I totally LOL'd when I saw the advert for Sky Airlines on Turkish TV (via satellite, of course), simply because of the fantastic choice of colour.
Looking at this photo, I also love the Adam & Eve Hotel sponsorship plastered on the side of the plane. From the website, Adam & Eve looks like an AMAZING hotel. But it's not exactly one of those hotels that you would take your kids to. Basically erotica and hedonism are the name of the game there. So, flamboyant gay rainbow flag with an endorsement from a hedonistic sex hotel...sounds like my kind of plane xD.
Whilst I am still very much a Turkish Airlines man myself (who doesn't love their food?!), if I ever want a charter flight to Antalya then I guess I know the man to call.
Sevici argo değil mi ayol?! Türkçeyi korumaya çalışan bir dernek olarak milleti argoya doğru yöneltmemeniz gerekmiyor mu? Sözlüğün travesti tanımı da şudur:
TDK hariç hepimiz bildiğimiz gibi cinsiyet kimliği cinsel yönelimden ayrı bir kavramdır ve travestiler herhangi bir cinsel yönelime (eşcinsel, heteroseksüel, bilmemneseksüel...) yönelmiş olabilirler. Vikipedi'ye göre travestilik, "öteki cinsiyetin giyidiği kıyafetlerini giymektir". Bu tanım, kelimenin asıl kökenine (Fransızca "transvestisme", yani Latince "trans-" [="bir taraftan öbür tarafa"] ile Fransızca "vestisme" [giyinme]) daha yakındır ve sadece kadın gibi giyinen erkekleri değil, erkek gibi giyinen kadınları da kapsar.
Evlilik ve kan bağına dayanan, karı, koca, çocuklar, kardeşler arasındaki ilişkilerin oluşturduğu toplum içindeki en küçük birlik
Eşcinsel ebeveynlerden oluşan aileler Türkiye'de henüz yasal bir statüye sahip olmamalarına rağmen yine İngiltere dahil olmak üzere çoğu Batı ülkesinde var olan bir kavram. TDK, şu ağlatıcı güzelliğe sahip ve mutlu olan ailelere baksanıza:
Lately I have been hooked on the absolute godsend that is 4oD. I mean, what could possibly be more fun than catching up on episodes of the Inbetweeners or Misfits? Or broadening one's horizons with shows such as Queer As Folk? (I was too young to even know of its existence when it was first broadcast).
This morning, having woken up at quarter to 6 and looking for something new to watch, I happened to come across "A Jihad for Love". And so I decided to watch it. (If you reside in the UK you can watch it on 4oD right now).
Being the absolute geek/Wikipedia addict I am, I had come across this film's name before whilst researching something or another related to homosexuality, purely for self-enrichment of course.
If I must explain what this film is about, it is basically a documentary revolving around the lives of homosexual Muslims in various settings, including a Pakistani imam based in South Africa, a Turkish lesbian couple, a bunch of Iranian men fleeing to Turkey to seek asylum in Canada, homosexual Muslims in India and LGBT Arabs living in France. Also, as the title suggests, the film explores the "jihad" that defines the relationship between their sexuality and their religion, each person having their own different take on the matter.
If I must be honest, the film only served to strengthen my atheism as someone who was raised as a Muslim. I totally understood the feelings of the people depicted in this film and what they were going through, whilst also feeling intense anger towards the heterosexist clerics who were oppressing them. I found myself heatedly debating with the computer screen about why homosexuality is not wrong and why using the Qur'an to discriminate against homosexuals is complete and utter hypocrisy.
The reasons for my atheism mainly revolve around the paradox of free will as well as my alienation from religion as a whole through my experiences with it. But it is not my job, of course, to be forcing my beliefs on others. The whole topic of homosexuality and Islam does, nevertheless, beg the following question:
If Allah truly does exist, why would Allah have created us the way we are if he didn't want us to be homosexual (or bi or trans)?
I have been alerted by a particular source that a Mediterranean-themed club night with Turkish, Greek, Arabic, Balkan and Latin music shall be taking place at Soho's Escape Bar on Monday 27th December (i.e. tomorrow night).
