Emergency Transgender Solidarity for Shelter, Health and Safety

As a trans person who desires a life without exploitation for all living beings, I hereby call for solidarity to get rid of burdensome court fines that restrict my freedom and to accelerate my access to a safe shelter and good health. The situation is very urgent and makes my life difficult in many ways. Because of this court fines that I have not been able to pay yet, a notice of intent to levy has been sent to me. As a Kurdish, anti-militarist, conscientious objector transgender person; I am sentenced to these fines for my conscientious objection to military service. The payment of this debt is vitally important and required, in order to proceed with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) process and cope with some serious health problems. Because of this debt, I cannot officially work and earn a living. If I can not pay this debt, it will probably turn into jail time. Since I am a tango instructor by profession, I do not have any income at the moment as I can not physically organise workshops during the pandemic. Already, the conditions of life are very difficult for a trans person, such a situation makes it much more difficult for me to survive, especially during the transitioning, which gets harder both as a matter and as a spirit. Solidarity always keeps us strong in every way; I also take strength from people who stand in solidarity with me, who are with me in person, who do not leave me alone during these difficult times.

I would like to thank everyone reading this letter for their help, solidarity and good wishes. My goal in this $6,500 targeted solidarity campaign is to meet my debt obligation and to avoid further persecution. To eliminate my dysphoric health problems in the rest of my body and to move into a safe place are among my goals, too. Unfortunately, at the moment I don't live in a place that is safe for me. Thanks to your support, I will be able to acquire some basic needs for a place that I can move temporarily. When I overcome these problems with solidarity, I will be able to adapt to my daily life in a healthy way, and continue to organise queer tango workshops with queer participants. My projects for transgender activism, animal rights and feminist struggle will be stronger than where I left off.

I am a trans lesbian being who exists with poetry, feminism/transfeminism, queer tango, queer art and literature, queer theory, and gender theory. I am a 29 years old vegan living in Istanbul, with a nomadic sense of belonging, though. Before the pandemic, I had been organizing queer tango workshops. I was also participating in talks with regard to activism in the abovementioned fields. If these crucial problems could be overcome, I would like to continue my journey after the pandemic. What is more, I am closely interested in queer literature, theory and art; and I try to be productive in these areas. I write my poems mostly on abnormal desire. Some of these poems have already been published in a variety of periodicals last year. For the future, I am working on my poetry book. Apart from all these, I am a founding member of Cins Monologlar Derneği (the Association for Gender/Queer Monologues) which deals in gender issues, gender identity, sexual orientation, disadvantaged communities, and animal rights in Turkey.