Hande Kader (1993 – August 2016) was a politically active Turkish

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...

. Kader was familiar to millions of Turks as a figurehead for the LGBT community after being photographed at the forefront of the resistance against police forces suppressing the 2015

Gay Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...

event in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. In August 2016, she was reported missing by her flatmate when she failed to return home the following week. Her body was found raped, mutilated, and burnt by the roadside in the Zekeriyaköy up-market on 12 August 2016. Despite being badly mutilated, Kader's body was identified by prosthetics at the city morgue by Dengiler. Remember Trans Power Hande Kader

Kader was employed in the

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide Sex worker, sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of s ...

as a sex worker, and was last seen getting into a client's car. She was 23 years old at the time of her death. The official cause of death has not yet been released. Reports indicate that after death her corpse was set on fire, possibly to avoid identification of the perpetrator(s). Following her death, there has been a public outcry and protests against the mistreatment of transgender people in Turkish society.

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

LGBT Studies Student Club (BULGBTİ) announced a fellowship in honor of Hande Kader that will be given to a trans student at the university starting from 2017–2018 academic year. However, the office of the president later announced that the fellowship was not within their knowledge and reimbursed the donations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kader, Hande Turkish political activists Turkish women activists Transgender women Violence against trans women Turkish murder victims Turkish prostitutes Turkish transgender people Turkish LGBT rights activists 2016 deaths 1993 births People murdered in Turkey

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References