The former president, LGBT, and a 250,000-person protest

Imagine something like this:

Fifty years ago, a human rights march is organized, but it is the kind of march that the entire state tries to block, yet 250,000 people still gather. The demonstration is so successful that it leads to the amendment of certain laws that divide society, and the president of the time invites the organizers to his office. But most importantly, this demonstration is organized by a man who is openly gay. Furthermore, this gay man has a lover who is a clergyman. And so that the person who managed to organize this demonstration is not forgotten, novels are written about him. Meanwhile, a former president and his wife decide to produce a film. Then, this former president turns the novel about this film into a movie, and thus a 1.5-hour human rights film is created.

Could something like this happen in Turkey?

No matter how high the sense of humor is, would a former president embark on such a thing?

He would not.

And even if such an event were to take place in Turkey, no one would want to be its producer.

But in America, former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama did exactly this.

The person they made a film about is the activist Bayard Rustin. Rustin, the subject of the film that bears his name, set out in 1963 in Washington, the capital of the US, with the slogan '100,000 people' and managed to gather 250,000. After the march, the US President at the time, Kennedy, invited the organizers to his office. The pressure from the march created an environment for changes to be made to certain laws, and the course of the history of racial segregation and civil rights in the US changed. Rustin, the subject of the film, had performed the same act 20 years before Rosa Parks, the Black woman who went down in history as the first to board buses reserved for whites, and even in the 1940s, he was an openly gay man who fought against homophobia in addition to racial segregation.

The film is showing on Netflix; if you are interested in such things, watch Rustin.

xxx

Let's come to Turkey.

For Turkey, such things seem like a dream for now.

It is not just this kind of action or civil human rights struggle that seems like a dream for Turkey.

About 20 years ago, when ceramic artist Jale Yılmabaşar was asked why she did not open an exhibition in Turkey, she said, "I will not open one because, let alone ceramics, the people do not have the money to buy bread."

In the 20 years that have passed, the general public has unfortunately become even poorer; they used to be able to buy bread, now they even think twice before buying that.

In other words, our economic situation is not enough for exhibitions, art, paintings, or canvases.

So, what about our level of humanity?

I think we are very far behind in that regard as well. Just think, there are even those who feel entitled to behave inappropriately at the funeral of Metin Uca, a well-known name who worked in media and on screens for years.

Societies are the same. Just as people all over the world are born, grow up, have fun, and die, the problems of society are experienced to the same extent everywhere.

So, if someone says, 'There is no racism here, no homophobia, no oppression, we have no similarity to America,' do not believe them, because countries are the same.

I think you should watch the film Rustin.