Gay Referee Wins Trial Against Football Association

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Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ, who had been disqualified from refereeing due to being gay, has won the lawsuit against Turkey Football Association.

Over being disqualified from refereeing due to his sexual orientation in 2009, Dinçdağ had pressed charges against the Turkey Football Association (TFF) for material and non-material damages in 2010.

Following the 19th hearing held today (December 29), the court has decided to award Dinçdağ 6250 euro (20,000 TL) for non-material damages and 950 euro for material damages and has ruled against the TFF.

Evaluating the decision for bianet, Dinçdağ has noted; “The day; December 29, 2015 has been a revolution in the sense of the fight against homophobia in football. This decision has shattered the tabus of male dominance in football. I think it has been an essential decision for the wrongfulness and injustice LGBTI persons have been exposed to. This has been a victory for all of us!”.

His attorney Fırat Söyle has stated; “We have followed the hearings closely and received the fruits for it. This was a struggle for rights. We have seen that justice was served to some extent, when people closely follow the difficulties they had to experience due to their sexual orientation”.

“His chance to advance in his career was over”

Referee Dinçdağ’s Attorney Söyle has pointed out that the trial had been going on for years, 6250 euro would not compensate the material and non-material damages Dinçdağ had to suffer yet that this was still an essential acquisition.

“According to the judicial mindset in Turkey, compensation of non-material damages is considered to cause unjust enrichment, therefore the compensations are based on non-enrichment.

“Following TFF outing Halil, he had to experience enormous material and non-material difficulties. He had lost his mother and found out that he had cancer.

“Due to being disqualified from refereeing, his chance to advance in his career has come to a full stop. This is the major and main victimization. Today, referees in Süperlig (Super League) earn at least 1,500 euro, provincial referees on the other hand earn 15-20 euro, travel expenses excluded. There is a huge gap. Halil’s chance to become a higher-ranking referee was over due to the age restriction.”

“The most important decision against discrimination based on sexual orientation”

Attorney Söyle has added:

“It is an important decision beyond the compensation payments. This means the court recognizing and acknowledging the difficulties Halil had to experience because of TFF.

“This was a struggle for rights. Justice is served to some extent, when other referees and people closely follow the difficulties they had to experience due to their sexual orientation. Also the perspective of the court is important at this point, we will have sight of this when the reasoned decision is issued”.

What had happened?

Following Trabzon Provincial Referee Board demanding a certificate to confirm that he had fulfilled his duties concerning military service, Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ who had been refereeing in Trabzon for 14 years had received a report from the Trabzon Recruiting Office with the inscription “unfit for military service”.

In the wake of submitting the report to Trabzon Provincial Referee Board, a board member has informed Dinçdağ that he would not be assigned for any games and asked him to quit. Following this, the board has outed that Dinçdağ was a homosexual and forwarded the report to TFF.

Right after the response of Central Referee Board in April 2009, Trabzon Provincial Referee Board has prohibited Dinçağ from taking the professional refereeing exam.

Meanwhile Dinçdağ’s identity had been outed due to the correspondences leaked to the press. News about Dinçdağ had received widespread media attention and personalities such as the sports commentator and ex-referee Erman Toroğlu have made statements such as “Especially during men’s games, these fellas would blow sentimental whistles, I assume. And they would whistle more and give more penalties for handsome and tough players, I guess”. (ÇT/DG)