Category: LGBTI News

Boğaziçi University’s LGBTI+ Studies Club Closed

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

According to the news of Bianet, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has shared a decision with the signature of rector Melih Bulu and announced that Boğaziçi University’s LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club has been closed, arguing that the protests are “about it all.”

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) targeted the LGBTI+ community after Boğaziçi University students used a picture of Kaaba – a holy site for Muslims – featuring LGBTI+ flags in an exhibition during the ongoing protests.

The picture was on the floor to be hung as part of an exhibition at the university’s South Campus when Boğaziçi University’s Islamic Studies Club (BİSAK) noticed it and deemed it an insult towards Islam.

“An art exhibition was launched on the campus on Thursday [Jan. 28] via using the ongoing protests against the rector appointment as an excuse,” BİSAK tweeted on Jan. 29, referring to the month-long protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rector appointment to the university.

“We will never allow our Islamic values to be made fun of within our university. We don’t accept this immorality to be legitimized under the guise of art,” BİSAK said, which immediately drew the attention of pro-government and Islamist media outlets.

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has announced that Prof. Melih Bulu, who has been appointed as the new rector of Boğaziçi University by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has closed the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club over an investigation launched into a picture featuring the Kaaba, which also led to the arrest of two students at the weekend.

Decision of closure

In the official document signed by Bulu and sent to the related units of Boğaziçi University, a reference was made to the investigation which led to the arrest of two students and house arrest of two others.

“The candidacy status of the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club has been lifted on the grounds of the activities subjected to the related investigation and organization of events without permission,” the decision has read.

Source: Bianet and Duvar English

Israeli Rabbi: COVID-19 Vaccine Will Make You Gay

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Rabbi Daniel Asor told his followers in a recent sermon that they should avoid being vaccinated against COVID-19 as doing so could “turn them” into homosexuals, according to Israel Hayom.

The Rabbi shared conspiracy theories with his followers, claiming that the vaccines are manufactured by a “global malicious government,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Daniel Asor’s claimed that the “malicious government” is a mix of “secret societies,” including the Illuminati, and the Freemasons.

The secret societies seek to establish a new order in the world, he claimed.

Israeli media criticized the Rabbi, who urged his followers to not receive the vaccine at the time when other religious authorities ask people around the world to respond favorably to the vaccination campaign.

Several countries received COVID-19 vaccines, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, among other.

Rabbi Daniel Asor’s assertion goes against decrees issued by leading rabbis in Israel and around the world, who have called on ultra-Orthodox society to take every precaution against the global pandemic, including getting vaccinated.

Student Protests at Bogazici University

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Students of Istanbul’s Bogazici University defied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appointment of Melih Bulu as their school’s rector for a third day in a row, accompanied by more police officers than the previous demonstrations. Students marched to the ferry docks after a protest on campus, crossed the Bosphorus and joined a crowd of hundreds more in Kadıköy.

Melih Bulu was appointed rector on January 1 by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is a member of his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP. He was rector of Halic University in Istanbul before assuming his new post.

“We do not want an appointed rector. Melih Bulu is not our rector,” student representatives said in a press statement, demanded his resignation and that of other politically appointed rectors.

“It is not a crime if a rector has a political identity,” Omer Celik, the spokesperson of the AKP, told a press conference on Tuesday.

The first protest, on Monday, was held at the Bogazici University campus. Dozens of students were detained during and after the protest by police.

LGBTI+ students attended the protests with rainbow flags.

Call to Rectorate of Hacettepe University

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Call for morality to Rectorate of Hacettepe University for their unlawful behavior!

The call for action which addresses Hacettepe University Rectorate’s oppression and censorship towards queer research and LGBTI+ students is published.

The call for action which we also signed is as follows…

We are in solidarity with our fellow students against systematic oppression and censorship policy of Hacettepe University Rectorate towards Queer Studies Community. We condemn Rectorate’s position which disregards equality, human rights and academic freedom.

Our call to Rectorate of Hacettepe University: It is imperative for the order of a democratic society that you act accordingly with universal ethical principles, fulfill your duties arising from the constitution and laws, and comply with fundamental human rights. We demand that you abandon your discriminatory and unlawful attitude towards your LGBTI+ students and fulfill your obligations properly.

