13/06/2025 | Writer: Öykü Göç
LGBTQ+ individuals face violence, discrimination, and legal restrictions as the Turkish government’s policies intensify efforts to suppress non-heteronormative identities.
“In Turkey, trans people can’t live. You face the constant danger of death just walking the streets,” says Duygu*, 23, a Turkish student who declined to give their surname due to safety concerns. “The police are beating trans women on the streets, assaulting them, laughing, mocking them… doing whatever they want without any consequences.”
They pause for a moment before continuing, “… just thinking about these things makes me feel like I’m in a horrible place. I think this is what hell must feel like.”
The LGBTQ+ community has become a primary target of the Turkish government and its supporters. On 19 April, the radical Islamist party HÜDA-PAR (Free Cause Party) proposed a draft of amendments in the Turkish Parliament, which outlaw LGBTQ+ rights.
“These amendments aren’t just about LGBTQ+, but women, all minorities, everyone,” says Özgül Saki, İstanbul MP for Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The society they are trying to build, she continues, is “fascist, authoritarian, and male-dominated… a huge threat to all groups that demand equality and freedom.”
One of the amendments specifies that anyone who “publicly encourages, praises, or promotes behaviours or attitudes that contradict biological sex at birth and public morality” could face imprisonment for one to three years. This could penalise gender expressions that challenge heteronormative expectations, such as wearing clothes or using pronouns that don’t match one’s assigned sex at birth.
Since the language of the amendment is vague, it could potentially target anyone, including cisgender women who have short hair or don’t shave, behaviours that are often considered to go against heteronormative ideas of femininity.
On 13 January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched ‘Year of the Family’ with an attack on the LGBTQ+ community. During his speech, he stated, “It is our common responsibility to protect our children and youth from harmful trends and perverse ideologies,” using these terms to target LGBTQ+ individuals.
Pride parades have been banned since 2015. But they still take place with participants facing tear gas, police barricades and violence.
Amnesty International stated that 27 people were detained during the 2024 Pride parades in Istanbul, Antalya and Eskisehir. LGBTQ+ rights group Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD) reported that some detainees in İstanbul were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
In the 2024 Rainbow Map by ILGA-Europe, which ranks European countries on LGBTQ+ rights, Turkey is 46th out of 49 countries.
Erdoğan has openly opposed LGBTQ+ people, whom he sees as a threat to his ‘sacred family’ vision. During a 2023 election rally, he stated that he was against LGBTQ+ people because “family is sacred” to him.
Erdoğan’s ‘sacred family’ excludes not only LGBTQ+ individuals but also unmarried women, single parents, and anyone with families that don’t fit heteronormative models. Then, who fits the ideal family as defined by Erdoğan?
“According to the government, every family is dysfunctional in some way”
“According to the government, every family is dysfunctional in some way,” says Defne Güzel, the Human Rights Monitor Expert at the LGBTQ+ rights organisation Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL).
“Women are most often killed by members of their own families,” they continue. The BBC reported that in 2024, out of the 394 women killed, 280 were murdered by male family members in Turkey.
Güzel explains that LGBTQ+ people often experience violence and are forced to flee from their families: “When they come out to their families, they might face violence for the first time.”
In 2008, Ahmet Yıldız was murdered in a homophobic hate crime. The case remains unresolved. The primary suspect, his father, remains a fugitive.
LGBTQ+ identities have never been outlawed in Turkey. However, the government doesn’t recognise same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnership benefits, and same-sex adoption isn’t permitted.
“As long as same-sex marriage isn’t recognised, it remains a violation of our rights. Because we can’t benefit from each other’s inheritance or insurance,” explains Güzel.
If the amendments are approved, same-sex couples who hold symbolic wedding ceremonies could face up to four years in prison.
Another amendment would introduce ‘biological sex’ into the Turkish Civil Code, effectively invalidating and criminalising LGBTQ+ identities. Duygu says, “People dismiss your opinions because you’re LGBTQ+. They think you’re just talking nonsense and nothing you say matters to them.”
“The human rights violations [against LGBTQ+] are making life unbearable for us – and will continue to do so,” says Güzel. “They not only push us into isolation but also make it harder to access healthcare or feel safe in public.”
Another amendment suggests restrictions on legal gender recognition and trans-specific healthcare.
Duygu shares that healthcare professionals often lack proper knowledge and may ask insensitive questions like “You’re a trans man. Do you have a girlfriend?” or assume that trans people must be attracted to the opposite sex – some may even refuse to provide treatments if the person is attracted to the same sex.
Under the Turkish Civil Code, individuals are required to undergo surgery in order to legally change their registered gender. However, the procedure can only be performed if a doctor deems it medically necessary.
In 2017, the Constitutional Court annulled the requirement of permanent infertility to have one’s gender legally recognized on official records.
This came into practice in 2018.However, according to ILGA-Europe, the implementation has been inconsistent. The law still requires proof of surgery, which could be interpreted as hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), a procedure that leads to infertility.
Duygu explains that some people refuse to undergo hysterectomy because of health concerns, while others argue it’s essential for long-term hormone users. They believe it should be an option, not a requirement, as individuals should have the right to make their own choices.
One of the amendments would make hysterectomy mandatory by requiring medical proof of permanent infertility. It would also increase the minimum age for gender transition from 18 to 21. The transition process usually takes around 2-3 years.
Güzel explains that increasing the age would be very “exhausting” because the transition is a “long and challenging journey” that can bring feelings of gender dysphoria – a feeling of unease that can occur when a person’s gender identity doesn’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Duygu asks, “If I’m not going to be accepted for who I am, then what’s the point of my existence?”
*Their full name isn’t used for safety concerns.
Tags: human rights, women, media, life
