I hope everything is going well for all of us! I wanna talk and inform you about what happened during the last month. As you all know league is over now and we won the title for the 19th time.
Basketball play-off games were going on and the series were 3-3 tied with Galatasaray but then they rejected to play the last game because it was in our home (a very NBA style- not fan friendly but customer friendly basketball arena) and they said they don’t feel safe, they chickened out.
We made a lot of fun about it because we ourselves don’t like that arena because it’s so modern and industrial. Besides there was LGBTI Pride Week for the 22th time in Istanbul and Pride Walk for the 12th. Some of us went to the panels (as a listener, not as an interviewer) and other events like movie screening. And at the end of the week, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon ten of us joined the Pride Parade with small banners which say ‘Say no to Homophobia/Transphobia at the stands’ and ‘- Where are you my love? – I’m at the stands my love!’ The second slogan is a reference to one of the most common LGBTI slogans in Turkey ‘- Where are you my love? – I’m here my love!’.
There were also some friends from St.Pauli supporters of Viva St. Pauli group in Turkey. They also carried St.Pauli flags during the parade. Other than us, there were no fan groups at all because in Turkey everybody swears to their foes/rivals with homophobic words. Yet, looking at the bright side; Istanbul Pride is the biggest and most crowded one in the Eastern Europe. Here are some photos from the parade.
