28/02/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
LGBTI+ and women's organisations reacted to the anti-LGBTI+ regulations in the Civil Code and Penal Code: ‘We came out of that closet once, we will not enter it again’
While 2025 was determined as the ‘Family Year’, this time the Draft Law Proposal on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Some Laws came out of the bag. According to the draft law proposal reached by KaosGL.org; The expression ‘biological sex’ will be added to the Criminal Code. LGBTI+ expressions in the public sphere will be penalised and legal procedures for gender affirmation will become more difficult.
Click- LGBTI+'s are targeted with amendments to the Civil Code and Penal Code
The draft law proposal in question gathered reaction on social media. Many users reacted to the draft law with the hashtag ‘LGBTIQ+ cannot be criminalised’.
LGBTI+ and women's organisations and human rights organisations also issued statements on social media in reaction to the draft:
Colours of Resistance: We did not exist with your permission, we will not disappear with your bans! The planned amendments to the Civil Code and Penal Code target our existence. The age of gender conformity is to be raised from 18 to 21 years of age, and it is planned to punish those who make statements against the expression of ‘Biological Gender’ and those who perform same-sex marriage ceremonies that cannot be ‘official’. These regulations, which complicate the harmonisation process, criminalise our identity and aim to punish LGBTI+ expressions, are unacceptable! We will not give up our rights and our lives!’
TİP LGBTI+ Bureau: We are closely following the draft amendment to the Anti-Terror Law / Anti-Terror Law, which is reflected in the press and has not yet come to the parliament. They will not be able to criminalise any LGBTI+ living in this country, we will not allow this. We exist in order not to deliver anyone to reactionary laws that say biology on one side and fıtrat between the lines!
LGBTIQ+ Assemblies: LGBTIQ+s will die if this law passes. In the event that the draft law is passed as reported in the news, the gender affirmation processes of transgender people who are already subjected to discrimination will be made difficult, discrimination will be made legal and legitimate with abstract concepts such as ‘immorality’, and organising will be subject to punishment. The efforts of those who have been hostile to different sexual orientations and gender identities for years to legalise this does not surprise us, but punishing organising will not prevent us. Discrimination is a crime, not rainbows. Let's fight together against LGBTIQ+ enemies.
Demir Leblebi: It has been revealed that the draft of the new Turkish Penal Code and Civil Code contains articles that explicitly penalise our LGBTIQ+ existences. According to the draft law: The age of gender affirmation surgery will be delayed and made more difficult Those who make statements ‘contrary to biological sex’ will be punished from 1 to 3 years. Those who perform unofficial same-sex marriage and engagement ceremonies will be punished from 18 months to 4 years. We will not pass this law, we came out of the closet once, we will not enter it again!
Women's Defence: WE DO NOT ACCEPT THE LAW DRAFT THAT CRIMES BEING LGBTI+! We Call on Everyone to Solidarity and Struggle Against the LGBTI+ Enemy Attacks on Our Lives and Bodies. The government is preparing to bring a draft law that will criminalise being LGBTI+ to the Parliament next month. While heterosexist trans-hostile body perceptions, boundaries, disease diagnoses are already making every aspect of life difficult, from finding a job to finding a home, now a draft bill has been created that criminalises us as LGBTI+s, our existence, our right to have a say over our bodies. According to this draft, the age of gender affirmation operations will be raised from 18 to 21 and the condition of ‘lack of reproductive ability’ will be introduced; gender affirmation operations performed abroad without permission from the state will be considered illegal. A few months ago, our access to hormones was restricted. Our body is ours, access to hormones and gender affirmation is our most fundamental right to health. You cannot prevent it! The anti-gay laws in the draft do not end with counting. There is an article stating that those who ‘encourage, praise or promote attitudes and behaviours contrary to biological sex, public morality’ will be sentenced to imprisonment. The symbolic engagement and marriage ceremonies of people of the same sex are also punishable by imprisonment. The state has declared war on lubunyas and women with every institution. The government, which declared this year the family year, continues its policies that criminalise our bodies and identities without slowing down. Our bodies, our desires have never fit into the borders they try to imprison, they never will! We defend our bodies against all controls of the state and men; against male violence; against the labour exploitation of fathers, husbands, pimps, bosses. Get used to it, make peace or not, we are not going anywhere!
