Turkish politician İbrahim Melih Gökçek said in a tweet on X on Friday that if there are LGBTQ players on Turkey’s women’s national volleyball team competing at the Paris Olympics, that team cannot represent the nation.
The comment came on the eve of Turkey’s volleyball team taking on Brazil for the bronze medal at the Paris Games. Brazil beat Turkey for the bronze, 3-1.
“If these two LGBT individuals have any connection with the Turkish National Team, that volleyball team cannot be national…
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He shared the nonsense along with a video of two players breaking open bottles of champagne. Those two players are Ebrar Karakurt and Melissa Vargas. Karakurt is identified by Outsports as part of Team LGBTQ at these Olympic Games. We have not gotten confirmation about Vargas and have no idea if she is LGBTQ.
Previously, Karakurt has received online harassment because she posted social-media messages clearly identifying her girlfriend as her (gulp) girlfriend.
Gökçek is not some random politician. He’s the former mayor of Ankara, where he oversaw the government there for over 20 years. Ankara is the capital and second largest city in Turkey, with about 5 million people.
The guy has a lot of influence.
He is, of course, misguided. Homosexuality has been decriminalized in Turkey for over 150 years. Still, the country does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions, and remains way behind European Union nations in its protection of gay, bi and trans people.
Turkey has been an EU candidate for nearly 25 years but due to various issues such as its troubled relationships with Cyprus and Greece, and its weak human rights legislations, full membership has not been approved.
Despite the absurd criticism from Gökçek, this was the best finish at any Summer Olympics for any indoor volleyball team from Turkey, either in the men’s or women’s tournament.
Each of the teams earning a medal in women’s volleyball at the Paris Olympics will have at least one publicly out LGBTQ player on the team.
Maybe Megan Rapinoe is right, you can’t win without the gays!
