City of protocol to host international anti-homophobia meeting
Turkish Daily News
Murathan Mungan, an author, playwright and poet, will participate in the international gathering in Ankara, where he will debate the theme ‘Homophobia as a Form of Systematized Animosity’
Ali Erol, a gay rights activist from Ankara, is nowadays in a state of joyful anticipation as the Ankara-based Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos-GL) will this week host “The International Anti-Homophobia Meeting” -- the first such international meeting to take place in a widely conservative country like Turkey.
Gay groups from across the globe will participate in the five-day anti-homophobia event in Ankara that is scheduled to end on May 21 to tackle the problem of homophobic feeling by simultaneously marking the second International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).
IDAHO was designated last year, on the 15th anniversary of the day the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders.
“We encounter homophobic attitudes and behaviors in all areas of our daily lives. We are exposed to discrimination because of our sexual orientation. When we cannot resist homophobia; we foster our worries and anger, directing them towards ourselves and the people around us. But that is the last thing to be desired,” said Erol in an interview with the Turkish Daily News, in an effort to clarify the goal of this international meeting.
Kaos-GL, of which Erol has been an active member from the beginning, started as a civil society initiative that aimed at the liberation of gays in Turkish society by publishing Turkey's first and only lesbian and gay journal – Kaos-GL -- since September 1994.
After more than a decade of struggling as an informal activist group, Kaos-GL was finally approved in July of last year as a nongovernmental organization under the name of the Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association.
However, in September, the association faced being shut down when the deputy governor of Ankara asked a court to order its closure, claiming that it violated morality laws.
Eventually, the Ankara Prosecutor's Office decided not to open a case, noting that there was nothing immoral in the name or regulations of the organization.
‘Not a crime, not a sin, not a disorder'
What they will try to disseminate by this event is to make it known that homophobia is not only an issue concerning gays and lesbians but also heterosexual women and men, Erol emphasized.
“We would like to exchange our ideas about the issue of how homosexuals and heterosexuals can be liberated together. We are well aware of the fact that homophobia is a global affair. Based on this fact, we would like to learn and share the anti-homophobic experiences of gays and lesbians from the Balkans, the Middle East, Europe and all other parts of the world. We are looking for solutions to our problems. We would like to share the solutions we have found as well as create the material and intellectual means for acting together when necessary,” he said.
Prejudice against homosexuals remains strong in Turkey, even though same-sex relationships have never been criminalized as in other Muslim countries and homosexuals today figure among the country's top celebrities.
“Not a crime, not a sin, not a disorder; Cheers for gay and lesbian love!” is the concise motto of Kaos-GL.
From an historical overview to the new Turkish Penal Code:
This week, the Turkish capital, which is known as a city of protocol, will definitely witness an extremely different vivacity with participants and attendees from both Turkey and abroad having the chance to participate in workshops, conferences, presentations and screenings that will question and try to find a solution to issues such as gay-lesbian partnerships and marriages, the problems in families that have homosexual sons or daughters, coming out to parents, how parents' attitudes around this issue may change, homophobia in the family and resistance tactics employed by young gays or lesbians.
Journalists, academics, artists and writers from Austria, Canada, Denmark, Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom will debate themes such as “How Did the Press Frame the ‘Gay and Lesbian Struggle'?”; “The Reformation Process of the New Turkish Criminal Code and an Overview of the News Reports on Kaos-GL”; “The Masculine and Homophobic Sign in Art and Literature and the Construction of Language”; “Homophobia Created by Gays”; and “The ‘Sinful Sodomist,' the ‘Sick Homosexual,' the ‘Proud Gay' and the ‘Dubious Queer': A Historical Overview of Naming and Categorizing Same-Sex Desire.”
Mungan: An author and a gay; not a gay author:
Murathan Mungan is an author, playwright and poet whose work is among the most popular love poems. He is gay and he is an author. These are two separate determining characteristics of his personality, yet he doesn't like to be called a “gay author,” since this kind of definition in itself brings a classification and moreover discrimination.
One of Mungan's poetry books is called “Divan For Men" (Erkekler Ýçin Divan), -- a poetry collection courageously dedicated to men. He never felt the need either to hide his sexual orientation or to underline it -- as a matter of principle, he wanted to be referred only for his literate power.
Mungan will also participate in the event in Ankara, where he will debate the theme “Homophobia as a Form of Systematized Animosity.
