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Bulent Ersoy (born 1952) is a Turkish celebrity. She is a popular singer of Ottoman classical music. Over the years, Ersoy has become a symbol for the increased tolerance to LGBT figures in Turkish media.
Career
Bülent began her career as a male singer, in the genre of Turkish Classical Music, and became an actor early on.
Later life
Already
one of Turkey's most popular male singers and actors, Bülent Ersoy
gained international notoriety in 1981 for a sex change operation by
Dr. Mındıkoğlu in her native country. Ersoy kept the name "Bülent" even
though it is more common among males.
After the operation,
Bülent found herself in opposition to the homophobic and transphobic
regime of Kenan Evren. In a crackdown on "social deviance," Ersoy's
public performances were banned along with those of other transsexual
and transgendered people.
From Ersoy's standpoint, the ban
should not have even applied to her, as she was an actual woman and not
simply a man dressed as one. To circumvent the ban, she petitioned the
Turkish courts to legally recognize her as a woman. The petition was
rejected in January of 1982. Days later, Ersoy attempted suicide. In
1983 she left the entertainment industry in protest of the Evren
regime's repressive policies. Later that same year, Evren left office
and many of his policies were rescinded.
Ersoy continued her
career mostly in Germany in addition to Turkey. Along with her musical
career, she made several movies in Germany. During that time she also
started having a relationship with Birol Gürkanlı.
Finally, in
1988, the Turkish Civil Code was revised so that those who completed
sex reassignment surgery could apply for a pink or blue (pink for
female, blue for male) identity card by which they were legally
recognized in their new sex. Ersoy soon returned to singing and acting,
becoming more popular as a woman than she had been as a man. Her public
even took to calling her "Abla," or "elder sister," an affectionate
sign of their total acceptance of her gender.
Despite her
personal victory and the love and acceptance of her fans, Bülent Ersoy
has continued to court controversy. Critics noted that in a film in
which Bülent plays a cancer patient who falls in love, she never kisses
her leading man, though this probably had to do with her being highly
germ phobic. On her 1995 album, Alatürka, she sang the adhan as part of
the piece, "Aziz İstanbul," an act which, because of her transsexual
status, angered many Muslim clerics. In 1998, a further storm of
controversy was created when Bülent married her companion, Cem Adler.
Interestingly, the public outrage that resulted had nothing to do with
Bülent's transsexual status and everything to do with the fact her
husband was over twenty years younger than she was.
Bülent Ersoy
was badly injured in January of 1999 in an auto accident while driving
with her husband, but recovered after surgery. Later that year, she
divorced Adler after learning of his tryst with a call girl. Now
semi-retired, she continues to enjoy the love and adoration of her many
fans and she is still performing in many TV shows and competitions as
jury member on Turkeys most watched programe Popstars Alaturka.
She
maried popstars alaturka contestant Armağan in July 2007, and her fans
wish her much happiness in this marriage. She also made a show in July
2007 and is making new series of popstars alaturka which is expected to
start in September 2007. There are also rumors of a new album produced
by Erol Kose.
The attention for the fact that she is an
extraordinarily talented singer with an unequaled control of her voice,
often distracts one from Ersoy's transsexual status.
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