Akdeniz Antalya Family Group, GALADER- Ankara Rainbow Families Association, İzmir LGBTI+ Families Group, LİSTAG- LGBTI+ Families and Relatives Association: We are mothers and fathers with LGBTI+ children. The existence, identity, love and life of our children is the most precious thing in the world for us. When they opened their eyes to this life, we swore to keep them safe, protect, love and support them. And today, we remind this promise once again: We will not leave our children alone!
The ‘Draft Law on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Certain Laws’, which is planned to be submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, not only targets LGBTI+ persons, but also aims to silence us - their families. This draft law aims to criminalise LGBTI+ existence in the public sphere by adding the concept of ‘biological sex’ to the law, to make the gender affirmation process of transgender individuals almost impossible and to punish LGBTI+ rights advocacy. They are trying to take away our right to look into the eyes of our children and say ‘I love you, I will always be with you’. We do not accept this. This law is not just a regulation, it is an attack to take away the lives, dreams and futures of our children. What Does This Law Mean for Us?
Our children's lives will become more difficult. Gender harmonisation process will be made almost impossible. ‘I have a 17-year-old transgender daughter. The difficulty of the harmonisation process directly threatens her life.’ LGBTI+ existence in public space will be criminalised. Our children will be banned from freely expressing who they are. ‘A legal ground is being created for my child to fall victim to a hate crime. How can I accept this?’ LGBTI+ family groups and support associations will be suppressed. Even our coming together will be prevented. ‘They want us to leave our children alone, but we are here, we are not going anywhere.’ The safety of our children will be threatened. Discrimination and hatred will be further legitimised. ‘If this law is passed, our children, who are already standing up with great struggles, will be completely defenceless.’ Why Are We Afraid as Mothers and Fathers? ‘I am afraid that my child will become even more withdrawn because her safety will be jeopardised. Even now she cannot move freely in public. This law will make him completely invisible.’ ‘My child's right to life will be taken away. How can I, as a mother, remain silent?’ ’My child, who is studying abroad, has become afraid of returning because of this law. I don't want him to be a young person who cannot find shelter in his own country.’ We will not give up defending our children and their rights. Our children deserve love not hate, trust not fear. Remaining silent on this law means that they will be left alone and we will not allow this. We Call Out to the Authorities! To MPs: ‘Do not darken the lives of our children, oppose this law!’ To the public: ‘We are here for our children. Hear our voice, stand with us!’ To the media: ‘Tell the truth, make us visible!’We will stand by our children no matter what the conditions are. We will not leave our children alone, and neither should you!
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey: As it is learnt from the news in the press, the amendments to the relevant laws regulating ‘gender affirmation' in the draft bill on the amendment of the Turkish Penal Code and some other laws, which was prepared by which party and MPs and on which date is not clear, are unacceptable.
Adana Bar Association LGBTIQ+ Rights Commission: All articles planned to be added in the aforementioned law amendment disregard LGBTI+ Rights. The current government's deliberate impunity policy against all disadvantaged groups, especially LGBTI+ persons, fuels hatred, and the relevant articles contradict the right to equality and the prohibition of discrimination protected by the Constitution. It is not possible to accept this understanding that deepens gender inequality, discriminates sexual orientations and paves the way for hate crimes. We emphasise that LGBTI+ rights are human rights; we remind that the duty of the state is to treat every citizen equally ‘without any discrimination’ and to protect the right to life in every detail.
Socialist LGBTI+'s: This is our call for solidarity against the Family Year and one of its consequences, the draft amendments to the Civil Code and the Penal Code. We call out to all women's and queer organisations! We call for a united struggle against the criminalisation of our identities by the LGBTI+phobic government and against the draft law that will directly intervene in our bodies. We will be equalised together!
Socialist Women: 2025, which the state has declared the ‘Family Year’, increases the pressure on the lives of women and LGBTIQ+ people. Our existence is targeted with rights usurpations and bans, and our lives are tried to be taken under control. With the new draft law, the gender harmonisation process is made difficult, our identities are wanted to be punished with the imposition of ‘biological sex’ and the unions of people with the same assigned gender are criminalised. While streets, workplaces and homes are becoming more and more unsafe for women and LGBTIQ+s, perpetrators are protected and our rights are usurped. But we will not shut up! We are here, we exist and we are not going anywhere! With our solidarity, feminist struggle, shoulder to shoulder resistance; we will stand against oppression, exploitation and violence! We will not lose one more person! Solidarity against hate, defence of life!
