As trans individuals who are Turkish citizens, we came together against transphobia and we are making our voices heard with this manifesto.
For us, transphobia includes not only the fear and hatred of transgender people as it is defined in dictionaries, but also all forms of marginalisation, violence, and discrimination that trans people experience due to their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expressions, or simply because they are trans.
Discrimination is the exclusion of one group or individual from the rights and freedoms granted to another group or individual in the society because of traits like sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, ethnicity, health status, physical differences, race, color, age, or gender. We proclaim that we are looking into it and that we will fight this discrimination.
We protect human rights by supporting the Stonewall Riot, Ulker Street Boycott and Eryaman Case.
We publish the aforementioned manifesto, considering the struggle of every trans person from the moment they were born as the history of our movement, and we stand in support of transgender people who are killed in their own homes, on their streets, in parks, and who are driven to the brink of suicide due to discrimination.
Not when we unite, but at birth is our fight really come to life!
Every individual is different and everyone is equal! All human rights are also the rights of transgender people!
Being a transgender means having a life that is unique and too varied to conform to binary gender system stereotypes.
We refuse to let trans people fit into predefined categories who challenge the gender system, sexual orientation, and gender identities that have been imposed on us and are believed to be absolute.
We can be feminine, masculine, androgynous, agender or we can exist in many more ways and we will not give up on that.
Trans people are equal to everyone, under all conditions and at all times.
We won't tolerate ever being treated like "second-class citizens" or the "3rd sex" by society.
We will shatter the heterosexist stereotype and make the trans movement visible.
As trans activists, we will continue to fight for everyone's rights and speak up. We shall pursue these rights not just for ourselves but also for everyone.
Coming out is a right, Disclosure is a crime!
We reject having others define our sexual orientation, gender identity, our gender, and gender expressions. We defy the socially imposed gender roles and all the obligations they entail. No one else can tell us about a word about our own existence. This right belongs only to us. We reject the way that laws, institutions, authority, pressure, labels, and rules define our identities on our behalf! We shall resist ideologies and authorities that do not accept us and require us to hide our gender identity and sexual orientation. We won't allow our identities to be revealed via our trans individuality, and we won't let this identity to be used against us as a threat. We do not have to clarify our gender, sexual orientation or gender identity to anybody.
Life quality and educational access are closely related!
We censure the heteronormative structure of education. We criticise the educational system's heteronormative design. We disapprove of a binary gender system and heterosexual sexual orientation that were used to establish a reproductively oriented educational system. Transgender people are not able to access education under the current system. We are prevented from advancing personally and professionally by discrimination and human rights violations in education.
Everyone has a right to health!
We will fight against sexist, transphobic and homophobic attitudes that prevent individuals like us from accessing health and social services. We will decipher these manners and attitudes.
Transgender people who have chosen to make changes in their bodies are denied access to health and sometimes they are denied treatment because of their trans existence.
For transgender people who are looking for a job, we demand positive discrimination.
We will expose any transphobic, homophobic, or sexist behavior, within the hiring, promotion, termination, or deskilling processes. We will also fight against any discrimination against transgender people in the workplace.
Not just the areas that have been freed, the entire city is what we want!
We cannot find happiness and freedom in small cities. Furthermore, it does not grant the right to life. To survive, we are compelled to relocate to urban areas. We don't want to live in the ghettos and darkness of the cities we relocate to. We'll make transphobia a public issue. We disagree with the idea that transgender people must only live and work on specific streets. We prefer the entire city than the ghettos! For those like us, we even want the freedom to reside anywhere in a city!
Small cities that do not guarantee Turkish transgender people the right to life are suitable locations for refugees to live in. Racism and transphobia are prevalent among trans refugees in the small cities where they have settled. We will not remain silent in the face of the prejudice that transgender people experience!
We'll work to get rid of any obstacles standing in the way of our right to shelter. In support of our trans friends and in response to the issues they encounter when renting a home and living in dorms, we will make transphobic discrimination visible.
We will expose the transphobia of lawmakers and enforcers!
We will stand up for transgender rights. Jointly, we will stand in solidarity against the mistreatment and torture of transgender people by law enforcement and private security, as well as against any action that limits their freedoms.
Due to ambiguous terms like "general morality," "obscenity," and "Turkish family structure," we will not stand by and let our trans existence be penalized and marginalized. We will fight against laws that have been interpreted to discriminate against transgender people, such as the Misdemeanor Law and the Highway Traffic Law, as well as policies that intimidate us because of our gender identity.
We are viewed as the suspect when we are the victim. The police are rewarded with "acquittal" and "non-prosecution" as we protest their harassment, mistreatment, and torture. In addition, we are accused of "resistance to the officer in charge". We will not stop exposing the transphobia of law enforcement.
We want gender identity and sexual orientation to be included in the constitution!
