LGBTI+ organizations: Transphobia is a crime
*According to Trans Europe's data, we have lost 11 of our friends in Turkey due to hate crimes only since 2021, but the lives lost have never been merely a number.
*We remember Hande Buse Şeker, Nefes Balkan, Ecem Seçkin, Esra Ateş, Hande Kader, and countless others whose names we couldn't mention. Our anger towards their killers and the transphobic system that encourages those killers fuels our fight for justice, freedom, and equality.
Trans woman found dead on Kocaeli beach
The Human Rights Association (İHD) LGBTI+ Commission, the Dönme Magazine, and the Social Policy, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD) held a press conference at the İHD İstanbul Branch in commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.
Before the press conference, carnations were laid in Cihangir Park to commemorate Esra Ateş on Sadri Alışık Street.
Violations listed
During the meeting, Sarya İdil Güner from Dönme Dergisi and Eylem Çağdaş from the İHD LGBTI+ Commission stated the following:
*Right to life: As trans individuals, we cannot receive economic and social support from either the state or our families. Surviving, earning a living to feed ourselves, involves selling our labor as the only option. However, we face discrimination at every stage of employment and work life.
*Right to work: We, as sex workers, neither feel ashamed nor embarrassed about engaging in sex work. As transgender sex workers, when we aim to retire in our old age and carry out our work in a secure environment, we still face condemnation and embarrassment even from segments we expect to be trans-friendly. The guardians expected to ensure our safety, based on discriminatory provisions of the offenses law, subject us to a shower of fines.
*Transphobia: The problems don't end here. If you're transgender and in need of a place to stay, especially in these days when inflation and real estate crises are escalating, your situation becomes quite challenging. Many landlords either refuse to rent to transgender individuals simply because of their gender identity or demand rents that far exceed the norm. Even if you agree to these exorbitant rents, we still cannot live peacefully in our homes due to harassment from neighbors and community pressure.
*The transphobic system compels us to live in neighborhoods where we might feel somewhat safe and find peace, but the high cost of rent often makes it impossible for us. Living in these neighborhoods becomes challenging, especially for those of us who cannot even find employment. The neighborhoods where we can afford rent eventually turn into someone else's profit zone, and under the guise of urban renewal policies, we, as trans individuals, are often the first to be displaced through the gentrification process.
*Impunity: What happened in the past on Ülker Street, Esat-Eryaman is the same story today in Tarlabaşı and Bornova Street. We, as trans individuals, are not deemed fitting for these neighborhoods handed over to the wealthy; instead, we are seen as people who tarnish these areas. We face legal harassment from both guards and police, as well as pressure and violence from civilian gangs, leading to our forced eviction from these places.
*Right to access healthcare: When we go to the hospital, we may face discrimination and mistreatment from healthcare professionals. Some transphobic healthcare workers, who perceive trans bodies as "ill," may refuse to provide treatment because they don't want to touch us. In cases where this doesn't happen, we are often made to feel uncomfortable with biased questions and judgmental looks. This treatment reaches a point where some of us avoid healthcare facilities altogether just to escape this mistreatment, and we forego necessary treatment due to anticipated discrimination.
*Access to healthcare:
We experience the biggest challenge when we go to hospitals for gender affirmation processes. In order to live in the body we belong to and be able to state the gender we identify with, we have to convince a multitude of people and institutions, ranging from psychiatrists to judges. The psychological issues such as depression and anxiety that arise when we are forced to live in bodies and identities that do not make us happy have now been scientifically proven.
The so-called gender affirmation processes imposed on us in the name of protection, excessively medicalized and legalized, not only fail to protect us but also drag us into an increasingly unbearable sense of helplessness. However, it is evident that the transphobic system sees the affirmation process not as a fundamental human right but almost as a "luxury" or "favor."
The removal of hormone treatments from insurance coverage during the affirmation process and the denial of surgery reports to friends who complete the affirmation process according to the law are the most significant evidence of this. Many trans individuals are forced to seek alternative paths to overcome the psychological problems brought about by the prolonged affirmation process, often taking hormones without doctor supervision or undergoing surgery by unqualified doctors.
*Economic pressure: We either cannot find hormone medications in pharmacy stocks or cannot afford to purchase them due to exorbitant prices. Because doctors often do not prescribe hormones, we are frequently compelled to buy alternative hormone medications that come with side effects.
*Trans murders:
As it is evident, we, as trans individuals, are forced to engage in a struggle for life from the day we are born until the moment it ends. Remembering our friends who were killed only through hate crimes on this memorial day is not enough. We must show the escalating spiral of hatred and the transphobic system that encourages those killers until the moment the trigger is pulled.
These murders do not happen in a day. These murders can easily occur because you do not deem us worthy of a warm home, a job that can feed us, the professions we dream of, the health services that are our right, and a social life where we can be ourselves. These murders are the result of the accumulated hatred through seemingly trivial scornful looks, gossip behind our backs, and judgmental and curious questions in the ordinary flow of daily life.
This transphobia not only takes our friends from us through hate crimes. The mourning for Dilan Değirmenci, who died because she couldn't access her medications, has not ended. We still fondly remember Aligül Arıkan, who couldn't go to the hospital due to the anxiety of experiencing discrimination and left us because she couldn't receive an early diagnosis. We haven't forgotten Palmiye Deniz, who froze to death on the street due to a chain of neglect. We know that the suicides of Eylül Cansın, who directly confronted us with the truth by saying, "I couldn't do it, they didn't allow it!" and Zirve Soylu, who never withheld her joy from us despite experiencing violence multiple times, were not ordinary suicides.
"Our demand is clear: To be able to be ourselves"
At the end of the statement, it was stated:
"Despite all these challenges, trans individuals continue to organize and demand their rights. This year, the Istanbul Trans Pride March took place again after a hiatus of 6 years. Dönme Dergisi, which hasn't been published for years, has returned to our midst. Our demands are clear and simple: to be able to be ourselves, to live the lives we dream of, to experience a childhood, youth, and old age that everyone is entitled to, and most importantly, to die on our own terms!"
"Stand by trans individuals"
Following the statement, Lawyer Eren Kutluk from the Istanbul Bar Association stated:
"The legal violations against trans individuals are now at a level that even a blind person could see. We are in the year 2023, and all human rights advocates should stand by the trans community.
Atike from Women's Defense also addressed the issue:
"We know that trans murders are political. We will continue to fight together for a country where LGBTI+ individuals and trans people can live freely."
Lastly, Talya from the TİP LGBTI+ Commission said:
"Trans individuals are deprived of their most basic rights such as expression and health. There is no salvation alone; it's either all together, or none of us."
*Many LGBTI+ organizations and former HEDEP (People's Equality and Democracy Party) MP Musa Piroğlu also supported the statement.
(EMK/PE)