I am a DV2021 winner from Turkey. I am a 24 years old woman. I know it is a little bit complicated that with the name ‘Omar’ and telling that I am a woman, let me tell you my reason why I am hiding behind The Wire’s Omar Devon Little (Omar is gay, African-American and the former US President Obama’s favourite character on his favourite series).
Since I started to use social media, I got disturbed many many times by men. Because when you tell that you are a woman and you are single (if your profile photo is not with a man), it is started to be taught that a women is open to a ‘man’ because she is single. When I deleted my profile photo and changed my name, no one disturbed me at all from that time. “To disturb” means the words of harassment and attempts to send explicit photos, you know. But in 2019 Summer, when I was in the US, no one had even an attempt. My friends in the US were shocked about “Anıt Sayaç” website and they started to understand that why I wanted to live in the US in the future. This lottery, when I applied after I came back to Turkey from the Summer Work and Travel Programme in the US gave the chance to me, luckily.
Second thing is, I am an LGBTQ++ person. I can declare that fact behind a name which is not mine. But in here, Turkey, people are being got targeted by the Government itself as if they were like ‘terrorists’ if they were “a member of the LGBTQ++ community”. As far as I am a Political Science and International Relations student, I really do not want to spend my time to tell about the sociopolitical differences between Turkey and the US which I have been and seen an ad campaign in Journal Square PATH train which was telling about the state support to the LGBTQ++ community.
The reason that I mentioned about the gender issues is that women’s visibility in a society is the first and foremost measure of the civilization. In the US, I was free. But in Turkey, we are being considered as a “dangerous” group and being targeted. As far as I declared that I am a bisexual woman on my former Twitter account which I deleted due to the political reasons (but far before the recent explanations of the current secretary of the Inferior Affairs of Turkey about the LGBTQ++ community), my family still does not know that fact. That is because I cannot guess their probable/possible reaction to me.
Ezcümle, I am fed up and tired. This lottery is my very best chance to be/feel free. If I wouldn’t delete my Twitter account, I cannot even guess what could/would happen to me and my freedoms and liberties in relation to the recent ‘events’ in Boğaziçi University which four of my friends got arrested just because of their supports to the innocent students.
This lottery is my and other winners’ dream, hope, life.
Thank you.
Omar Devon Little – from Turkey