LGBT

Prison Sentences for the Cyber Attack on the Website kaosGL.org!

Source: “kaosGL.org Sitesine Yönelik Saldırıya Hapis Cezası!” (“Prison Sentences for the Cyber Attack on the Website kaosGL.org!”) kaosGL.org, 20 March 2014, http://www.kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=16112 

Two individuals received six months in prison each for carrying out cyber attacks on the news and association websites of Kaos GL in 2012.

The public prosecution case regarding the April 2012 cyber attacks on the Kaos GL Association’s websites has concluded.

Six Months in Prison for the Two Assailants

A public prosecution case was opened against A.K. and R.V. – both under 18 at the time of the crime, which included tampering with, destroying, or denying access to data in information systems, as well as the insertion of data to the system (Turkish Penal Code 244/3). The offenders were sentenced to six months in prison.

The court case was initiated when the Kaos GL Association filed a criminal complaint against the above-mentioned persons in accordance with items 216, 243 and 244 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The investigation was able to identify the IP addresses used by the attackers. It was also discovered that those using these addresses were the children at these destinations.

(more…)

The police officer, who was expelled from the profession for being gay, speaks

Source: “Eşcinsel olduğu için meslekten ihraç edilen polis konuştu,” (“The police officer, who was expelled from the profession for being gay, speaks,”) t24, 09 March 2014, http://m.t24.com.tr/haber/escinsel-oldugu-icin-meslekten-ihrac-edilen-polis-konustu/252935

The gay police officer who was accused of unchaste conduct and expelled from the profession, said, “If, in 18 years, I had once made myself visible as gay, one day, and been fired upon a complaint, I would not have been sorry..”

The gay police officer being accused of “unchaste conduct” while on duty was fired and expelled from the profession as a result of the statement he submitted to the Morality Desk. He was fired and banned from the profession on the grounds that he “consorted with women who worked in brothels or worked alone at premises such as bars, taverns, casinos, etc. where prostitution takes place, or consorted with women and men reputed to be unchaste and lived like husband and wife.” The officer appealed to the administrative court but his appeal was rejected.

The police officer, who was fired for being gay, spoke to Burcu Karakaş. Below is the interview that was published in the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet:

(more…)

Yeni Akit: The Perverts Pester High Schools

Source: İskender Özel, “Sapkınlar liselere el attı” (“And Now the Perverts Pester High Schools”) Yeni Akit, 01 March 2014, http://www.yeniakit.com.tr/haber/sapkinlar-liselere-el-atti-12254.html

Yeni Akit is a conservative daily newspaper that engages in hate speech against LGBTI people and other groups. This is a verbatim translation. 

LGBT organizations in Turkey are known to be already gaining popularity and wide acceptance in Turkish Universities. And now, they ‘pester’ high schools which are run by the Ministry of National Education!

“These perverts will take advantage of working with peer groups to confuse the innocent minds of students”

“They Are Pioneering Immorality”

Some high-school age students who had participated in former meetings of LGBT organizations reunited on February 6, 2014 and established LGBT High-School. The initiative was formed by F.H. and E.Ö., two members of the youth branch of Lambdaistanbul. While spreading perversity in high schools, they will be receiving support from their elders. The second meeting of the newly formed LGBT High-School was held on February 21 and stated “we are speaking from the schools, where heterosexism, transphobia, sexism, militarism, and speciesism are being imposed”

The fact that the initiative’s formation was first covered by Armenian newspaper AGOS and by the trigger of the Cemaat (Gülen movement) T24 was not seen as meaningful.

I Attempted Suicide

Source: Burcu Karakaş, “İntihara teşebbüs ettim,” (“I Attempted Suicide,”) milliyet, 02 March 2014, http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/-intihara-tesebbus-ettim-/gundem/detay/1845217/default.htm?ref=OtherNews

I attempted suicide

A homosexual police officer in Gaziantep was fired due to being charged with the crime of “unchastity.” The police officer applied to the Administrative Court for the annulment of the decision but was rejected. He said, “I went through a huge trauma. I attempted suicide. The judges decide according to their own moral rules. According to them, we do not even have the right to life.”

