Cases of rights violations and torture that peaked in the 1970s and restrictions put in place by the military coups prevented “marginal” identities from politically organizing in Turkey. They gained an opportunity to organize only in the second half of the 1980s. The early years of LGBTI+ activism were also shadowed by state oppression, forcing people to gather “informally.”
During this period, Beyoğlu and İstiklal Avenues were important spaces for LGBTI+ people to socialize. Thus, the first resistance movement burgeoned in these spaces. The first public protest of the LGBTI+ movement in Turkey was a hunger strike organized in 1987 by 37 gay and trans individuals. Taking place in Taksim Square, near the stairs to Gezi Park that face Tarlabaşı Boulevard, the aim of the strike was to protest harassment and police violence. After such protests in public spaces, LGBTI+ individuals were portrayed as “the source of violence” by the media during the 1990s. While televisions glorified gay singers on their “entertainment” programs, trans sex workers were represented as individuals “who cause moral corruption, cause violence and practice prostitution” by the news programs (Being a Queer in the 80s, February 2012).
Meanwhile, the struggle for LGBTI+ rights transformed into a more visible social movement in the 1990s. Initially gathering in clubs, houses, and Yeşil Barış Newspaper (Green Peace Newspaper) in the 1980s, the LGBTI+ movement established its first organization, LambdaIstanbul, in 1993 and the second one, Kaos GL, in Ankara in 1994. In 1993, Events for Sexual Liberation – the first-ever attempt to organize a Pride Walk in Turkey – was banned by the Governorship of Istanbul, and many activists who came from abroad to support the walk were deported. The international gay-lesbian conference organized by Lambdaİstanbul was supposed to take place between July 2-4, 1993, but was also banned by the Governorship. In the same year, Lambdaİstanbul held meetings at Club Prive in an effort to promote dialog among gays and lesbians and develop a common discourse based on their experiences. Even though they were usually interrupted by the police raids, the meetings were held in different venues weekly and continued to bring the LGBTI+ community together. The “Pride Conference” was also banned in 1995.
The first Pride Walk was held in 2003, attended by 50 people. In 2011, the number of people attending the walk increased to 11,000. The most widely attended İstanbul Pride took place right after the Gezi Park protests on June 30, 2013 (Günal and Çelikkan, 2019). As of 2015, a new wave of bans hit the Pride Walks. This policy was born of the political authority’s efforts to prevent protests or rallies in and around Taksim. On the other hand, it also served the purpose of obstructing the visibility of the LGBTI+ movement, which has been disturbing the Islamist and other conservative segments of society.
2021 was an eventful year for the LGBTI+ movement in Turkey. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) launched a campaign claiming that an exhibition organized at Boğaziçi University "insulted religious values." As a result of the campaign, two student clubs - Boğaziçi University Women's Studies Club (BÜKAK) and Boğaziçi University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Intersex and Plus Studies Club (BÜLGBTI+) - were shut down. During the student demonstrations against this decision, the police detained students who were carrying the rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBTI+ movement. The Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, targeted LGBTI+ people by claiming that they do not lead lives in line with “Turkish customs and family values.” His claims led to an increase in hate speeches and crimes. In addition, Soylu attempted to link the LGBTI+ community with armed revolutionary groups, such as the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), trying to criminalize them in the public eye. The AKP also instrumentalized the criminalization of LGBTI+ people in its justification for withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. The withdrawal resulted in the rise of an intersectional opposition coming from women's and LGBTI+ movements. The fact that the AKP government has been targeting LGBTI+ people has made them vulnerable to state violence and societal discrimination, thus, only worsening the problems that queer people face.
Sources
Günal, A. & Çelikkan, M. (2019). Hatırlayan Şehir: Taksim’den Sultanahmet’e Mekân ve Hafıza. Hakikat Adalet Hafıza Merkezi.
The Black and Pink Triangle İzmir Association (Black Pink Triangle, for short) published two books - “Being a Lubunya in the ‘80s” and “Being a Lubunya in the ‘90s” – which memorializes LGBTI+ people and their social movement in Turkey. These books were the results of an oral history project conducted by Black Pink Triangle and the Global Dialogue Foundation. Published as a part of the Black and Pink Triangle History Series, the first book was released in February 2012, followed by the second one in March 2013.
The founders of Black and Pink Triangle first organized in September 2006 and have been continuing with their operations as an association since February 2009. In addition to advocating for LGBTI+ rights, the association also produces open-source materials about the overlooked and silenced personal and social histories of LGBTI+ people in Turkey. Black and Pink Triangle’s oral history projects originated from its observation that there is a lack of sufficient resources on the history of LGBTI+ people in Turkey. Black and Pink Triangle began conducting oral history interviews in December 2010 with an aim to see Turkey’s last 40 years through the lens of LGBTI+ people’s testimonies. The reason why it chose the late 1970s and early 1980s as the timeframe for the first book were to scrutinize the experiences of LGBTI+ people before and after the military coup of September 12, 1980, which was a turning point in Turkey’s political history. Despite the fact that LGBTI+ people suffered from state discrimination and violence during the coup, there has not been a comprehensive study on this topic until recently. Thus, we can also say that one of the main objectives of this study was to memorialize the discrimination and rights violations that LGBTI+ individuals suffered within the bigger framework of Turkey's political history.
Starting with a historical overview of the 1980s, “Being a Lubunya in the '80s” conveys the life stories of nine LGBTI+ individuals. As part of the research, more than one semi-structured was conducted with each respondent. In order to check whether the locations and events mentioned during the interviews were consistent, as well as to access more sources of information, a variety of books and fanzines were also utilized. Moreover, the book contains photos from the personal archives of the interviewees.
