Blowing The Whistle: Turkish Soccer Ref Forced Out Because He's Gay

A Turkish soccer referee has lost his job on account of his liking dudes. Horrors!

Apparently, this emerged because Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ's homosexuality had been noted on, get this, a medical report. According to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet:

Dinçdağ was forced to leave his job because he had been excused from his compulsory military service on account of his homosexuality, which was documented in a medical report. According to the sport's regulations, anyone who fails to complete his military service for health reasons is unfit to perform as a referee.

"Now a really difficult period has started for my family, but it has always been difficult for me," said Dinçdağ, 33, who appealed to colleagues who have been discriminated against as he was.

"Please stand tall against the unfairness against you, whenever something wrong is happening," he said. "Say that it is wrong. Say what is right for you."

OK, so he's not exactly Harvey Milk on a stage in the Castro, but Turkey, where yelling "ibne hakem" ("gay referee") is apparently a taunt on the order of "you're blind, ref," is far from a bastion of enlightened thought. This is particularly rich when you consider the Turkish Republic's founder — Atatürk, the handsome man pictured here — may have been, shall we say, a wee bit light in the ayakkabı.

Gay referee to continue legal battle [Hürriyet, via Unprofessional Foul] Gay Atatürk Victim of Belgian "Enlightenment" [The Brussels Journal]