Original Link: Turkish Daily News, http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=42843
Murathan Mungan, an author, playwright and poet, will participate in the international gathering in Ankara, where he will debate the theme ‘Homophobia as a Form of Systematized Animosity’
Ali Erol, a gay rights activist from Ankara, is nowadays in a state of joyful anticipation as the Ankara-based Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos-GL) will this week host “The International Anti-Homophobia Meeting” -- the first such international meeting to take place in a widely conservative country like Turkey.
Gay groups from across the globe will participate in the five-day anti-homophobia event in Ankara that is scheduled to end on May 21 to tackle the problem of homophobic feeling by simultaneously marking the second International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).
IDAHO was designated last year, on the 15th anniversary of the day the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders.
“We encounter homophobic attitudes and behaviors in all areas of our daily lives. We are exposed to discrimination because of our sexual orientation. When we cannot resist homophobia; we foster our worries and anger, directing them towards ourselves and the people around us. But that is the last thing to be desired,” said Erol in an interview with the Turkish Daily News, in an effort to clarify the goal of this international meeting.
Kaos-GL, of which Erol has been an active member from the beginning, started as a civil society initiative that aimed at the liberation of gays in Turkish society by publishing Turkey's first and only lesbian and gay journal – Kaos-GL -- since September 1994.
After more than a decade of struggling as an informal activist group, Kaos-GL was finally approved in July of last year as a nongovernmental organization under the name of the Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association.
However, in September, the association faced being shut down when the deputy governor of Ankara asked a court to order its closure, claiming that it violated morality laws.
Eventually, the Ankara Prosecutor's Office decided not to open a case, noting that there was nothing immoral in the name or regulations of the organization.
‘Not a crime, not a sin, not a disorder'
What they will try to disseminate by this event is to make it known that homophobia is not only an issue concerning gays and lesbians but also heterosexual women and men, Erol emphasized.
“We would like to exchange our ideas about the issue of how homosexuals and heterosexuals can be liberated together. We are well aware of the fact that homophobia is a global affair. Based on this fact, we would like to learn and share the anti-homophobic experiences of gays and lesbians from the Balkans, the Middle East, Europe and all other parts of the world. We are looking for solutions to our problems. We would like to share the solutions we have found as well as create the material and intellectual means for acting together when necessary,” he said.
Prejudice against homosexuals remains strong in Turkey, even though same-sex relationships have never been criminalized as in other Muslim countries and homosexuals today figure among the country's top celebrities.
“Not a crime, not a sin, not a disorder; Cheers for gay and lesbian love!” is the concise motto of Kaos-GL.
From an historical overview to the new Turkish Penal Code:
This week, the Turkish capital, which is known as a city of protocol, will definitely witness an extremely different vivacity with participants and attendees from both Turkey and abroad having the chance to participate in workshops, conferences, presentations and screenings that will question and try to find a solution to issues such as gay-lesbian partnerships and marriages, the problems in families that have homosexual sons or daughters, coming out to parents, how parents' attitudes around this issue may change, homophobia in the family and resistance tactics employed by young gays or lesbians.
Journalists, academics, artists and writers from Austria, Canada, Denmark, Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom will debate themes such as “How Did the Press Frame the ‘Gay and Lesbian Struggle'?”; “The Reformation Process of the New Turkish Criminal Code and an Overview of the News Reports on Kaos-GL”; “The Masculine and Homophobic Sign in Art and Literature and the Construction of Language”; “Homophobia Created by Gays”; and “The ‘Sinful Sodomist,' the ‘Sick Homosexual,' the ‘Proud Gay' and the ‘Dubious Queer': A Historical Overview of Naming and Categorizing Same-Sex Desire.”
Mungan: An author and a gay; not a gay author:
Murathan Mungan is an author, playwright and poet whose work is among the most popular love poems. He is gay and he is an author. These are two separate determining characteristics of his personality, yet he doesn't like to be called a “gay author,” since this kind of definition in itself brings a classification and moreover discrimination.
One of Mungan's poetry books is called “Divan For Men" (Erkekler Ýçin Divan), -- a poetry collection courageously dedicated to men. He never felt the need either to hide his sexual orientation or to underline it -- as a matter of principle, he wanted to be referred only for his literate power.
Mungan will also participate in the event in Ankara, where he will debate the theme “Homophobia as a Form of Systematized Animosity.
Original Link: Turkish Daily News, http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=42843
