The World Surf League event in Abu Dhabi is coming under fire

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Pro surfer Keala Kennelly was sipping her morning cappuccino at home in Hawaii on Oct. 13 when she received a text from a friend. The message said that the World Surf League, organizer of the Championship Tour in competitive surfing, plans to hold a competition in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2025.

Kennelly, who came out as gay two decades ago, was outraged. UAE laws prohibit same-sex marriage and homosexuality.

“I felt sick to my stomach,” Kennelly said Outside. “How can the WSL expect an LGBTQ+ athlete to travel and compete in a country where their very existence is illegal?”

Kennelly, one of the most decorated female surfers of all time, wrote a scathing note about the WSL's decision and posted it on Instagram. She wrote that hosting events in countries where human rights violations have been documented should be unacceptable. She expressed concern about Australian surfer Tyler Wright, a two-time world champion who is openly gay and is expected to compete on the WSL 2025 Championship Tour.

“I decided to make the post to raise awareness in the hopes that using my social media platform would outrage people the way the news outraged me,” Kennelly said. “I also wanted to show Tyler my support so she knows she's not alone and that people have her back.”

Kennelly wasn't the only person from the surfing community to comment on the decision. While Wright did not comment, her wife Lilli Wright wrote on Instagram about the WSL's decision. “Tyler has been participating in this tour for over 14 years and has worn the Pride flag on her jersey since 2020,” Lilli wrote. “Even after winning two world titles, she is still not valued enough by the WSL to be considered when selling this event.”

Lilli wrote her note under a photo of Tyler jogging along the beach with a surfboard under his arm, next to a pinned post featuring the couple's eye-catching wedding portraits from 2022. “WSL has a duty of care to its athletes, not them in potential life-threatening situations bring circumstances like this,” she added.

Outside We reached out to WSL for comment but received no response.

The Abu Dhabi leg of the Championship Tour will take place February 14-16, 2025, at the Surf Abu Dhabi artificial wave pool on Al Hudayriat island, a stretch of sand south of the city where officials have created a BMX park and road bike track, and Water park, among other attractions. According to the WSL press release, the surf spot features groundbreaking wave-making technology from the Kelly Slater Wave Company and is home to the largest and longest man-made wave in the world.

The WSL isn't the only one to hold events in the UAE – nor is it the only league to be criticized for it. Every February, the world's best cyclists compete in the UAE Tour, the inaugural event of the UCI WorldTour, the sport's highest competitive category. Since 2009, the Formula 1 car racing league has been holding the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on a state-of-the-art race track. Abu Dhabi hosts some of the best tennis players of the year in an event called the World League, and even the National Basketball Association hosts an exhibition event in the UAE called the Emirates NBA Cup. The United Arab Emirates hosts other major international events for beach volleyball, football and sailing.

Critics have called the practice “sportswashing” – when repressive countries attract international sports to more closely conform to Western ideals. The New York Times recently reported on the unclear ethics surrounding the staging of sporting events such as NBA preseason games in Abu Dhabi, quoting Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute: “When you think of the United Arab Emirates, you want people to think of tennis.” They would happy if you are thinking about the NBA [. . .] Think about that rather than all the bad things that are part of your reputation.”

In her Instagram post, Kennelly specifically noted the UAE's track record on human rights, particularly for LGBTQ+ people and women. “Emirati women live under male guardianship,” she wrote. “Honor killings can go unpunished because the victim’s family can pardon the murderer.”

According to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy and research group based in New York City, authorities in the United Arab Emirates can also arrest people for a variety of vaguely defined “flagrant indecent acts,” including “public displays of affection, gender-inappropriate statements, and advertising campaigns.” the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT).

On October 16, the Queer Surf Club, an international organization that coordinates get-togethers for like-minded surfers, launched a petition on Change.org to call on the WSL to remove Abu Dhabi from its World Championship Tour calendar.

“The WSL has chosen to support a government that criminalizes LGBTQIA+ people and discriminates against women, thereby putting its athletes, support teams and spectators at risk,” the first paragraph of the petition reads.

More than two dozen organizations, from the London Surf Film Fest to Surf Queer Mexico to the Trans Cyclist Collective, have taken up the cause and spread the word on their own social networks.

Kennelly told Outside that she would “under no circumstances” travel to Abu Dhabi. “Some of the comments on my post said things like, 'Get over it, just don't do gay things while you're there,'” she said. “But even if I had traveled there without my wife, I look like a lesbian. I have short hair and don't wear feminine clothes. Even if no physical harm came to me, I can’t imagine how badly I would be treated in a place like that.”

Kennelly withdrew from the WSL competition in 2007 and doubts Wright or other current competitors will oppose the event in the United Arab Emirates. Article 14.04 of the WSL Rules specifically prohibits athletes from making comments that portray the league, WSL management, referees or their sponsors in a negative light. This rule also extends to a surfer's social media.

Lilli Wright declined to comment Outside when contacting us. “I definitely think it’s a very important discussion,” she wrote in response to an interview request. “But at this point I don’t feel comfortable saying anything more.”

But she also wrote candidly about how uncomfortable she felt at the thought of Tyler competing in a place like Abu Dhabi, while also recognizing how detrimental it would be to her career to skip the event. “I see how hard my wife works every day on her career and it is unreasonable to expect her to just not go,” she wrote. “Her life is worth more than one event, but I can't help but admit that missing this event would be a huge detriment to her career.”

Lilli ended her post by returning to her frustration with the WSL: “At the end of the day, the WSL had absolutely no business selling this event to this venue with the expectation that their only openly queer athlete would silently join in. “