‘We are alive, we will live, we will keep alive!’
Izmir Bar Association: Against Hate, We Defend Life: We Reject the Law Proposal Criminalising LGBTI+'s! We reject the draft law that targets LGBTI+ persons, rights defenders and non-governmental organisations struggling to ensure gender equality under the name of the draft law on the amendment of the Turkish Penal Code and some laws. We are aware that this regulation, which complicates the body adaptation processes of Trans+ persons, criminalises the existence of LGBTI+ persons, their social visibility and even anyone who does not behave/appear in accordance with gender norms, aims to separate society under the name of morality with the policies they put into practice within the scope of the so-called family year. The political power, taking the power of the rise of global far-right policies behind it, aims to increase oppression and violence through the law by bringing its practices that aim to destroy LGBTI+s beyond ignoring them to the legal ground. As the Izmir Bar Association, we announce to the public that we will continue our struggle against all kinds of reactionary and discriminatory initiatives without leaving anyone behind and that we once again defend and will continue to defend all lives against hatred.
Boğaziçi LGBTIA+ Studies Club: We are here against those who are trying to destroy us, we are not leaving! This is not the first time! We have been subjected to violence, police oppression, legal obstructions, hate campaigns by the state before. But in the 1990s, we resisted the violence against trans women. In 2013, we fought on the front lines as lubunyas in Gezi. In 2021, they unlawfully closed our LGBTIA+ Club at Boğaziçi University, but we are here, we are still resisting! This draft law is a desperate attack by those who want to make us invisible again and usurp our lives. But let them know that we LGBTIA+'s existed before you, and we will continue to exist against you! We will never give up defending our identity, our lives, our loves, our families we have built for each other. We will stand up for each other, on the streets, on campuses, in all areas of life. You will not silence us! This is our promise to each other: We are alive, we will live, we will keep alive!
Turkish Medical Association Medical Students' Branch: LGBTIQ+ people have been made an open target by the government due to the sanctions of state institutions and the hate speech of the President of the Republic. With the restriction imposed by the Turkish Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency on access to hormone drugs in November, the body harmonisation processes of transgender people, who could not access health services anyway and were kept waiting in queues for years for official harmonisation processes, were also de facto restricted. Body harmonisation processes are vital for the health and well-being of trans people. This restriction is a violation of the right to health. The existence of LGBTIQ+ persons, who were targeted as the main enemy of the family in the declaration of 2025 as the ‘Family Year’, is now tried to be completely criminalised with amendments to the Civil Code and the Penal Code. Punishing behaviours contrary to ‘biological sex’, banning interventions for adaptation processes without state permission and making adaptation processes more difficult is clearly a violation of LGBTIQ+ persons' bodily inviolability, right to health and right to life. The draft law amendment should be abandoned immediately and the right to life and health of LGBTIQ+ persons should be taken under legal guarantee!
LGBTIQA+ Medical Students Network: We, as LGBTIQA+ physicians, physician candidates and health labourers, do not accept the planned amendments to the Civil Code and the Turkish Penal Code, which directly target the fundamental rights of LGBTIQA+ persons! We see that this draft law, in which the state openly claims the right to have a say over our trans bodies, disregards our body autonomy. TOGETHER WE OPPOSE THE TRUSTEE THAT THE STATE IS TRYING TO APPOINT TO OUR BODIES.
Trans Pride Week Committee: Declaring 2025 as the ‘Family Year’, Erdoğan continues to attack LGBTI+ people. We have heard that the state is trying to dominate our bodies with changes in various laws, punishing our existences, trying to impose duality under the name of ‘biological sex’ and ‘general morality’. We will not fit into these dualities, we will continue to keep our trans existences alive! Whose morality is general morality? While the same government is trying to intimidate the social opposition, it unlawfully arrests our friends Yıldız and Erkin from our struggle. We do not fit into neither arrests, nor biological sex, nor intimidation policies, we grow the rebellion of our existences. We will take all our arrested friends, including Erkin and Yıldız, we will not let them imprison our bodies, our loves and our lovelessness!
Tags: human rights
