[James]

No transgender singer allowed!
Exclusive:TRT stops negotiations with Kemal

Pop Bitch today reported that Kemal Shahin has been in negotiations to represent Turkey at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. esctoday.com contacted Kemal, a former Big Brother contestant in the United Kingdom, and former editor on esctoday.com. Kemal confirmed that TRT had ended negotiations and explained the disappointment about the reasons given for being discounted from the running.

Kemal told esctoday.com that:
"It made a massive difference when they found out that I was trans-gender. Until then, discussions were proceding very well. I had presented songs that I had previously recorded as requested. I was also asked to submit a written document containing four or five different styles that I could use, although they had not decided if the singer and songwriter would be decided together or not. They then came back to inform us that they were looking at me as a singer, but that they would select the song for us.

At no point had I hidden anything about myself, I assumed that as an artist, being transgener would not be an issue. Once I submitted an in-depth document about myself, they began looking at press and news about me. Then, I heard nothing, communications just stopped.....

Full article - http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/6766