Our guest is Serdar, who was born in Turkey and lived there until graduating from Bogaziçi University. He is an active member of the gay community in Istanbul. He says that he was a privileged gay person as his family and his high school environment could not have been more accepting and inclusive. He elaborated on what it means to be gay for him and when he actually came out as gay to his family, friends, and community. He has been living in the United States for more than 40 years, but he has never cut ties with the gay community in Turkey. We had an informative conversation about Turkey’s political parties’ stance against progressive ideologies. We agreed that the left-wing opposition parties in Turkey fail to embrace basic human rights and values.