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Pride: The Sports World Needs More Spheres | Israel today

2021-04-30T18:08:43.593Z


| World football In the world of sports, people avoid getting out of the closet due to the fear of being harmed mentally and professionally. • Therefore, the step taken by Sapir Berman, when she was exposed as transgender, is no less amazing. Sapir Berman. Brave and exciting Photo:  Alan Shiver First and foremost, Sapir Berman, the first transgender judge in Israel, is a brave and exciting woman. But her exit


In the world of sports, people avoid getting out of the closet due to the fear of being harmed mentally and professionally. • Therefore, the step taken by Sapir Berman, when she was exposed as transgender, is no less amazing.

  • Sapir Berman.

    Brave and exciting

    Photo: 

    Alan Shiver

First and foremost, Sapir Berman, the first transgender judge in Israel, is a brave and exciting woman. But her exit from the closet last night is a yellow card to the world of Israeli football and local sports in general, while Sapir is another torch in the dark space that is still far from being painted in the colors of pride.



In the reality in which we live, the world of sports is a hostile space for LGBT people both as athletes, referees, managers and coaches, and even as home spectators and fans who come to the pitches. with the gay community not to harm their brand, and there are players that are expressed hostility towards it. 



reminder that resonates few months ago we received those outrageous statements Assi Buzaglo - former footballer then faced Survivor VIP "- the gay men's femininity versus masculinity to the footballer, And for his reluctance to use and share a locker room with a gay man.



This is exactly how reality preserves itself.

Athletes avoid going out of the closet due to the fear of being marked within the team and being mentally and professionally harmed.

This situation also causes proud boys and girls to face a terrible dilemma - whether to continue to the professional sports stage and leave their proud identity in the closet, or to come out of the closet alongside retiring from the industry they love. 



The few and few who come out of the closet are usually at the end of their professional careers, in women’s sports or in the lesser known and surveyed industries.

An Israeli football player has never come out of the closet as a gay man, although there is no doubt that they too are on the field, hiding their identities.

Sapir Berman.

Professional aspirations have not changed // Photo: Alan Schieber

Accurate, sharp and full of pride



in 2021 gays and lesbians are full partners in the Israeli public, visit the worlds of media, industry and art, fill managerial positions and even serve as government ministers. And yet, there are still two very notable gaps. One - gays and lesbians are almost completely absent from the world of sports. And the other - other identities from the proud community do not get the same place. 



That is why Sapir Berman is amazing in the jump she made when she came out of the closet as a transgender woman. She is an excellent referee in the Premier League in football, with clear professional ambitions for an international career. Accurate, sharp, sensitive and full of confidence and pride, she told yesterday about the exciting process she went through and received a big hug from the media (and sports media), the unions, the teams and the fans. The press conference held yesterday at the Football Association is an amazing event in itself, which received extensive coverage live on all the leading media channels in Israel.



And what now? Well, sports need more spheres that will expose us to their world, connect us to their story and illuminate the dark world in which they operate. 



We look forward to the day when male and female judges, male and female athletes, will come out of the closet as a matter of routine, that boys and girls will feel comfortable being who they are and how they are. A day when referees will only deal with what is happening on the grass and the management of the game, and referees on their own behalf will refrain from violent comments. A day when we will all proudly participate in the game, a day when more colors will paint the field, a day when we kick the lethophobia off the fields.



The author is a board member of the Proud Sports Club of Israel, responsible for the fight against sports phobia, coaches and manages the Pink Panthers Proud Running Group

Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2021-04-30

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