Our Anti-Homophobia/Transphobia Struggle in Kocaeli

It all began with my participation in the training of local correspondence conducted by Kaos GL. During my training, I was informed that there were LGBT group formations in universities like Hacettepe University, METU, and Istanbul University. Then, I asked myself: How would it be to form a LGBT group in my university?

 

Throughout the training courses, I tried to find some answers to many questions in my mind: “Is there any news and how to find those news on LGBT in Kocaeli (a city near İstanbul)?” To my surprise, once you look at things from the angle of a correspondent, you see that everywhere abounds with news.

 

I was also wondering about how to reach LGBTs students of Kocaeli University who wanted to fight against homophobia and transphobia. My friends and I were trying to come out of this labyrinth.

 

One day, as my friend and I were looking through the magazine of Kaos GL and were busy with our readings, we suddenly noticed someone repeatedly passing in front of our table and trying to hear what we were talking.

 

Curiosity surrounded us. We started to think whether that student was a homosexual or not.

It was, of course, inappropriate to say “Hey!” and ask “Are you gay?”. Again, it would be rude to question him: “You eavesdrop on us?”

 

Once again, the question came to my mind: “What can I do to form an LGBT group and how can I contact with LGBTs at the university?” Then, I thought that it would be a good startup to organize a panel. I shared my idea with the group of women’s studies of which I was a member.

 

We were of the same idea: Such an activity would be nice. But… “Are we able to realize our dream in our university?” Nevertheless, we were determined to take our chance!

 

I contacted with friends from Kaos GL and we decided on the day and time of the panel. It was time to arrange the meeting hall. We had to obtain the permission of the university administration.

 

First, we wrote a petition for permission for the hall. We put down on the petition that the subject of the activity was ‘Homophobia and Discrimination’ .That caught the eye of the administrative personnels and they began to ask questions as if they were the decision makers: “What is homophobia? What will you discuss, guys?” They did not hesitate to discourage us.

But we achieved to make the meeting. It was a needle match but we won.

 

After getting permission and arranging the hall, it was time to announce the activity and persuade people to join the meeting. “What should we do to make the announcement attractive?” That was another point since we did not have much time.

Due to the short time, the only thing to do was to announce our activity on Facebook and to distribute handouts in the city.

Frankly speaking, we were very excited because our meeting would be the first in which homophobia and the rights of  LGBT movement were the agenda. We were worried about the number of participation.

 

A couple of days ago, we put ‘Zenne’ into display and the hall was crowded.

 

And the time came for our activity. We welcomed our guests from Kaos GL at the bus station. I was feeling tense because the meeting might turn into a disaster. “What if people won’t participate in our activity?”

 

I was walking on the air when I saw the crowd around the meeting hall.

 

There were 200-250 participants and many remained standing. Like the meeting with Banu Güven, our activity turned out to be the one with the highest participation.

It was great to see that all our efforts did not go down the drain. The 2-hour planned meeting continued over 3 hours and we were praised. This event turned out to be the starting point for the LGBT organization at the university.

 

We met people who wanted to help us struggle with homophobia and transphobia. We held the first meeting ten days after the activity. I hoped that the participation would be high again.

 

My friends and I went to the cafe where we planned to meet. We were waiting. It was, of course, impossible to pick our guests over the crowd. After a while, we came togehter. It was a great feeling for me to witness the beauty of the rainbow in their soul.

Our first meeting as an organization was crowded, too. We determined how to come togehter again. We decided that we shouldered the responsibility of standing against the heterosexist order.

 

Needless to say, we clamped togehter when we saw “Homosexuality is immoral; adultery is a crime” poster prepared by Saadet Partisi (Felicity Party).

 

We created a group on Facebook in order for an easier communication.

 

The participation was not that high in the following gatherings. However, some things started to change in this city. At least, we know that we are high in number. We know each other now.

 

In cooperation with Eğitim-Sen (Education and Science Worker’s Union), we held the second “Anti-Homophobia Meeting” on 27 November 2012.

 

It is hard to predict how the future of the organization will be. We believe we need to take a step further to struggle. That is a solid start!

 

Translator: Ali Ant