We, the subjects of the movement against homophobia and transphobia will fight for; the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity to the equal protection of law and for the constitutional assurance of individual rights and freedoms of transphobia ana homophobia victims.
Trans individuals are being targeted for hate murders because of their sexual identity while all other individuals have their right to live under constitutional assurance. Since hate crimes are not acknowledged in the current Criminal Law, the process of hate crimes against transgender individuals are left to the initiative. Hate crimes and hate speech should be regulated in Criminal law in order to prevent the arbitrariness of said process. We will work to establish a hate crimes legislation to protect transgender individuals’ right to live who are forced to live face to face with death.
“Silence against hate crime is being a parter in crime!”
Trans murders are political murders. We know who the killers are! Sole killers are not the ones holding the gun or the knife. Killer is the the system which forces trans individuals to live deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Those in charge and those who refuse to take action to solve these issues, speak out against these murders, and establish legal procedures are also killers!
Stop the discrimination, hate speech and censorship in media!
Trans people are portrayed in the media as sexual objects, their existence is criminalized, transsexual stereotypes are promoted, and violence against trans people is justified. People who identify as trans are being mocked. Using only the attacker's statement, news is made. Meanwhile, the fight for transgender rights is being censored by the media.
We want the media to be purged of transphobia and cease to be a means of producing and disseminating hate speech; edit news in favor of the victim and decipher discrimination instead of legitimize it.
Stop using images that degrade the victim in the media and expose transgender people. Don't use images that promote prejudice against them. Put an end to the exposure of trans people and expose transphobia.
To create spaces where transgender people may express themselves, we'll battle. To establish venues where trans people may express themselves, we implore everyone who fights against transphobia to work with trans people.
Stop declaring trans people sick!
In fields where transgender people are marginalized, medicine comes first. The protectors of the binary gender system's normalization are now medical professionals. We reject the ill-advised procedures some doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists use to treat transgender people! In order to stop their "different" behaviors, children who exhibit behaviors that challenge the rigidity of social femininity and masculinity roles are subjected to compelling behavior modification techniques in psychiatry clinics. We refuse to categorize sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expressions that defy established gender norms.
We will not take military psychiatry’s declaring trans women and trans men as well as gay individuals and bisexual men as sick people by feeding on “general morality”, militarism, sexist and transphobic ideologies sitting down! “General morality”, militarism; sexist, transphobic and homophobic heterosexist system is the “sick” one!
Stop treating transsexuality as a disease and accept personal statement as a principle!
Due to a lack of trans-specific specialists and uninformed staff, trans people who want to change their bodies frequently experience psychological violence in hospitals. The gender expressions of transgender people are still restricted in the body-building process due to some sexist impositions, and they are made to conform to stereotypes. We need professional assistance, not just food for our bodies, please! We own our physical selves. We own our body, we ask you to not rule us but support us professionally!
Changes in procedures at various points during the construction of transgender gender process make trans people victims. To ensure that the gender transition process does not victimize any transgender people and is reshaped, we will collaborate with trans organizations and activists. We demand the establishment of special centers where transgender people who have experienced transphobia can battle their traumas side by side.
We will keep fighting for the recognition of sex work as a form of labor.
We will make sex work recognized as a form of labor for trans individuals who are unemployed and therefore forced to be a sex worker to maintain their lives and/or for everyone who is willing to be a sex worker.
We protest heterosexist family institution!
We protest sexist family institution which; only recognizes heterosexual relationships, is formed by heterosexist marriages, keeps on reproducing social gender roles, strenghtens capitalism by serving the transfer of private property in its current form, glorifies men as the provider and therefore the arbiter, confines women by keeping them responsible for child care and housework.
Trans individuals can also be gay, bisexual. We consider not registering LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) individuals’ solely due to their orientation and therefore not benefiting from the rights and services granted to heterosexual married couples through these s as discrimination and we fight against this.
We recognize the of individuals who have no reproductive purpose and/or who have not signed any official documents as a family also, apart from the families who formed together with the purpose of reproducing and signed.
We stand in solidarity with trans people in penitentiaries!
We are against human rights violations in penitentiaries. We see the discrimination trans individuals face because of their existence! We oppose the placement of transgender people in penitentiaries based on their assumed biological gender without recognizing their personal statements and their isolation under the pretext of protection. With these actions, trans individuals are punished once again due to their sexual orientation. They are isolated from social activities and social services in penitentiaries since it is wanted to prevent them from interacting with other inmates.
Like penitentiaries, women's shelters, nursing homes and many more gender-based institutions should be made suitable for trans people.
We know that freedom is only possible by questioning every form of authority and by solidarity with public opposition. We will keep raising our voices as long as we are unhappy with the current condition we are in. We will not accept disrespectful, discriminative comments and we will work on changing them. May our resistence accompany our actions and may our actions change the World as they changed us.
We will not be shamed for being trans.
We will not change, you will get used to it!
