Valentina Berr: “They want to put us back in the closets”

Valentina Berr (29 years old), the first transsexual soccer player in Catalan soccer and the second in Spain afterwards Alba Palacios, visit the editorial office of World of sports to explain the problems and the fact that this group is still alive in football. In his case, after going through Levante Las Planas, Terrassa and Europa, he had to hang up his boots because of the harassment and hostility he received from some sectors.

-Why did you decide to leave football last summer?

I left it for mental health reasons, which have reached a limit due to the verbal violence trans women suffer. But I want to emphasize that violence is not only found in football but also in some institutions, social networks and media. In the end, all this accumulation makes it impossible to continue and that is why many other people do not even consider accessing football because they believe that it does not belong.

-The hate speech you say, you have not seen them in your team -Europe- or in the rivals. Did they come from outside the women’s football environment?

In my case, yes. Even in the stands I saw some insults, they are found more in social networks, but I think the real problem is in the social fabric in general.

-To the point where you have to say enough?

Yes, up to that point. People who deviate from the norm have to endure this path and that brings us to the limit. Until everyone asks questions when asked.

Why this hate speech against the trans collective?

It must be remembered that a few loose people do not hate and that is, hopefully, hate speech part of the ultra-conservative agenda. There are groups and campaigns against us because our existence challenges the status quo and the established order, the one that works so well for some…

So are you a threat?

Exactly, that’s how we are. A threat.

–The case of Jakub Jankto -Czech player for Sparta Prague on loan from Getafe-, the first footballer to come out as homosexual, has just come out. Why don’t more cases like his come out?

On the one hand, because people are hiding, and on the other hand, because they want to put us back in the closets. They want us to think twice before freely existing, flaunt our same-sex love on the street, and flaunt our pen. In the end you think: be careful not to get caught by the ultra-conservatives. They want to put us back in the closet, where we have been out for a long time.

Do you think the case of Jakub Jankto will be the trigger for other cases to appear in world football?

First we must study what we are talking about. We talk about homosexuals but that’s not what it’s about: what football doesn’t like is ‘gays’. And I say it with this terminology on purpose because in men’s soccer they are allergic to pens, to different gender expressions, to sexual freedom.

-Certainly football should be an environment with values ​​and tolerance, what should be done to normalize all this?

I have seen a lot of campaigns in favor of tolerance and in favor of LGTBI people, but I think this is an approach that is lacking, because we are seen as an isolated reality. I think we should be more ambitious, break the binary system and bring new structures beyond the binary. Ultimately, if we seek inclusion, a person will always be examined with a magnifying glass to see if they fit into the male or female category. You need to target the real problem. Football does not need integration but revolution.

–A radical change of mind Is that what you are looking for in your ‘The answer to everything’ project? what does it consist of?

I spent almost ten years spreading the collective LGTBI. ‘The answer to everything’ was born to attend to trans realities through initiatives such as talks, a podcast and a book that I published in December to bring our truths closer, which many do not know man, because many people believe the first thing they say about us and we have to give real answers.