We stand by the Queer Studies Society and our friends in their struggle for rights.

SIGNTORIES

17 Mayıs Derneği
Aydın LGBTİ+ Dayanışması
Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi Renkli Çatı Kulübü
Bilkent Üniversitesi Kadın Çalışmaları Topluluğu
Çöpsüz ODTÜ İnisiyatifi
Genç LGBTİ+ Derneği
Hacettepe Eşitlik
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Biyoloji Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Dayanışma Ağı
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Hayvan Hakları ve Doğayı Koruma Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Kadın Çalışmaları Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Marksist Fikir Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Model Birleşmiş Milletler Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Münazara Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sanat ve Mimari Topluluğu
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Toplumsal Araştırmalar Topluluğu
Hevi LGBTİ+ Derneği
İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi LGBTİ+ Topluluğu
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Cinsiyet Kimliği ve Cinsel Yönelim Çalışmaları Kulübü
Kaos GL Derneği
Lambda İstanbul LGBTİ+ Dayanışma Derneği
Marmara Üniversitesi İnsan Hakları ve Anayasa Hukuku Araştırmaları Topluluğu
Marmara Üniversitesi Kadın Hakları Kulübü
MEF Üniversitesi LGBTQ+ Kulübü
ODTÜ Amatör Astronomi Topluluğu
ODTÜ BİYOGEN Topluluğu
ODTÜ Doğanın Çocukları
ODTÜ Emek Gençliği
ODTÜ Eşitlik
ODTÜ Kampüs Cadıları
ODTÜ Kavaklık İnisiyatifi
ODTÜ Klasik Gitar Topluluğu
ODTÜ LGBTİ+ Dayanışması
ODTÜ Marksist Fikir Topluluğu
ODTÜ Medya Topluluğu
ODTÜ Mimarlık Topluluğu
ODTÜ Münazara Topluluğu
ODTÜ Müzik Toplulukları
ODTÜ Öğrenci Kolektifi
ODTÜ Öğrenci Sendikası
ODTÜ Özgürlükçü Gençlik
ODTÜ Serüven Kültür
ODTÜ Sinema Topluluğu
ODTÜ Siyaset Bilimi Topluluğu
ODTÜ Sosyoloji Topluluğu
ODTÜ Toplumsal Cinsiyet Çalışmaları Topluluğu
ODTÜ Üniversiteli Kadın Kolektifi
ODTÜ Vegan
Özyeğin Üniversitesi LGBTİQ+ Kulübü
Sivil Alan Araştırmaları Derneği
Sunflowernet Sosyal Platformu
Türkiye LGBTİ Birliği

—

Credit: Mor Absolution

 

Greece’s First Openly Gay Minister

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Nicholas Yatromanolakis has made history by becoming Greece’s first openly gay minister in a cabinet reshuffle in the center-right government.

Nicholas Yatromanolakis, 44, has been promoted from the position of general secretary at the ministry to become the new minister of culture.

Alexis Patelis, the Greek Prime Minister’s chief economic advisor said in a tweet that, it was a “historic day for LGBTI+ representation, a big win for meritocracy and better decision-making through diversity”.

“Congrats to Nicholas Yatromanolakis for showing you can be yourself and still succeed,” he added. “May others draw strength to live their life openly.”

Nicholas Yatromanolakis’ Political Life

Before entering politics in 2014 as a founding member of the now-defunct centrist party Potami, Yatromanolakis worked in marketing and communications for companies including Microsoft and has a masters in public policy from Harvard.

“For a long time … I felt I had to choose and that there were identities that could never be compatible with one another,” said Yatromanolakis, who left To Potami in 2016 and joined the government in 2019.

He rejected the suggestion that his appointment to the culture ministry might be viewed as tokenism.

“People do not understand and see that the (cultural) sector… creates jobs, creates opportunities,” said Yatromanolakis, who used to work for a cultural center housing the country’s national opera and library.

He said his priorities in the job included channeling state financial aid to people working in the arts during the pandemic.

Asked what measures the government could take to support LGBTI+ people, Yatromanolakis said he wanted better implementation of existing anti-discrimination laws, including training in private companies and government bodies.

