Gay Referee Cries Foul in Turkey

Oppression against homosexuals in more "moderate" Turkey. From Speigel Online:
A gay soccer referee recently suspended in Turkey is planning to sue the country's national football federation on grounds that it discriminated against him because of his homosexuality. Halil Ibrahim Dincdag says he is ready to take his case as far as the European Court of Human Rights.

People say the children in Trabzon grow up with weapons in their hands. Locals from this port town on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey are considered hot-tempered and explosive, quicker with a knife than with their wits. It's a rough place, known for a spicy fish dish called hamsi, for fanatical soccer fans and for its legendary soccer club Trabzonspor -- the only one that's ever been able to offer up resistance against Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, the country's big three teams in Istanbul.

Football referee Halil Ibrahim Dincdag, 32, has short hair, a few days' worth of stubble, and striking features. He loves his city. Nowhere is the air as pure and sweet, he says, as on the Black Sea. If Dincdag had his way, he would stay in Trabzon. He would continue working as a referee in his hometown, moonlighting as a radio host for local station Bayrak FM. Simply put, he would like to continue living out his dream, just as he did before....
Read it all here.

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