Hate speech by Turkiye‘s government towards LGBTI+ has been increasing each passing day. The hate speeches, used almost like an election propaganda prior to the Presidential and Parliament Elections held in May, turn into acts in the form of a hate marche or a demonstation of violence from time to time. The whole country is practically hunting rainbows. However, LGBTI+s still resist at every corner to defend their rights against oppression and prohibitions. It is possible to see this resistance in various forms: At times it is solidarity, at times a march, a breath… And of course, the “I” in LGBTI+ is part of that solidarity:
Intersex refers to those born with hormonal or physical sexual characteristics that do not fit the medical norms used to describe male or female bodies.
It is biological. There are nearly 40 different biological states under the intersex umbrella. All of them have different characteristics. Their common characteristic is the societal problems they go through.
This description is from the Intersex Family Guide, published last week by Turkiye-based group Inter Solidarity, who resist for the rights and freedoms of intersex people.
Belgin Günay from Inter Solidarity, told Yeşil Gazete/Green Gazette of being an intersex in Turkiye, the exemplary bedside book titled Intersex Family Guide, the lives that intersexes are made to go through, the things attributed to bodies, bans imposed, decisions taken/implemented without even letting the owner of the body know.
Underlining that solidarity saves lives, Günay says the following:
“Intersexes had a totally different status due to invisibility even before the atmosphere of oppression reached these levels. They experienced the oppression in a different way. For intersexes, the oppression begins during the childhood, at home, within the family. LGBTs are slightly more visible. Because the LGBT movement has a practice of struggle, a history. Of course LGBTs have immense problems and are exposed to oppression but they are not as invisible as intersexes. While coming of age, an LGBT child can come across people like themselves on the Internet or around them and can discover themselves far earlier. Therefore, they are luckier when it comes to finding a circle to support them, people like themselves even if they go through serious issues.
There’s great manipulation towards intersexes; as our body, our gender identity are determined completely by what others say, as we are constantly directed into discretion… Even we are not informed of our own bodies. As a result, this struggle interferes with our chance to discover ourselves, do something or come together at very early ages, right from the start. Rather than coming out and suffering from the pain of exclusion, we suffer not coming out at all, being all alone, completely faking and pretending to be someone else. I believe invisibility is the greatest obstacle that should be overcome.”
