April 21, 2015, Pro-Kurdish and minority rights HDP pledges to eliminate discrimination against LGBTIs
The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) announced its election manifesto which places a strong emphasis on anti-discrimination protections and social policies for LGBTI people.
The Turkish main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) announced its manifesto for the June 7 elections, promising to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Turkey's Constitutional Court decided against the repeal of the law concerning “unnatural sexual behavior.” Homosexuality is still seen as a perversion.
The request to cancel the article of The Turkish Penal Code (TPC), which prescribes punishment against distributors of pornographic movies that involve “unnatural ways of sexual relationship such as anal, oral, gay, lesbian,” was discussed [in court].
As the parliamentary elections in Turkey approach, The Istanbul-based LGBTI advocacy group, Social Policies, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Studies Association (SPoD) has called on candidates, political parties, and party leaders to work towards the active inclusion of LGBTIs in decision- and policy-making mechanisms. SPoD has prepared an “LGBTI Rights Pledge,” the full text of which is presented below, and has circulated it to be signed by all parliamentary candidates.
SPoD LGBTI is circulating an LGBTI Rights Pledge, part of the “LGBTI in the Parliament” campaign, for signatures in the run-up to the June 7th parliamentary elections in Turkey. The first signatories to the Pledge are HDP's women candidates who proclaimed “We are the Rainbow.”
The Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Yalçın Akdoğan:
“The HDP [general elections] declaration mentions Kurds 8 times, lesbians 9 times. Is this the Turkish society?”
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