Sure, it might be a little short notice, alerting you the day before and all, but it should be loads of fun. I mean who doesn't love good old cheesy Mediterranean hits?! Or juicy Mediterraneans?!
As the end of 2010 draws closer and closer, it can probably be concluded that the biggest fail I've come across this year has got to be this, ladies and gentlemen:
OK, if the errors lay in grammar or syntax it would be understandable. But the massive fail here is that the translation means precisely the opposite of what is being input.
"Ben eşcinsel değilim" means "I'm not gay". Could machine translation possibly get any worse than giving the opposite meaning of what is requested?! Is this meant to be some sort of freaky conspiracy?!! Sort it out, Google!
For those hardcore news junkies who probably found out about this whole catastrophe yesterday (please keep scathing comments to yourselves; the fact that I'm even writing about yesterday's news absolutely riles my soul), RTÜK, which is basically a Turkish version of OFCOM for you Brits, has decided to fine Habertürk, one of Turkey's gazillion news channels, for discussing homosexuality, or more specifically, this particular scene of a crappy Turkish soap opera called "Kılıç Günü":
This scene, which, weirdly enough (as far as I'm aware - please correct me if I'm wrong) managed to escape unharmed, is significant because it happens to be the first ever broadcast scene of its kind in all Turkish TV history. Whilst that might initially sound exciting and super-cool to the queer ear, producer Osman Sınav, in response to the kıro kerfuffle that this particular scene generated, claimed that he wanted to use this series to show viewers the "evils" of homosexuality, presumably by throwing in yet another boring conspiracy theory. But, of course, can anything remotely intelligent be expected from the mouth of a complete dick who makes crappy, fascist shows like Kurtlar Vadisi? This show did end up getting cancelled, anyway, so no need to get our knickers in a twist over someone who has the artistic capabilities of Goebbels.
ANYWAY, RTÜK, being so concerned about protecting "the moral development of youth and children", has decided to fine Habertürk 500,000 liras for discussing homosexuality.
This isn't the first time such a thing has happened. For example, RTÜK also gave a warning to e2 over broadcasting the series "Hung", claiming that its treatment of such "perversions" as homosexuality as "normal" would be harmful for society's sexual health.
Now, I don't need to explain why I'm pissed off about this. It is pretty fucking obvious. But we should still be worried. The fact that Turks can't even discuss homosexuality on TV provides a highly deplorable image of the level of freedom of speech in Turkey as well as the medieval, ignorant attitudes that those in power still have. Because homosexuality cannot safely be discussed on Turkish television, this means that the Turkish masses in general will remain ignorant about gay issues, thus impeding on Turkey's fledgling gay rights movement. Furthermore, the message that RTÜK are sending out to Turkish LGBT youth is highly irresponsible in that RTÜK are basically telling them that they are "abnormal". I, myself, wanted to commit suicide once because of the way RTÜK made me feel.
If RTÜK are SO concerned about "protecting" children then how about getting rid of all those STUPID mafia shows and those STUPID late night talk shows? If anything they, through their idolisation of violence, paranoid nationalism and machismo, as well as their objectification of women, are the ones to blame for the problems of Turkish youth psychology as a whole (well partially, anyway - there is, of course, more to life than TV). NOT having a mere discussion about homosexuality.
Towards the end of September this year, a couple of days before I started university, I came up with the fabulous idea of forming my own Facebook group dedicated to Turkish and Turkish Cypriot LGBTs living in the United Kingdom. I called it: UK Turkish Gay and Lesbian Association (UKTGLA)
Like this blog, the group is also relatively new and, as a result, only has 23 members so far. Despite this arguably major shortcoming, I did nevertheless find it reassuring to know that I wasn't the only member of the Turkish community in this country who liked to park their bike up the dirt track.
So, why should you care about this? Well, you are reading this blog, aren't you? Join =). Please!!!
One particularly important aspect, I must say, is the Turkish-language "LGBT hayatı" discussion threads that I've created in the group's "Discussions" tabs, highlighting LGBT life in different parts of the UK in the Turkish language. I hope that group members will add more info to these threads, thus helping us form useful information "brochures", so to speak, for LGBT Turks whose command of English isn't particularly advanced.
