Izvestia that the authorities needed to “verify the possibility of distributing this game on the territory of the Russian Federation”. “Every state has its internal laws and order; they need to be obeyed,” she said. Communist MP Valery Rashkin told Izvestia that, following the investigation, the authorities should order the game’s developer, EA Canada, to “introduce changes to the programming code or the age classification of this information product, and if it refuses, adopt corresponding restrictive measures”.

EA’s attitude

They showed that  though it’s unlikely that the company will bow to the demands. Dragon Age Inquisition included an openly transgender character, and EA-owned Maxis released a patch for The Sims 4 which added further gender customization options, including the addition of gender neutral clothing, voice style, and personality types.

Nonetheless, parliamentarians suggested FIFA 17 could be banned in Russia.