Gezi and LGBT

“Hopefully, one day, we will have a gay prime minister”

Source: Aydil Durgun, “Umarım bir gün eşcinsel bir başbakanımız olacak,” (“Hopefully, one day, we will have a gay prime minister,”) Milliyet, 20 October 2013, http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-umarim-bir-gun-escinsel-bir/pazar/haberdetay/20.10.2013/1779011/default.htm

Asya Özgür from the newly founded LGBT Political Representation and Participation Platform (LGBT Siyasi Temsil ve Katılım Platformu): “We want to see an LGBT who is out in the parliament. Hopefully, one day, we will have a gay prime minister.”

As the local elections approach, mayoral and council candidates are finalizing their preparations and of course Istanbul is in the news. Several LGBT organizations and associations in Istanbul explained, “We decided that this can not happen without us!” and founded the LGBT Political Representation and Participation Platform. We heard the details about the platform from its members Sezen Yalçın, Boysan Yakar, Asya Özgür and Deniz Şapka.

How did this platform emerge?

Sezen Yalçın: Right after Gezi, we came together and talked about what we wanted to do; it emerged from that. The LGBT movement has always been involved in the political sphere. There was a great deal of interest in our first meeting. This excited all of us and we kept organizing the meetings. We thought about what we could do to make it possible for one of us to run as a candidate and what we would demand from the locals. After we saw the local reaction at Gezi, we thought we can make our voices heard.

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Trans Men: Both Visible and Invisible

Source: İpek İzci, “Hem görünür hem görünmez: Trans erkekler,” (“Trans Men: Both Visible and Invisible,”) Radikal, 3 July 2013, http://www.radikal.com.tr/hayat/hem_gorunur_hem_gorunmez_trans_erkekler-1140133

LGBT activist Aras Güngör in his book The Other Men (Öteki Erkekler) conveys the experiences of trans men in family, education, health, hormone therapies and transgender reassignment surgeries.

In Turkey, it is obvious that when it comes to transsexuality, the first thing that comes to mind is male-to-female trans people. What about female-to-male trans people? “I will say that I am alive only when we get to live in a free world for real,” says Ersin. Is he more camouflaged compared to trans women, is his life easier? What does he try to tell us when he says, “Biologically I am in a female’s body; I am male in my brain”? What risks did he face in the identity reassignment process from pink (female) to blue (male) identity? Did he get support from his family or was he alienated?

In order to find answers to these questions, LGBT activist Aras Güngör published a book called The Other Men (Öteki Erkekler) with Sel Publishing. In The Other Men, which hit the shelves on July 1st, 2013, seven trans men; Ersin, Utku, Doğu, Uzay, Mete, Kamil and Tarık tell their experiences of their daily lives, families, education, health, hormone therapies, sex reassignment surgeries and legal processes. Güngör answers our questions and tells us that though trans men are not as visible as trans women, it would be wrong to think that this situation makes the lives of trans men any easier:

“At times, not being visible creates bigger problems. (Blue) (Un)Identity is a serious deal. Trans men have no access to vital needs such as employment, health care and housing: along with that, many trans men are subjected to police violence because of the color of their IDs. Our daily lives are under siege.”

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