About Us

The International Queer Solidarity Network is a developing network of collectives and individuals working to strengthen the global movement of queer liberation. IQSN brings to light the injustices faced by the Queer community world-wide, and builds global solidarity with local struggles. IQSN is part of the larger movement building a world that is free from oppression of all people, including queer and trans people.

Points Of Unity:

• Our work thrives to provide a true sense of total liberation for everyone as we desire to live in a world that is free from discrimination, hatred and intolerance.

• We support a diversity of tactics, ranging from web-based and person-to-person education, to electoral/legislative campaigning to direct action and militant resistance.

• We stand in solidarity and support the tactics used by the community most affected.

• We oppose domination and hierarchy in all it’s forms.

• We value the skills and wisdoms possessed by the many different cultures in our world, and support the right to cultural self-determination.

• We believe that governments and institutions are violent and oppressive forces to queer and trans people and other marginalized peoples.

• As part of a global movement towards universal liberation, we recognize the interconnectedness of all forms of oppression. Queer and trans people will not be free until all people are free! and that means you, muthafuckas

• We are in solidarity with all groups and individuals working to end oppression on institutional, socialized, and inter-personal levels.

Where Will You Be On Stonewall’s 40th?

June 28, 1969: New York City queers throw molotov cocktails at the cops in a revolt against fascist policing. The Stonewall riots.

June 28, 2008: Bulgarian fascists throw molotov cocktails at queers in an attempt to destroy the nation’s first Pride march. The Week of Intolerance.

June, 2009: Stonewall’s 40th anniversary. Bulgarian fascists are organizing to attack the Pride march, even more violently than last time.

Where will you be on Stonewall’s 40th?

Stand in solidarity with Queer Bulgaria.
- the International Queer Solidarity Network

CALL FOR ACTION! Solidarity with Queer Turkey, April 29th

There are Turkish embassies/consulates in Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Liberty MO, Flowood MS, and Detroit.  All of the addresses are here: http://vasington.be.fscnet.net/ContactInfo.aspx

The original message from Lambdaistanbul is below.

CALL FOR ACTION

This is a call to our friends and allies for solidarity and action! This call is rising from our frustration on the nonstoping hate crimes and deep worries about the closeure case on Lambdaistanbul.

On April 29th, one day before Lambdaistanbul’s last hearing, we as LGBT activists will take our place on the streets of Istanbul and demand our rights once again.

With this call we ask from our friends and allies around the world to support us on the same day, by demonstrating in front of their local Turkish Embassies and creating international pressure.

Please contact: Rüzgar from Lambdaistanbul (rggozum@gmail.com) and Kemal from Kaos GL (kord_ek@yahoo.com) about the actions.

Although being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is not criminalised in Turkey, discrimination practices and persecutions of LGBT people are commonplace. Therefore, in this call, we as Kaos GL Cultural Research and Solidarity Association, Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association and Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association in Turkey, ask for solidarity and urge human rights NGOs and groups in Europe to take necessary actions against human rights violations of LGBT individuals in Turkey. Below, you will find the current major problems of LGBT people in Turkey, explained with real cases. In addition, the demands of LGBT rights organizations from the Turkish government.

HATE CRIMES

1) LGBT people have been facing attacks and murders and unluckily, these crimes have increased contemporarily. Here are some examples of hate crimes from the passing year – both in the form of attacks and murders

• Ahmet Yýldýz, a gay man, was shot to death on 15 July 2008, in Ýstanbul.
• Dilek Ýnce, a transsexual woman, was shot to death on 12 October 2008, in Ankara.
• Ebru Soykan, a transsexual woman, was stabbed to death on 10 March 2008, in Ýstanbul.
• Özkan Zengin confessed under police interrogation that he killed six gay men [Mehmet Naci Zeyrek, Ercan Coþkun, Enes Arýcý, Yaþar Mýzrak, Aziz Taþdemir, Tarýk Güzeller] in a year, from 2008 May to 2009 March.
• Melek D., a transsexual woman, was stabbed to death in her house on 11 April 2009, in Ankara.

2) We, as Kaos GL, Lambdaistanbul and Pink Life Associations are worried, since the number of hate crimes is increasing and the Turkish government does not take any necessary action in the form of enacting legislation and implementation. We urge the Turkish Government to:

• Find the attackers and murderers of LGBT people. – Define attacks and murders against LGBT individuals as “hate crimes”.
• Stop decreasing the sentences based on “provocation” while punishing murderers or attackers of LGBT people.
• Amend the Turkish Penal Code (Article 122) in order to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
• Amend the Turkish Constitution (Article 10) to give equal rights to LGBT people.
• Eliminate discrimination against transgender individuals in employment and develop programs that will open employment opportunities outside the sex work, which is carried out in dangerous conditions.

CLOSURE TRIAL OF LAMBDAISTANBUL LGBT SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION

1) There have been several issues with the freedom of organization in relation to LGBT associations in Turkey. In particular, the process of registration is depending on the goodwill of the administrative authorities. Contemporarily, the case opened against Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association is in the main agenda of LGBT rights organizations, with current hate crimes.

Lambdaistanbul gained legal status in April 2006. An official demand to ban Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association was lodged on June 9, 2006, on the basis that the concepts of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite and transsexual” (LGBTT) listed in the name of Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association and the aims of the association listed in the 2nd article of its charter were against general morality of Turkish society and Turkish family structure. The prosecution office in Istanbul reached a decision in February 2007 to allow the group to continue to operate. But after the prosecution rejected the demand for a closure trial in the name of freedom of organization, the Governor’s Office appealed. On 29 May 2008, the 3rd Civil Court of Beyoglu of First Instance ignored an expert’s report and dissolved the association on the grounds that it was inconsistent with “general morals” and “Turkish family values”. The 7th Judicial Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned the ruling of Istanbul’s 3rd Civil Court of First Instance, which had decided to close down the Lambda Istanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association for a “violation of general morals”. The appeal court’s decision was taken on 25 November 2008, but in a six-page decree the court ruled that “sexual identity and orientation are facts that people do not choose of free will, but that stem from birth or upbringing and a person has no control over.” Ironically, we concerned that the Supreme Court of Appeals stated in its decision that ” …the dissolution of the defendant association could still be demanded, if it would act counter to its charter, in the ways of encouraging or provoking lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite and transsexual behavior or acting with the aim of spreading such sexual orientations” because such a statement may lead attempts to limit the freedom of association of LGBT individuals in the future.

The following case against Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association will be seen in the 3rd Civil Court of Beyoglu of First Instance, on 30 April 2009.

2) Kaos GL, Lambdaistanbul and Pink Life Associations urge the Turkish Government to:

• Eliminate the prohibition against “obscenity” in the Turkish Penal Code or, at the very least, clearly define what constitutes “obscenity” and ensure that the definition applies equally to homosexual, bisexual and heterosexual people.
• Amend the Turkish Constitution in order to give equal rights to LGBT people. Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution contains a list of groups that must be treated equally before the law. This list must be amended to specifically guarantee the equal rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
• Amend the Turkish Penal Code (Article 122) in order to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.