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Content about LGBT rights in Turkey

May 17, 2013
Power Gays: Michael Cashman, political champion for LGBT Europeans

GSN meets one of Europe’s leading champions for LGBT equality who argues gay and trans citizens need the European unity more than ever

It was raining in Brussels and I was late. I’d over-estimated my walking speed and sense of direction on my way to meet with Michael Cashman, one of the UK’s representatives to the European Parliament.

His assistant Renaud rang me: ‘Where are you now?’

‘I don’t know. I can see the Sofitel?’

‘Oh. You have to cross the park. I will meet you in reception.’

Well-groomed and impeccably dressed, Renaud was sympathetic when I finally made it to the reception of the parliament – my clothes dripping and my shoes covered in grass.

April 24, 2013
Singing a path to equality: Securing LGBT rights around the globe

Dr Purna Sen, new chair of the Kaleidoscope Trust explains how the organization supports LGBT activists around the world so they can win rights for us all

Parliaments in France, Uruguay and New Zealand have passed legislation to permit equal marriage in the past few weeks. In New Zealand collective singing in parliament greeted the news – the joy of song permeates so much of the ways in which people connect with each other there and the celebrations of equality were in no small part about connection and community.

April 15, 2013
Turkish LGBT activist Yasemin Oz wins human rights award

Lawyer Oz, who has been active in LGBT rights for 18 years, wins the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's Felipa de Souza Award

Yasemin Oz, who has campaigned for LGBT-rights in Turkey since the mid-1990s, is being honored with a human rights award.

The Felipa de Souza Award, given by the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) every year, recognizes courage and activism in LGBT human rights work.

Oz was chosen as this year's recipient of the award because of her dedication to improving LGBT rights in Turkey.

February 15, 2013
Turkey's opposition party requests LGBT rights inquiry

Opposition party says the police are failing to protect LGBT people in Turkey

The main opposition party in Turkey has requested that the government start a parliamentary inquiry into LGBT rights.

Binnaz Toprak, Istanbul deputy of the Republican People's Party (CHP) said the Turkish authorities were failing to prevent discrimination against LGBT people and protect them from violence.

February 10, 2013
Turkey to expel out gay soldiers

Turkish military is set to adopt a ‘Don’t as Don’t tell’ policy

The Turkish Armed Forces is set to introduce a new regulation that essentially states to gay soldiers: ‘If you come out – you’ll be expelled, if you stay in the closet – we’ll do nothing’.

The old articles of ‘unnatural intercourse’ and ‘psychosexual disorders’ as reasons to dismiss a soldier from the army, are to be replaced with a new criteria: ‘sexual identity and behavioral patterns should be dominant and apparent in every part of life’.

January 8, 2013
Turkey's new draft army bill still punishes gays and trans

Turkish government’s revised draft regulation for the army continues to criminalize gay and transgender people as ‘unnatural intercourse’ and will be used as reason for discrimination and punishment  

The Turkish government submitted a new draft regulation for the Turkish Armed Forces that retains the article ‘unnatural intercourse’ which has been used to stigmatize and punish LGBT people.

Turkish LGBT rights group accuses the government of colluding with the army to preserve anti-gay and trans measures.

January 4, 2013
Turkey progress report slammed - no progress for gay rights

Turkish activists claim: Turkey's own progress report to the European Union ignores repeated critique of the country's failure to protect LGBT people 

Activists slammed Turkey's progress report to the European Union (EU), saying it totally ignores the EU’s recommendations regarding LGBT rights

Turkey’s minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış said the report is ‘not just a reaction’ but indicates the government’s ‘commitment to reform’.

Turkish LGBT activists, however, pointed out that the report ignores the problems and demands of gay people and justifies previous and current criticism expressed by the EU Commission.

December 17, 2012
Cameroon jails man for sending a gay text message

Jean-Claude Roger Mbédé's three-year prison term upheld by appeals court in Cameroon, one of Africa's most anti-gay states

An appeals court in Cameroon has upheld a three-year sentence against a man found guilty of ‘homosexuality’ for sending a text message to another man saying: ‘I'm very much in love with you’.

Activists said that today’s court's ruling in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, is a major setback in a country seen as one of the the most repressive in Africa towards LGBT people.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbédé, 32 year-old university student, had been provisionally released on bail in July after serving a year and a half in prison.

December 10, 2012
Stop the gay gag laws, Europe activists demand on Human Rights Day

ILGA-Europe protests ‘homosexuality anti-propaganda’ law plans in Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine

A leading European gay rights group has used international Human Rights Day to condemn gay gag laws now being discussed in Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine.

ILGA-Europe says all the planned legislation in Eastern Europe violates basic human rights principles and sees the laws as a new attempt to criminalize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Known as ‘homosexuality anti-propaganda laws’ they already exist in some states in Russia, most famously in St Petersburg where their introduction this year sparked international outcry.

November 26, 2012
Murder and being gay listed as expulsion reasons from Turkish army

Gay men will be discharged from the Turkish army because of their 'lifestyle choices' according to a new regulation

Being gay will be considered as a serious offence, along with murder, fraud and bribery and reason for dismissal from the Turkish army.

According to the daily Milliyet, gays will be discharged from the Turkish army due to their ‘lifestyle choices’, according to a new penalty regulation draft of the Turkish Armed Forces.

September 14, 2012
Turkey rejects protection for gay rights

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party vetoed a proposal that aims to bring in constitutional protection for LGBT rights

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has vetoed a proposal jointly introduced by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) that would bring in constitutional protection for gay rights.

The (AKP) claimed that LGBT rights should have no place in the Turkish constitution, reported the Turkish paper Hürriyet Daily News.

September 13, 2012
Exposing Jamaica’s anti-gay ‘Love March’

Jamaican Christians are marching for ‘sexual purity’ and against homosexuality – so is this a sign that a new approach to LGBT rights is needed?

They call it ‘Love March 2012’ and it is scheduled to take place this Saturday (15 September) in Jamaica – but the name disguises its true purpose.

June 28, 2012
Gay pride in Chile gets wide support and UK ambassador

Santiago's 12th gay pride march attracts a record of 80,000 participants including wide range of politicians and the British ambassador to Chile

On Saturday (23 June), the 12th pride parade called March for Equality took place in Santiago with over 80,000 people demanding further advancement of LGBT rights in Chile.

Marcha por la Igualidad or March for Equality took place on a sunny winter day in Santiago, with attendees demanding equality before the law.

The march was also attended by prominent politicians as well as by the British ambassador Jon Benjamin, who read a letter of support for pride and LGBT rights on behalf of the European Union.