The tradition of awarding the "Hormoned Tomatoes" awards started in 2005 with a sentence uttered by Erman Toroğlu on a TV show. He said, "Those who eat hormoned chickens will turn gay," by colloquially referring to genetic mutations of artificially grown edible goods as "hormoned." This comical statement is unfortunately an example of attitudes that reinforce prejudices against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) persons that sometimes end in hate crimes and murder.
Getting inspiration from the abovementioned "hormoned chickens," Lambdaistanbul and other LGBT organisations who have been working to fight this mentality and organise the LGBT Pride Week are handing out "Hormoned Tomatoes Awards" to homophobic, biphobic or transphobic persons and institutions.
The selection between the nominees is done via the internet, and the awards will be given on June 21st, 2009, Sunday with a ceremony starting at 8.30pm.
This year's award ceremony will be hosted by Sanem Öge and Esmeray.
The Lambdaistanbul website allows people to vote for their favourite candidates in several categories, "International" (which includes Amazon.com for withdrawing books by homosexual authors from its list and the Pope and the Catholic Church), "Psychiatry and Psychology" (including a doctor who says he can "treat" homosexuality), "Official Institutions" (including the Directorate of Religious Affairs), "Politicians", "TV Programmes", "TV/Famous People", "Writer/Press", and "Newspaper/Magazines".
Date: June 21st, 2009, Sunday
Time: 8.30pmVenue: XLarge
Address: İstiklal Caddesi. Kallavi Sokak. No:12 Beyoğlu - İstanbul (AG)
