RAMAT GAN – An Israeli soccer referee has come out as transgender and is living — and enforcing the rules of the game — as a woman.
Sapir Berman announced Tuesday she has received the support of her family, the local referees' union and Israeli and international soccer officials.
She said even players and fans have begun to address her as a woman, even if they don't always like her calls on the field. “I always saw myself as a woman, from a young age,” Berman, whose birth name was “Sagi,” told reporters. “I realized society will not accept me, will not be on my side, so I continued like this for nearly 26 years," she said.