After insisting no fags would ever play on Croatia’s national soccer team, Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic is apologizing with his head held low.
It only took some international outrage and the threat of legal action from The Gays for Markovic to say he’s “sorry for a clumsy interpretation. It was not my intention whatsoever to insult or hurt anyone,” he says in a statement. “I have nothing against members of any minority, least of all against those of same-sex orientation Once again, I apologize to all those who were hurt.”
Which is, I guess, what we were supposed to take away from his remark that “only normal people [not gays] play football”?
But the non-apology isn’t stopping gay groups Kontra and Iskorak from saying they’re still going to file legal action and complaints with the Union of European Football Associations, since Markovic’s stated No Gays policy violate Croatian and international anti-discrimination law, as well as Croatian soccer rules.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Not that Croatian’s gay soccer fans are new to the sport’s leaders spewing anti-gay rhetoric. Otto Baric, a former coach, was fined $2,510 in 2007 for telling a newspaper “there is no place for homosexuals in my team. Homosexuality is not good.”
Max
And this backward country wants in EU…
Sid
I guess a forced fake apology is better than nothing. Even if leaders are still close-minded, at least it’s nice to know that some of them can no longer get away with admitting it in public.
John (CA)
@Max: If they let Italy and Poland in the EU, I see no reason why Croatia can’t join. Didn’t Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi say just a few days ago that it is better to have affairs with underaged girls at 74 than to be a homosexual?
Paschal
@John (CA): Everyone in Europe think Berlusconi is silly, to say the very least. I’ve heard that it’s difficult to find an Italian who would support him publicly but that doesn’t mean people don’t vote for his party. Croatia is set to join the E.U. in 2012.
Max
Italy in EU since 1957 )))
George
As a gay Croatian raised by parents in a large Croatian community in Los Angeles who all think like this coach, all I can do is laugh. They are all religious nutjobs who will never change. Luckily, the Croatian death rate is much higher than its birth rate.
alan brickman
so dumb…
Ray
Je bi se, Vlatko!