16/09/2026 | Writer: Kaos GL
“I am afraid of becoming homeless. I am afraid of being thrown out onto the street, of ending up penniless. Every time, I wonder whether I will be killed. But I keep living. I keep fighting, with myself and with others.”
Human rights defender and trans woman Janset Kalan, punished overnight by the government through the use of the judiciary, was unlawfully arrested and sent to Sincan Prison as part of the “My Family is Safe” operation targeting LGBTI+ people.
We are sharing Kalan’s story with KaosGL.org readers after she was targeted through an intense smear campaign and baseless allegations as part of this political operation targeting fundamental rights and freedoms.
A rainbow columnist for KaosGL.org since 2010, Kalan received her undergraduate degree from Marmara University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations before completing a master’s degree in Eastern European Studies at the University of Bologna.
In her article for KaosGL.org, titled “You said March 8? Listen!”, Kalan described her experience in education:
“I went to Istanbul at the age of 16 to attend university. They placed me in a state dormitory. I didn’t know anyone. I had barely any money in my pocket. I didn’t know my way around. I had been thrown alone into a huge abyss. I won’t even begin to count the harassment, violence, humiliation and exclusion I experienced there. As I grew older, I began to learn about myself. I began to understand what was what. I began to live. I tried to defend myself. And yet, I was homeless for six months. I spent days sleeping in train stations, and still went to school the next day. One night, I took refuge with a lubunya friend in Tarlabaşı. While I was sleeping, I was sexually assaulted; I managed to escape at the last moment by making a scene and running away. For six months, I slept here and there and everywhere. I studied. I studied a lot. I felt that I had to be successful. I thought maybe then I would be treated with some respect. It didn’t happen.”
Kalan launched a civil society initiative called “Queer Adana” between 2013 and 2015. From 2014 to 2016, she worked as International Relations Coordinator at Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association. She served on the board of Pink Life in 2018, and on the board of the Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Türkiye in 2018 and 2019.
Kalan currently continues her human rights work as a member of the Board of Directors of Kaos GL Association.
Having worked particularly on international advocacy, Kalan has been advocating for LGBTI+ rights for more than a decade. She describes her story as follows:
“I became an activist, I was already an activist, I just wasn’t organized. I was threatened. One Ramadan evening, I was beaten by eight people. I was followed on my way home. They threw stones and things at me in broad daylight. I was attacked on public transport. I was refused entry to a restaurant. I went to a bar and they wouldn’t let me in because I apparently made it too obvious. While I was waiting for a friend by the roadside, two cars stopped and tried to abduct me by force.”
As a trans woman activist, Kalan has spoken about the fears she has experienced and her struggle:
“I turned 31 two days ago. I am still afraid to leave the house. I am afraid of becoming homeless. I am afraid of being thrown out onto the street, of ending up penniless. Every time, I wonder whether I will be killed. But I keep living. I keep fighting, with myself and with others.”
“If I can’t have fair access to the most fundamental right, the right to life, then there can be no talk of equity”
In a letter she wrote for Kaos GL Editor-in-Chief and journalist Yıldız Tar, who was arrested on February 21, 2025, Kalan said, “In the 21st century, we are still living through the tragicomic scene of having to deal with this nonsense because of some people’s paranoid fears”, and continued:
“It seems that, years later, you were destined to be the one to make me pick up a pen and paper and try to write a letter in my terrible handwriting. In the 21st century, we are still living through the tragicomic scene of having to deal with this nonsense, with some people’s paranoid fears, in our transness. Let us live through it; after all, we are a country of women who have learned to say ‘yes, my love, you were great,’ convinced people when they said it, and earned their bread.”
In her article titled “Equity, equality and inertia: Will you become equal with trans people?”, Kalan argued that there can be no equity in a legal system that fails to take effective, deterrent and protective measures against people being targeted because of their existential characteristics:
“Equality has been defined in its most basic form as equality before the law. For many traditional states, it has remained limited to this basic form. Equity describes a state of fair equality. In other words, it refers to a principle of equality in which access to rights recognized by law and the legal system is regulated fairly. If I cannot have fair access to the most fundamental right, the right to life, then there can be no talk of equity. There is no equity in a legal system that fails to take effective, deterrent and protective measures against the denial of a person’s existential characteristics and identity, or against that person being targeted because of those characteristics. The principle of equality then exists only in words. Thus, even access to the right to life belongs only to a particular group.”
Kalan said that equity means preventing discrimination, hatred, violence and poverty, and ensuring equal opportunities for others in relation to those who are privileged. She continued:
“Equity is not privilege. Equity means offering others equal opportunities in relation to those who are privileged. Equity means preventing discrimination, hatred, violence and poverty. Equity means ensuring that everyone is equal to one another and preventing people from establishing domination over one another. Only when we are equalized can we no longer exercise power over one another. When we say ‘you will become equal with trans people,’ we are pointing to a positive and beautiful world. Unfortunately, the groups that hold power seem to be seriously misinterpreting this message. Driven by the ambition to make their own privileged positions even more privileged, these groups in power are making the rest of society equal to trans people too—in the sense of making them poor, deprived, insecure, denied access to fundamental rights and terrorized. So, I am sorry for you. But you’ll get used to it, don’t worry!”
Tags: human rights, women, media, arts and culture, life, education, labour, family, lgbti
