One recent topic in Finland has been Johanna Korhonen, who was appointed the editor of the newspaper Lapin Kansa. She was later fired before she had time to start in her new position, allegedly because her domestic partnership with another woman. A statement that an out lesbian can not work as editor of Lapin Kansa by the retiring editor seems to support her claim of discrimination. The case is still her word against the publisher Alma Media, who claim loss of trust.
Right now the outrage over ms Korhonen’s treatment makes us miss a positive side of the affair: that there is an outrage. The overwhelming reaction seems to be, that ms. Korhonen was treated unfairly if she really was fired because of her sexual orientation. And not just liberal press but the staff and subscribers of Lapin Kansa.
This case has created a lively discussion over the existence of a glass ceiling on the career of openly gay people. The case with a glass ceiling is that it is invisible. You get passed over for a promotion or they just don’t hire you. The open discussion that has ensued shows to me, that the climate is changing for greater equality in the workplace. I’m very hopeful that time when we need to hide our identity in our working life is really behind us.
I saw in Gay Times a short report that Ahmet Yildiz, an openly gay 26 year old physics student was shot as he left a cafe near the Bosphorus Strait this week. He tried to flee from the attackers in his car, but lost control of the vehicle and crashed. Yildiz died shortly afterwards in hospital. Yildiz’ friends and associates believe he was the victim of so-called honor killing.
This short news item caught my attention as I just recently returned from a vacation trip to Istanbul. The fatal attack happened only a few days after I had left Istanbul.
While in Istanbul I took part with my husband in an event organised by Istanbul Bear club. This event may illustrate the situation for gay people in Istanbul. The many participants in the event seemed mostly openly gay and were enjoying themselves very much like any western gay people. Some people had come from other islamic countries to Istanbul where they can be more openly gay.
On one night the organisers had an agreement to use a local disco for a venue. My husband wanted to get away from the music so we were sitting near the entrance of the place where there wre some other people as well. Suddenly the owners of the place appeared and started to drive gay people violently away from where they were visible to the street. We heard later, that the party ended soon after that night.
Maybe Ahmet Yildiz was there that night or some other night. This thought makes the news of his death more personal. Still I hope that the climate in Turkey and other islamic countries is moving towards the acceptance of gay and lesbian people.