Already one of Turkey's most popular female singers and actors, Bülent Ersoy gained international notoriety in 1981 when she travelled to Great Britain for a sex change operation, a procedure unavailable in her native country. In a further defiance of convention, Ersoy kept the traditionally male name of "Bülent," rather than exchanging it for a female one, as is usual with male-to-female transsexuals. Returning to Turkey, Bülent found herself in opposition to the extremely homophobic and transphobic regime of Kenan Evren.