Source: “CHP’nin LGBT Raporu Şekilleniyor,” (“The CHP’s LGBT Report Takes Shape,”) LGBT Haber, http://www.h.madisozluk.com/2013/10/chpnin-lgbt-raporu-sekilleniyor.html?m=1
The LGBT Committee of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kadıköy Youth Organization has started to draft its report that was initiated in July 2013.
The CHP Kadıköy Youth Organization’s LGBT Rights Research Committee is the first institutional LGBT structure within the CHP. The committee has started to draft its report ahead of schedule.
The committee visited Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association, LISTAG Families of LGBTs in Istanbul, Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD) in August and September. It participated in the meetings of the LGBT Political Representation and Participation Platform and founded grounds for solidarity with LGBT representatives of other political parties. The committee took part in the LGBT event at Yoğurtçu Park and in the Kaos GL meeting in Taksim. They met with LGBTQI individuals and took notes. They functioned as consultants to politicians within the CHP on LGBT politics. They shared information and experiences with the CHP youth in other cities who want to start other LGBT commission within the CHP. The committee helped LGBT organizations reach politicians from the CHP.
In October, the committee began drafting their report using the data they accumulated, the available academic scholarship, LGBT organizations and their own sources. The participants determined 11 research headings and have progressed on the outlines of 10 headings. According to information from the Head of the Committee, the committee is focusing significantly on the heading “Legal Regulations and Political Representation” because of the CHP’s capacity to initiate laws and a representation mechanism. Other headings that follow are: Bad Treatment in Exemption from the Military Service, the Right to Defense, Employment & Mobbing, Education, Health Services, Housing, Censorship and Family Relations. Preparations for the heading Refugee Issues continue.
The initiative was welcomed by the CHP and prompted many other LGBTQI and LGBTQI ally CHP members to take initiative in their cities. The initiatives that are coordinating with the CHP Kadıköy LGBT Rights Research Committee are looking forward to set a course based on the report’s assessments as soon as the report is completed. For this reason, the committee has decided to speed up the publication in order to release it in 2013 rather than 15 January 2014 as was previously determined.
The Head of the Committee states that they aim to write an informative, educational, and clear report to persuade the CHP constituents, executives and electorates. He emphasizes the permanent, productive, and transformative qualities of the report. He also states that they are working hard to prevent the CHP’s LGBTQI awareness from succumbing to the trap of populism.