Happy International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia Day!
17 May 2024
May 17, the date when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of “diseases” in 1990, is celebrated worldwide as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia. 34 years later, when the calendar shows May 17 again, we once again appreciate this historical milestone and raise our voices to emphasize the importance of fighting hate.
Turkey’s record of hate crimes, also reflected as homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, is quite blistering especially considering the last decade. Oppression is not only a norm such as social morality based on traditions and customs, but it is now designed as an instrument of real politics and has come to life as an anti-LGBTI+ campaign, which is particularly on the rise during election terms. Aside from the use of their existence as a justification for withdrawing from a vital international convention such as the Istanbul Convention, we have witnessed LGBTI+s being treated as the main element through black propaganda at election rallies. We, human rights defenders, observe the limits reached by the hate front opened against LGBTI+s, who are always seen as “secondary” even in the hierarchy of the oppressed. We have not remained silent to such discriminatory campaigns, which explicitly target civil rights in every aspect, and we will not remain silent in the future.
LGBTI+ persons have the same constitutional right to protection and respect as all other citizens of these lands, and no distinctive feature brought about by differences in existence can be grounds for exclusion and discrimination. It is an indisputable fact that LGBTI+ persons living in these lands, especially trans people, are disadvantaged in social, cultural, economic and political life. We know that this inequality is manifested in countless precedents such as housing, employment, deprivation of life and health rights, discrimination in education and training, domestic violence. This situation is clearly seen both in the reports by LGBTI+ self-organizations and in the studies of NGOs carrying out rights-based activities.
In these days when the new constitutional process is on the agenda, we see no harm in declaring that we find any discussion that ignores LGBTI+ persons and the attacks on their fundamental rights incomplete and flawed. We believe that it is essential for all political foci, especially opposition parties, to take a stand against this politics of “invisibility.” We are obliged to remind that the front of attack on sexual orientations and gender identities has been fed by this armor of invisibility. Silence is complicit in hatred against LGBTI+ persons.
In 2024 Turkey, it is obvious that the ruling party and its stakeholder mainstream right-wing political forces, instead of accepting this reality as a situation that needs to be fought, handle it in a way that incites hatred. On May 17 the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia, we invite all LGBTI+s, rights defenders, democratic mass organizations and LGBTI+ friendly citizens to stand against this denialist, aggressive politics of hate and to raise our voices stronger.
Long live May 17th!
Human Rights Association
LGBTI+ Rights Commission