Loud and Proud
By Jenna Krajeski
Asya Elmas, an HDP candidate for city council, waits amid a crowd at an HDP rally in Kadikoy. Asya Elmas, an HDP candidate for city council, waits amid a crowd at an HDP rally in Kadiköy.
ISTANBUL, Turkey—At a political rally on a gusty January day, Asya Elmas—a transsexual woman, sex worker, and first-time candidate for city council in Kadiköy, a liberal neighborhood on Istanbul’s Asian side—stood front and center with a fellow activist who was holding a large rainbow flag high over her head. She was there to gently remind Sirri Sürreya Önder, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) candidate for mayor of Istanbul and the rally’s focal point, of an increasingly vocal constituency: Turkey’s LGBT community.
More:LGBT rights in Turkey: After Gezi Park, LGBT candidates are now running for office.