A homosexual police officer’s life has changed when the Morality Desk raided his friend’s house in Gaziantep. The officer was taking food to his friend. After an unidentified person’s tip-off, the police officer, who chose to remain anonymous, and his friend were obliged to go with the officers from the Morality Desk to the police department and to give their statements.

(more…)

The Story of an HIV Positive Gay Man: At First They Show Compassion, Then They Flee

Source: Yıldız Tar, “HIV+ Bir Eşcinselin Hikayesi: Önce Acıyor, Sonra Kaçıyorlar,” (“The Story of an HIV Positive Gay Man: At First They Show Compassion, Then They Flee,”) kaosGL.org, 24 February 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=15889

Hasan Atik: As someone living with HIV, you are exposed to discrimination everywhere. They do not even want to pull my teeth. At first, people show compassion, then they run away, treating me like I am a monster.

HIV is a virus that makes your immune system deficient. If a person develops a serious infection due to having HIV, or if the immune system’s cells, which can be measured by blood tests, are highly depleted, then this can be classified as AIDS.

We spoke with Hasan Atik who has been living with HIV, something we know very little about, but everyone often talks about a lot. He spoke about the the difficulties of being HIV positive and gay: “HIV is a disease wrongly attributed to only gay people. It makes me sad to be the person who confirms this (stereotype).”

His story is one of segregation in every place, be it the law, health or social relationships. “The goal is to protect the other person from us. This is “othering” us. The situation – where we are already a monster in the eyes of the public – becomes worse.

Let us begin with the fact that you are person living with HIV in Turkey. What type of difficulties are you facing?

You are exposed to every type of discrimination – even the simplest of things. For example, a few days ago I went to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth removed. They did not remove my teeth, telling me a bunch of lies. The doctors were constantly speaking about me with each other. They did not even want to take an X-ray. While I was waiting in the waiting room, I heard the nurses speak about me. They were speaking in loud voices so I would hear and leave. In terms of health services and personal communication, we are exposed to an inordinate amount of discrimination.

(more…)

Gender Identity “Disorder”

Source: “F64.9: Cinsel Kimlik ‘Bozukluğu’,” (“F64.9: Gender Identity ‘Disorder’,”) kaosGL.org, 07 January 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=15547

Serdar, who received an “unfit to serve in the military” (F64.9 gender identity disorder, undefined) report, shared his experience with KaosGL.org:

I am a lucky gay man. I am 29 years old and well-mannered. My family knows about my homosexuality and I live with my boyfriend of five years. I want to retell my experiences of the process I went through in detail so that people can access this information easily online.

Because I could not decide on whether or not to get the report for military exemption after graduation, I registered with the Open Education Faculty at a second university to benefit from deferment.

First, I had to break the deferment and go to the bureau to state that I wanted to join army. After this statement, I immediately said, “I wanted to be referred to the hospital.”  The authorities at the recruitment office asked me to see a family doctor to get a report. I returned to the recruitment office with the report I received from a primary health care center and I was directly sent to the Gülhane Military Medical Faculty (GATA) (Üsküdar and Kadıköy recruitment offices refer to the GATA directly instead of having to go from one hospital to another.)

“He is quite feminine, he has one-night stands and he sleeps with anyone he likes”

(more…)

Legal Action for Compensation Against Gay Husband

Source: Gülcan Demirci, “Eşcinsel kocaya tazminat cezası,” (“Legal Action for Compensation against Gay Husband,”) 26 January 2014, http://www.sabah.com.tr/Yasam/2014/01/26/escinsel-kocaya-tazminat-cezasi

A woman, who found out that her husband is gay, opened a law suit to annul their marriage. The court decided that the married couple could divorce with 70,000 TL of compensation awarded to the wife.

