I’ve been attending meetings with Lambdaistanbul for four years now. The organization may have lost its old space in Kadıköy, but its various organizers have proved courageous and resilient enough to maintain the organization, despite a myriad of financial, political, and structural challenges. Our English meetings, which alternate between Wednesday and Thursday and the Asian and European sides, continue to attract both old companions and new faces. For many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, these meetings are their only refuge from the judgment, condemnation, and ostracism of the other circles they pass through.
We meet in various bars and cafes around the city that have proven themselves convivial to our community, usually in Kadıköy or Beşiktaş. Our friends come from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds and our dialogues are a welcome catharsis for a variety of issues. While the organization doesn’t use this specific terminology, I have often referred to it as “my LGBT support group.” The various group members’ conviction, dedication, and altruism is a testament that LGBT solidarity can be cultivated anywhere. The late Louise Hay, the great spiritual counselor and powerful ally to the gay community and people with HIV/AIDS, encouraged people to affirm “I approve of myself” in her eloquent book, You Can Heal Your Life. The longevity and ingenuity of Lambdaistanbul prove that the more we approve of ourselves, the more we encounter companions who approve of us, alleviating the impact of those who don’t.
I met with one of the most active volunteers, Öner Ceylan, at Naboo, a small café in Kadıköy, decorated in the traditional Turkish style and adorned with elaborate tapestries and carpets. We discussed the history of the organization and its various functions. Öner was recently featured in a video produced by LISTAG, an organization for parents of LGBT people, about his father’s acceptance of his orientation. This validates that we don’t need our own space to raise consciousness.
Could you please explain the mission of Lambdaistanbul?
Lambdaistanbul was founded in 1993 by a group of queer activists after a pride week. We had a week of activities and the march was banned by the city government. So the week ended up being just some meetings and panel discussions, etc. But the march was violently suppressed. After this, a group of us wanted to further these efforts in a more organized way, so we founded Lambdaistanbul. It has been a cultural center for many years. Right now, we don’t have a permanent space because the rents have been too high and it’s hard for an LGBTI organization to find a place because landlords don’t want to rent out their space to us, so right now we usually hold our activities at the Cinsel Şiddetle Mücadele Derneği (Association for the Struggle Against Sexual Violence) space.
Can you describe your role in the organization?
I take care of official matters, like keeping books. I also moderate some of our discussions and organize events and discussions.
Can you describe some of the activities of the organization?
Every two weeks, we hold Sunday talks. There, we have people coming in with no decided agenda. It’s just whatever people feel like talking about related to LGBTI issues. We chat with each other, and it’s usually very useful for people who want more information about these issues, or people who are newly coming out and struggling with these issues. You can socialize with people who understand you in this sense. Many times, they can’t talk openly about their sexual orientation or gender identity anywhere else. That’s why these meetings are so important.
We also provide literature about these issues available for people. We have a book club the last Thursday of every month in Beyoğlu. We choose a book for every month related to LGBTI issues and have a discussion on it. We had a reading club centered around academic texts, but that’s closed for now. We’re thinking about starting a movie discussion group sometime soon.
What language are your activities conducted in?
Most of our activities are in Turkish, except for our English Tea and Talk program.
What are your favorite memories and accomplishments?
In 2004, we had a campaign about the change in the penal code. A new penal code was being written, and we campaigned along with the women’s’ movement on the articles of that code. We went to the parliament and met with an MP there from the CHP party. The TV cameras were there. It was a quite high profile. We tried to make our voices heard as much as possible.
The most important event that we had was about the discrimination clause, which was a new clause in the law. We wanted sexual orientation and gender identity to be added to the bill. In the end, that did not happen. But we got really close. Sexual orientation was added to the bill for a while, but then it was taken out. But there was no direct reference to LGBTI people. We got a lot of press coverage. So it was a good accomplishment.
What are some of your future goals?
We want to digitalize our archives. Right now, it’s in a warehouse. But we have quite a large accumulation of documents, including private documents of the association from way back. And we want to digitalize all of them. We will be getting some help from the women’s library since they are experienced with that and said they would help. First, we need to get them out of the warehouse and go through and categorize them. They would be accessible to the public and we would create an exhibition about them.
For more information about Lambdaistanbul’s English language programs, visit the official English Facebook group. For more information on the Turkish activities, visit the official Turkish Facebook group. Cinsel Şiddetle Mücadele Derneği (Association for the Struggle Against Sexual Violence), which holds many of Lambdaistanbul’s activities, is located at Koşuyolu Mahallesi, Koşuyolu Cd. Asçamlık Sitesi D:75 in Kadıköy. Make sure to keep up to date with the official Facebook page for updates about meetings and events.
