The Turkish protestor who went viral earlier this year for slowing down an approaching sea of police descending on queer people protesting has just released a new song that has the potential to be a new gay anthem for our times. Liani Georgieva, 26, has quickly become a queer icon since telling Turkish police, “Baby, I have heels on. How will I walk? I walk slowly,” before getting arrested along with more than others 25 at a gay pride rally in Istanbul in June.
Georgi (her stage name) spoke to RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service ahead of the song’s November 11 release on streaming platforms.
“All For Love is a song that I wrote to prolong the moment of the viral video. That’s why I wanted to write a gay anthem that not only shows my community how much I love them and how much I admire them and how much this community gives me hope and strength, I also wanted for them to know that the viral video was never about me: It’s about all of us. It’s all for love. What we do is just in order for us to exist and love who we want to love.”
Radio Free Europe reported on how Georgi is using her newfound fame to draw more attention to the oppression of the the queer community,
“By August, she was promoting LGBT rights to German consular officials in Istanbul, Europe’s largest city and Turkey’s cultural and historic hub. By September, she was hobnobbing with Istanbul’s ascendant mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, who is regarded as a potential leftish challenger to strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey’s next presidential election.”
Georgi has said that “some of the song’s proceeds will be donated to a local LGBT platform, called SPoD, which offers legal and psychological help to the LGBT community.” She calls the video “a queer video clip of people from the community and it shows us in all our colors.” The lyrics of the song speak to the harsh realities of being queer in a world that sometimes does not accept or even acknowledge that queer people exist,Â
“Being gay in this world is no fun. But we carry the scars that you give to us. With PRIDE, PRIDE, PRIDE. Love and hope are here. We will never disappear. You might not wanna hear. That change is here And queer.”
See the joyful, exuberant video for All for Love below.Â
Sources: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
You tell them, Liana! Well done, you and your fellow protestors against hatred, bigotry and violence. A pall of shame against the government and the people of your country for trying to destroy your lives.