In Istanbul, G.D., a teacher, found out after one year of marriage that her husband, F.D., who works as a chief executive of a private corporation, was gay. She filed a claim for the annulment of the marriage, stating “Marriage with a gay man is not feasible.” The court decided that an “annulment of marriage after six months is not possible. Due to the couple being married more than a year, a divorce lawsuit should be opened.” The judge who divorced the married couple also ordered an award of 70,000 TL of compensation to be paid by the husband.

(more…)

Northern Cyprus Embraces the Rainbow Colors

Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in Northern Cyprus today, activists evaluate the new legal situation for LGBT people in the northern part of the island for kaosGL.org.

Parliamentarians in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have voted today to repeal the colonial ban on “unnatural sexual acts.”

Accepted by the majority vote, the Penal (Amendment) Law decriminalizes same-sex relationships, prohibits the death penalty, increases penalties for the sexual abuses of children and the mentally disabled, and widens the definition of sexual violence.

The new law also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender. It also regulates hate speech and hate crimes against LGBT people.

(more…)

LGBT Activist Committed Suicide in Azerbaijan

Source: Ömer Akpınar, “LGBT Activist Committed Suicide in Azerbaijan,” kaosGL.org, 23 January 2014, http://kaosgl.org/page.php?id=15670

İsa Şahmarlı, 20-year-old LGBT activist in Azerbaijan, hanged himself yesterday with a rainbow flag.

The president of the Azad LGBT group was found dead by his friends in the office where he worked.

“You are all responsible of my death”

Before committing suicide, Sahmarli shared a note from his Facebook account: “I am going. This country, this world is not for me… I am going to become happy… Tell mom that I love her much. You are all responsible of my death. This world is not strong enough to bear my colors. Farewell.”

“Rainbow Flags Will Be in Baku Sky”

Şahmarlı once said in an interview: “I hope and I will see one day that LGBT flags will be in Baku sky. What I really want to see is a gay couple walking freely in Baku.” He also emphasized in another interview that family pressure drives many LGBT teens to suicide.

İsa’s friends and those against homophobia will attend his funeral today. There will be a press release on Sunday in Ankara by Anka LGBT, as well.

Having suicidal thoughts? Please, please stop long enough to read this. It will only take about five minutes: http://www.metanoia.org/suicide/

To the best of our knowledge, the online and IRL resources below will provide you with a safe and non-judgmental space.

IRC / Chatlines

Hotlines

Sexual Assault Resources

If you know of any other suicide resources where you live or work, please do let us know so that we can add them to our website. To contact us, email us at , or see https://lgbtinewsturkey.com/about/.

https://lgbtinewsturkey.com/2015/03/04/suicide-resources/

 

Is society ready for homosexuals?

Source: Çiçek Tahaoğlu, “Toplum Eşcinsellere Hazır mı?” (“Is society ready for homosexuals?”) bianet.org, 16 January 2014, http://www.bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/152847-toplum-escinsellere-hazir-mi

                                      

“Sooner or later, a faggot will be president. Let’s give up resisting this progress.” “Society was ready for heterosexual politicians, look what happened!” “There is no division between society and homosexuals.”

LGBTI people have never been this visible in local elections before! Six LGBTI pre-candidates from Istanbul alone took action to be involved in the city councils of different political parties.

Okan Bayülgen once asked the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek: “When will we have a homosexual mayor in Turkey?” He received the answer, “Never, I hope. There should not be one.”

LGBTI visibility in politics has always been discussed with arguments such as “Is society ready for homosexuals?”

bianet asked the pre-candidates: “Is society ready for homosexuals?”

