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P.S.G. Player Benched for Refusing to Wear Rainbow Jersey

Idrissa Gueye faced criticism after he missed a game rather than wear a shirt designed to support an anti-homophobia initiative. He skipped the same game last year.

Gueye had started half of P.S.G.'s games this season.Credit...Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Idrissa Gueye traveled south to Montpellier with his Paris St.-Germain teammates for the team’s league game on Saturday but wound up watching it from the stands. Gueye was not injured, his coach said after P.S.G.’s victory: He “had to leave the team for personal reasons.”

Those personal reasons, a team source confirmed Monday, were that Gueye had refused to join his teammates in wearing a special jersey featuring rainbow-colored numbers created to highlight discrimination before Tuesday’s global events marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.