Referee Sapir Berman during the match between Hapoel Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem on May 3, 2021. – Sebastian Scheiner / AP / SIPA
Israel has just taken a new step in accepting differences. Refereeing his first match under his new identity, Sapir Berman became the country’s first transgender football referee on Monday evening. The match between Hapoel Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem, respectively 9th and 10th in the standings, ended with the victory of the Haifa club by the score of 3 to 1.
She announced at the end of April at a press conference that she was changing her sexual identity and first name. 26-year-old Sapir Berman, who has been refereeing in the Israeli championship since 2011, was welcomed at the Ofer stadium in Haifa to the applause of the crowd but also of whistles. A supporter carried a sign that read “Sapir, we are all with you”.
“I do this process for me”
“I don’t know if I’m a pioneer or the first to do this, I’m doing this process for myself,” she said at the April press conference. Sapir Berman also confided that he had received threats but also a lot of support on social networks and from his colleagues. For Ronit Tirosh, president of the Union of Israeli Referees, “Sapir is courageous and begins a historic process for Israeli football”.
The Hebrew state is considered to be ahead of the defense of the rights of the LGBT community, for example it recognizes gay marriages carried out abroad. Israeli transgender singer Dana International won Eurovision in 1998, however, angering religious fundamentalists. Star of the international homosexual community, Dana International, whose real name is Sharon Cohen, had marked the history of the international song contest.