(more…)

The Rights Violations Against LGBT People: Selected Case Analyses

Source: Sosyal Politikalar, Cinsiyet Kimliği ve Cinsel Yönelim Çalışmaları Derneği. (Social Policies, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association) LGBT Hak İhlalleri: Emsal Dava Analizleri (The Rights Violations Against LGBT People: Selected Case Analyses.) Istanbul: Punto Baskı Çözümleri, 2013. Available at: http://www.spod.org.tr/turkce/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/emsal-dava-analizleri-son1.pdf   

The Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association has been working in the field of access to law and justice since it was founded two years ago. We have organized educational workshops on LGBT rights for lawyers in order to strengthen LGBT people’s methods of accessing justice. We have also given legal aid to LGBT people whose rights have been violated. Our other work includes tracking legislation, participating in the New Constitution drafting process, and pursuing selected cases.

This report includes case summaries and analyses of SPoD’s selected cases. The selection has been made according to the LGBT public’s key issues. Cases based on the frequent violations of LGBT people’s right to life, work, and housing have been chosen. Emphasis has been placed on joining cases as joint plaintiffs while working with lawyers, NGOs, and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) for positive results. Furthermore, the media has been lobbied for the selected cases to ensure the flow of correct and effective information to the public and to make sure that victims are not doubly victimized by the media’s homophobic/transphobic language. A legal battle has been waged against the “hate language” produced by the media in general. Therefore, we did not focus solely on the legal aspects of the cases but also on their background in order to change the biases that lead to rights violations.

(more…)

The CHP’s LGBT Report Has Been Completed

Source: C. Can Yüksel, “CHP’nin LGBT Raporu Tamamlandı,” (“The CHP’s LGBT Report Has Been Completed,”) Kaos GL, 16 January 2014,  http://kaosgl.com/sayfa.php?id=15608

A report prepared by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been presented to the party.

The work for the report that has been carried out over the last six months by the LGBT Rights Research Committee of the CHP Kadıköy Youth Organization has been completed and submitted to the CHP Kadıköy chairperson.

(more…)

“You are HIV-Positive — Resign!”

Source: Tülay Karabağ, “HIV pozitifsin, istifa et!” (“You are HIV-Positive — Resign!”) ntvmsnbc, 14 January 2014, http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25491175

Due to his sexual orientation, his relationship with his family was broken off at age 16.  Just as he was getting his life together despite all the difficulties, he contracted HIV from his lover. When his status as HIV positive was revealed, he was forced to quit his job and became isolated.  A.Y. is just one of the victims of social prejudice who found himself in the middle of a very difficult struggle.

A.Y. is 27 years old and found out that he is HIV-positive a year ago. He contracted the HIV virus from his lover . Right now, he is trying to survive and to stand on his own feet. His employer forced him to sign a resignation letter once he found out about his condition and did not pay him a cent of workers’ compensation.

(more…)

LGBTI Pre-Candidates Run For Municipal Assemblies

Source: “LGBTI Pre-Candidates Run For Municipal Assemblies,” bianet, 15 January 2014, http://www.bianet.org/english/gender/152845-lgbti-pre-candidates-run-for-municipal-assemblies

bianet interviewed various pre-candidates of the upcoming municipal elections with LGBTI background who raised their voices to have their say on their surroundings.

As the municipal elections are approaching, discussion focus on various party municipal assembly pre-candidates, men and women, from various parts of the country. bianet interviewed various pre-candidates of the upcoming municipal elections with LGBTI background who raised their voices to have their say on their surroundings.
bianet asked the following question: “How will your pre-candidacy affect/ contribute the policies of municipal assemblies of your electoral districts?

(more…)

Military Exemption: “Draw the chimney long- it represents the penis!”

Source: Ayşe Arman, “Bacayı uzun çiz, penisi temsil ediyor!” (“Draw the chimney long- it represents the penis!”) Hürriyet, 11 January 2014, http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/cumartesi/25543414.asp

“I am a homosexual university graduate,” so started the e-mail. “I have been dealing with military affairs since September. I have been trying to get the report indicating I am not suitable to do my military service. I finally succeeded! However, it was really difficult. I have been exposed to all kinds of humiliation and insult. If you are interested, I would like to share my experience on the current military practices on the issue, just to inform other gay men who do not want to go to the military. I called him immediately. We met and talked.

(more…)