“No person growing up should feel they have to choose between who they are and what they want to become in life,” he said.

“I wish someone else was first before me … (but) if this helps people who have problems because of who they are … then it’s worth it.”

Which one is safe? WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal!

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Which application should LGBTI individuals use as communication application, Telegram, Whatsapp or Signal, which one is safe? Tamer Şahin evaluated messaging applications for the daily Hurriyet.

Cyber Security Specialist Tamer Şahin commented on the data privacy management of chat applications that have been the subject of discussion recently and the heavy user transition from WhatsApp to Telegram.

The most important issue that has occupied the agenda of the country lately is the changing confidentiality agreement of the WhatsApp application, which provides free services such as messaging, audio and video calls and is installed on almost everyone’s smartphones today. The new confidentiality agreement, which is mandatory in our country by WhatsApp, a Facebook organization and announced that the program cannot be used if it is not accepted, opened the issue of data security to discussion. With this latest move of the WhatsApp application, there was a “flock” to similar messaging and speech applications, especially Telegram.

What does the news privacy agreement bring?

Şahin said that many applications we have installed on our phone also request data from us, but among them, the ones that make money stand out.

Stating that companies such as Facebook and Google make money from data, Şahin explains the details of the new WhatsApp confidentiality agreement as follows:

“Actually, we have to look at this; We share a lot of data from daily messaging apps. And these messaging apps are now evolving, entering the business world. WhatsApp is preparing for this. In his last statement, İT says: ‘You can continue to correspond with your friends and family as before, but I reduce encryption and increase data sharing in accounts used for work. Because I provide free service, I provide service in return. ”

Mobile Apps like Facebook Messenger contain trojan

Reminding that we have shared many of our personal data so far, Şahin says that it will be a problem for us not to know how long the institution will process this data after today, and he describes Facebook as a “criminal” institution in this regard.

Stating that Facebook can benefit from all commercial data with the last confidentiality agreement; “Especially if you use Facebook Messenger, all your videos, photos and contact lists on your phone are completely open, so it’s something like a trojan.” he adds.

How Safe is The Telegram Shown as an Alternative?

After WhatsApp‘s latest confidentiality agreement, many users in our country reacted to this situation and announced that they would start using Telegram, a similar application. As a matter of fact, Telegram’s number of active users reached 500 million with millions of new users, according to Telegram‘s records recently. Well, what awaits users who switch to Telegram, worrying that WhatsApp will not protect their data.

Is Telegram more secure than WhatsApp?

Şahin comments on this subject as follows:

“Now there are different projects. Some of them are created as closed source code and the data in these projects are completely owned by that company. However, some of them use open source code and anyone can access them. Telegram stands out, it has so many features. You can reach 100 thousand people with the group feature. Of course all of this comes at a cost and is closed source. So we have no information about what is working on the server. ”

“The Most Balanced Application Signal in Terms of Safety”

Stating that those who want to communicate securely should stay away from the Telegram application, Tamer Şahin says that the application does not provide end-to-end encryption and that the most stable application in terms of security is signal.

“In Telegram, there is no user-to-user encryption and this is worse than WhatsApp. So Whatsapp; He says, “I cannot read the speeches.”However, conversations can be read on Telegram. Therefore Signal can be used. Signal is the most stable application in terms of usability and security. ”

Acceptance of Homosexuality is Increasing

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According to a study conducted in the USA, the tendency of homosexuality to be accepted in societies has increased worldwide. Turkey showed differences in acceptance rates by 25 percent Trends countries.

According to the survey results announced by the US-based Pew research company, more and more people around the world are of the opinion that homosexuality should be accepted more.

However, although there is a general increase in the acceptance of homosexuality, the rates vary according to the countries depending on the demographic structure. Accordingly, mostly in Western Europe, rich countries and societies with a high level of education, young people accept homosexuality as a part of the society.

According to the results of the research comparing 2002 and 2019, the rate of those who think that homosexuals are included in the society in the USA increased from 51 percent in 2002 to 72 percent in 2019. From 25 percent to 44 percent in South Korea, from 54 percent to 68 percent in Japan, from 33 percent to 54 percent in South Africa, from 83 percent to 86 percent in Germany and It increased from 74 percent to 86 percent in the UK.