“Being a Lubunya in the '90s” is the second book of the series that aims to write an LGBTI+ history and create collective memory. By drawing on the testimonies of 19 individuals, the book tells the story of how LGBTI+ people came together and organized for the first time. The book deals mostly with how the early activist practices were born and evolved, such as in 1993, and the first experiences of organizing and publishing thematic magazines. Among the main issues covered by the book are the Ülker Street Events [1] and the everyday life experiences of trans people whose involvement in the LGBTI+ movement helped it gain momentum. The book also includes details about how LGBTI+ people were represented in media, how they were subjected to systematic state discrimination and violence, and where they were socializing, such as bars, clubs, public baths, and parks, where they socialized.
Even though the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a “disease” on May 17, 1990, stigmatization of and discrimination against of LGBTI+ people persist to this day. LGBTI+ people cannot freely disclose their gender identity and sexual orientation. When they do, they are thrown out of their homes, fired from their jobs and subjected to social pressure. In other cases, even their lives are at stake as they become targets of hate crimes. LGBTI+ people continue to face discrimination and are labeled as “sick,” “deviant,” “sinful,” “immoral” and even “terrorists” by the government and individuals, institutions, and media outlets that have close ties to the government. As a result, they disguise their identities, pretend to be someone they are not and/or attempt suicide. When their gender identity and/or sexual orientation is revealed, they are subjected to humiliation, and verbal and physical abuse. As in the case of journalist Baki Koşar’s murder in 2006 and Ahmet Yıldız’s murder in 2008, many perpetrators of LGBTI+ murders remain uninvestigated and thus unresolved. When criminal charges are brought against the murderers, they receive reduced sentence due to “unjust provocation (by the victim).” As violence against LGBTI+ people is legitimized, the number of hate crimes and cases of suicide increase. The number of transgender murders in Turkey is higher than any other country in Europe, and it ranks ninth globally. To end transphobic and hate discourses, there is a need (1) to create and put anti-discrimination policies in action, (2) to ensure that state institutions, and administrators in every position do not perpetuate discrimination, (3) to approach the issue of hate crimes from the perspective of equality and ensure it with laws. Otherwise, the narratives of people who take the risk of revealing their identities and sharing their personal stories cannot be widely circulated and take place in historical accounts because of the prevailing heterosexual, patriarchal, sexist and discriminatory discourses.
In the context of the project, books were produced with minimal resources and means. This lack did not affected the quality of the books’ content. It only negatively affected the promotion and advertisement of the books which prevented them from reaching a wider audience. The books cannot be monetized since they were produced as a part of a non-profit project. Thus, professional capabilities of a publishing house cannot be used in distributing the books. While the books could have reached a greater number of people if bookstores were to utilized, they now reach a limited.
[1] This terminology is used for the violent attacks against LGBTi+ individuals and the events that followed in the Ülker Street in the Cihangir Neighborhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, in the period before the “Habitat II” conference to be held in June 1996 in Istanbul."
“Being a Lubunya in the ‘80s” and “Being a Lubunya in the ‘90s” serve to safeguard the legacy of the LGBTI+ movement, conveying it to future generations. The books are distributed free of charge by the Black and Pink Triangle Izmir Association. Both books can also be accessed on Kaos GL’s website.
The personal stories shared in the books were later adapted into theatrical plays by Ufuk Tan Altınkaya. “Being a Lubunya in the ‘80s” was first staged at Mekan Artı (Istanbul) in 2013, and the play has been continuously on ever since. Thousands of people watched the play and as a result, became better acquainted with the lives of trans people. The play was also performed in Izmir, Bodrum, and Ankara. After two initial performances in 2016 and 2019, the show is still being staged in Berlin.
Even though the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a “disease” on May 17, 1990, stigmatization of and discrimination against LGBTI+ people persist to this day. LGBTI+ people cannot freely disclose their gender identity and sexual orientation. When they do, they are thrown out of their homes, fired from their jobs, and subjected to social pressure. In other cases, even their lives are at stake as they become targets of hate crimes. LGBTI+ people continue to face discrimination and are labeled as “sick,” “deviant,” “sinful,” “immoral,” and even “terrorists” by the government and individuals, institutions, and media outlets that have close ties to the government. As a result, they disguise their identities, pretend to be someone they are not, and/or attempt suicide. When their gender identity and/or sexual orientation is revealed, they are subjected to humiliation and verbal and physical abuse. As in the case of journalist Baki Koşar’s murder in 2006 and Ahmet Yıldız’s murder in 2008, many perpetrators of LGBTI+ murders remain uninvestigated and thus unresolved. When criminal charges are brought against the murderers, they receive reduced sentences due to “unjust provocation (by the victim).” As violence against LGBTI+ people is legitimized, the number of hate crimes and cases of suicide increases. The number of transgender murders in Turkey is higher than any other country in Europe, and it ranks ninth globally. To end transphobic and hate discourses, there is a need (1) to create and put anti-discrimination policies in action, (2) to ensure that state institutions and administrators in every position do not perpetuate discrimination, (3) to approach the issue of hate crimes from the perspective of equality and ensure it with laws. Otherwise, the narratives of people who risk revealing their identities and sharing their personal stories cannot be widely circulated and take place in historical accounts because of the prevailing heterosexual, patriarchal, sexist, and discriminatory discourses.
In the context of the project, books were produced with minimal resources and means. This lack did not affect the quality of the books’ content. It only negatively affected the promotion and advertisement of the books, which prevented them from reaching a wider audience. The books cannot be monetized since they were produced as a part of a non-profit project. Thus, the professional capabilities of a publishing house cannot be used in distributing the books. While the books could have reached a greater number of people if bookstores were to be utilized, they now reach a limited.
