28/06/2005 | Writer: KAOS GL
The 12th annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride events will take place in Istanbul between July 1 and July 3, 2005. All events are free of charge, with the exception of the party
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History of Pride Events in Turkey:
The Christopher Street Day Sexual Liberation Activities, a gay and lesbian pride conference in Istanbul originally scheduled for July 2-6, 1993, was banned at the last minute by the governor of Istanbul, apparently on the grounds that it would be contrary to Turkey's traditions and moral values and that it might disturb the peace. This was despite the fact that the Interior Ministry had previously provided the organizers approval to conduct the event. The governor allegedly sent his agents to many hotels in Istanbul, instructing them not to provide lodgings to the participants. The next day, Turkish authorities detained 28 foreign delegates. At the time of their arrest, most of the detainees were in transit to a press conference in protest of the ban. They were detained for over five hours, threatened with possible strip searches and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests, and deported on a Turkish airliner to Germany.
The most striking result of this event was the immediate establishment of Lambda Istanbul, which, to this day, remains one of the most active LGBT organizations in Turkey. Right after the Istanbul city government banned the conference, a group of gays and lesbians, formerly named "Gokkusagi" (Rainbow), renamed themselves
Tags: life
