BIOS

Cynthia Nixon
HOST
Emmy and Tony Award-winner Cynthia Nixon has been a critically acclaimed and sought-after actress since the age of twelve. Nixon just appeared in World Without End, a miniseries on REELZ channel based on Ken Follett’s novel of the same title, and appeared on Broadway in Wit. Nixon recently reprised her guest-starring role on Showtime's critically acclaimed hit The Big C opposite Laura Linney, now in its third season.

For six seasons Nixon starred as Miranda Hobbes in HBO's much-celebrated series, Sex and the City, a role that garnered her an Emmy Award in 2004 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, two other Emmy nominations, and four consecutive Golden Globe nominations. Nixon was honored to win the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series twice, in 2001 and 2004.

Born and raised in New York City, Nixon attended Hunter College High School and has a degree in English Literature from Barnard College. She and her wife Christine live in NYC with their daughter, Samantha, and sons, Charlie and Max.

Yasemın Öz, Esq.
FELIPA DE SOUZA AWARD
Yasemin Öz is a prominent human rights lawyer, a nationally-recognized feminist and a leading LGBT activist from Turkey.

Yasemin’s history of activism dates back to mid-1990s, when she was still a law student at the University of Ankara. Although her daytime job is a corporate lawyer for a commercial company, Yasemin spends most of her free time writing, talking, organizing, and advocating for LGBT rights.

Over the past 18 years, Yasemin has contributed significantly to LGBT movement in Turkey. She played a key role in a number of LGBT-related projects, such as “Discriminative Legislation in Turkish Law System on LGBTT People” in 2006 and the writing of Shadow Report on Turkey’s compliance with International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for UN Human Rights Committee (2012).

An unapologetic feminist, Yasemin also has a leadership role in providing legal advice and managing several women’s group. In recent years, Yasemin has served as the International Spokesperson of Support Committee for Pınar Selek, a Strasbourg-based sociologist and writer, who was previously arrested and tortured by the Turkish police and was recently sentenced to life in prison in absentia.

Honorable Dr. Binnaz Toprak
OUTSPOKEN AWARD
Honorable Dr. Binnaz Toprak is the representative of Istanbul to the Grand National Assembly - or parliament - of Turkey. She has been an outspoken ally of Turkey’s LGBT community. Dr. Toprak has repeatedly asked a reluctant Turkish government to recognize the rights of people with identities that differ from the majority, including the LGBT community; she has sought to ban widespread legal discrimination and rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On February 14, 2013, she made history by initiating a motion in Turkish parliament to demand an inquiry into the situation of LGBT individuals in Turkey, including “police harassment and brutality,” and to provide legal protection to the Turkish queer community against domestic and social violence. 58 other members of parliament from the Republican People's Party signed her petition, creating a media storm in a predominantly Muslim country. In explaining her courageous stance on LGBT rights, she told the leading national newspaper, “In a country where hate crimes are on the rise, the problems of LGBT individuals -- who are the major victims of such crimes -- have been systematically neglected by governments.”

Dr. Toprak received her BA degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and her PhD degree from the Graduate Center of CUNY. In 1976, she joined the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, where she taught and served for two terms as department chair until 2008. She is a published author of a large selection of articles and five books on secularism and political Islam in Turkey, which were published in English and Turkish.

Dorothy Sander
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD
Dorothy Sander has built-in tenacity to get things done. She is a retired, astute business executive who puts her skills to work on Boards, both corporate and non-profit, leading and moving organizations forward with true dedication.

For over thirty years, Dorothy has worked to advance the rights of LGBT people, including serving on the boards of EEGO, Legacy Foundation, NYC's LGBT Community Center, and others, as well as working on strategies and projects for ASTRAEA and SAGE. For the past nine years, she has provided extraordinary leadership as IGLHRC’s longest serving Board co-chair.

Join us in honoring Dorothy Sander, a friend, and staunch supporter of human rights, with the IGLHRC Special Recognition Award on May 13, 2013.