A Turkish soccer referee forced from his job for being gay revealed his identity on national television Saturday in a plea for tolerance. While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, there are no nondiscrimination laws for sexual orientation and moves are afoot to ban LGBT groups.
Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ, 33, was forced from his job as referee after he was excused from his compulsory military service when he was listed as gay in a medical report. Gays are barred from serving in the Turkish military. Anyone who can’t perform their military duties for medical reasons is not allowed to be a referee.
“Please stand tall against the unfairness against you, whenever something wrong is happening,” he said on TV after his identity was revealed . “Say that it is wrong. Say what is right for you.”
Dinçdağ said he will continue a legal fight to get his job back. Having openly gay officials and referees in any sport in the U.S. is still virtually unheard of, so it takes some balls to go public in a place like Turkey, where the conservative Islamic culture has made it hard for gays and lesbians to get any rights or public recognition and where anti-gay violence is on the rise,
on May 18th, 2009 at 6:11 AM
Not only were Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s paternal ancestors thought to be Sabbatean Jewish, the internet is rife with the rumor that he was also gay:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2021
So will Dinçdağ now be “accused” of being Jewish or a lover of Jews by Turkish homophobes.
Phobists know no bounds. When will people learn: hatred is GAY.
on May 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 PM
on May 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 PM
all that is true and i’m probably a bad human being to say so but – the ref is humpy
on Jun 26th, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Hey, Jim either you are truly ignorant or you really do not know how to analyze an information before you decide to mislead public. The refree was not forced out BECAUSE he was gay but because he did not complete the obligatory military duty. It’s pretty much the case anytime a male citizen over 20 years of age applies for a job in public or private sector. Because at the end the one must go to the army for certain period of time, the employee prefer the individual is done with his obligatory military duty.
Having said that, the FA of Turkey, it’s a governmental organization, requires it’s employees are free of military duty by law. The problem in this specific case was due to the interpreation of the law and the individual hasn’t given a satisfactory legal battle.
Moreover, done with the military obligation, and a gay myself, I can say that “maybe” don’t ask and don’t tell policy may apply when one files papers before being admitted for the duty. Now, let me explain that a little. The Turkish government neither had/ has the financial means nor have educated personnel to deal with the legal problems that may arise in the situation of a gay military person faces any sort of harassment from his peers.
The dicipline is extremely important in the turkish army, the soldiers can’t leave the base for a long time and when they do it’s for a day 8am to 4 pm and they are not allowed to visit certain places(bars,brothels), meet any females unless they are relatives/family members, etc. Therefore, military officials have to make sure that personnel safety for each individual is protected. I can tell you from my own experince, it would be difficult to do so if one is flamboyantly/openly gay. Unlike the armies in the West where the applicants with the red flag in their application, every man regardless of their criminal background must be admitted to the army. So yes, you get to meet the bad and the worst of the worst on and off during a period of (usually 18 months). reputation of the Turkish army is important as well, so I am sure the military officals and the Turkish government wouldn’t like to deal sexual harassment cases, i think, would occur quite often when individuals are knows as homesexsuals.
Now, during filing application, noone asks you if you are gay or not but the military treats everyone equally, that means no sexual acitivity while one is in the base. The only time military would disregard a person is when he is a transvestite and the person lets the army know of his situation. In that case, army will tell they can’t take them in due to safety reasons since also no females are taken into duty, either.
When the refree went public with his story (he knew it would be a big news in the media and the media orgs as well as public would side with him) he thought he could bypass the bueracracy and get the law changed faster before it’s too late for him to continue to his career. That’s also what happened, the authorities never thought of his situation would be possible since I have not heard any open gay refree or soccer player in europe or even in the world. Yes, it’s a stereo type and people do not think there could be gay refrees or players in men’s sport but there is..anyhow, your article just mispotrays Turkey and the tolerance of the country towards gays. Peace out!
on Jun 26th, 2009 at 11:45 PM
It’s bullcrap to say the violence against homesexsuels on the rise. Look, I am an american but parents are from Turkey, I have dual citizenship, and have served in the turkish army not to lose my dual citizenship. I am also gay. I live many years in Turkey although I haven’t been there more than 10yrs. I do know the tolerance for gays is a lot better now in Turkey then before. When I lived there, I didn’t know any openly gaybar but I wonder how many there were here in the USA especially in ordinary cities and smaller towns. I remember visiting a friend of mine outside of NYC but within NY state just about 5 yrs ago, and bunch of guys, we were coming out of a gay bar, a few of guys driving by then, yelled, cursed and threw bottles at us. And this was happening in one of the bluest states in the USA just 5yrs ago.
Let’s not forget Matthew Shephard of not sure Wyoming?! who got beaten to death for being gay. If they know you are gay, you will be thrown out of the US army. I have not been thrown out of the turkish army.
You compare a major city like Istanbul in Turkey to a mojor city in the USA, like NYC, I can assure you, Turkey is more tolerant than the USA. Let alone going to other boroughs, but as soon as you leave areas like Villages, Chelsea, people stare at you if you walk by holding your partners hand.
You compare the rural areas, if you are flamboyant, one may quietly joke about you for being gay or just smile, but here, you can all the angry looks. peace out!