In the study, it was also examined whether there is a parallel between individuals’ political tendencies and their perception of homosexuals. The research revealed that there is a deep ideological gap in the outlook for homosexuals between two different political fronts in the US.

Accordingly, 85 percent of Democratic voters in the USA support homosexuals, while those close to Republicans support homosexuals at 58 percent.

Bottom row in Turkey

Societies where homosexuality is not welcome were also listed in the study. Accordingly, Nigeria is the country where homosexuality is least accepted in society with 7 percent. 9 percent in Indonesia and Tunisia, 13 percent in Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, and 14 percent in Kenya and was determined to be 25 percent in Turkey.

Religion is also an influential factor in the view of homosexuality, according to Pew’s research. Accordingly, the rate of acceptance of homosexuals among religious people is lower than nonreligious people.

While 73 percent of religious and religious people in Germany think that homosexuals should be accepted in society, this rate is 91 percent for non-religious Germans.

While the proportion of religious people who support homosexuals is 22 percent in Israel, this rate is 62 percent for non-religious people. In Poland, the rate of support for homosexuals varies among religious and non-religious people. 73 percent of the religious and 53 percent of the non-religious people in the country think that homosexuality should be accepted.

62 percent of religious people in Italy, 80 percent of non-religious people, 66 percent of religious people in Brazil, and 76 percent of people who are not see homosexuality as a part of society.

while 19 percent of those defining homosexuality as a pious religious people in Turkey while seeing itself as part of society finds 45 percent. In the USA, this situation is at the level of 57 percent and 86 percent.

A total of 38 thousand 426 people from 34 countries participated in the study, which covered the period of May and October 2019.

Asexual Flag

~ Alan Turing ~ Leave a comment

Asexuality, lack of sexual attraction towards anyone, or low or absent interest in sexual activity. It can be thought of as a lack of sexual orientation or as a fourth variation next to homosexuality…

In a study conducted in 2004, the prevalence of asexuality was found to be 1%.

Asexuality is distinct from sexual abstinence and celibacy, in which factors such as behavioral and often an individual’s personal or religious beliefs have an effect; Unlike sexual behavior, sexual orientation is believed to be permanent. Some asexual people may engage in sexual activity for a variety of reasons, such as the desire to please their romantic partner or the desire to have children, despite the lack of sexual attraction or desire for sex.

The acceptance of asexuality as a sexual orientation is still quite new in terms of scientific research, it has begun to develop as a growing field of research in terms of both sociology and psychology. Although some researchers argue that asexuality is a sexual orientation, some researchers disagree.

Various asexual societies have started to form since the advent of the internet and social media. The fastest growing and best known of these communities is The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), founded by David Jay in 2001.

In a survey conducted in August 2010, based on voting and opinions, outside of AVEN and without being bound by English; The current flag has been adopted to raise awareness of asexuality. The flag was chosen from a non-AVEN website and was chosen as the first with 41.1% of the votes and 10.4% of this voting were in favor of not having a flag for asexuality.

The flag has 4 horizontal stripes and is similar to other sexual orientation flags. It is regarded as a symbol of asexuality.

Symbols and their meanings
Black: Symbolizes asexuality.
Gray: Gray-symbolizes asexuality and demisexuality.
White: Refers to the sexual cut.
Purple: Refers to the asexual community.

Pansexual Flag

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People with this orientation may be attracted to all kinds of genders. Although pansexuality is sometimes confused with bisexuality, the difference between them is that unlike bisexuals, pansexuals are also attracted to other genders such as agender, bigender.

The Pansexual Honor Flag is designed to increase the visibility and awareness of the pansexual community and to separate pansexuality from bisexuality.

Pansexual Flag Design

It consists of pink, yellow and blue horizontal bars. Pink, felt to women; Blue is felt to men; Yellow represents the love felt for people other than men and women.

LGBTQ Tiktok Videos

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I’ve selected some “lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer” LGBTQ+ tiktok videos for you.
If there are Tiktok videos you want to be added to the list, you can comment.

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