Eleven leaders of a Turkish LGBTQ+ rights group went on trial in the western city of Izmir on Wednesday on charges of obscenity and violating constitutional protections for the family, Euronews, citing AFP, reports.
The defendants are leaders of Genç LGBTI+, known in English as Young LGBTI+. They are accused of breaching a constitutional article on family values and of publishing images on social media showing same-sex couples kissing, which authorities have deemed obscene. If convicted, they face up to three years in prison and suspension of their civil rights.
“This trial arises from a policy of excluding LGBT+ people from the public sphere,” the association’s lawyer, Kerem Dikmen, told AFP. “It is an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of association.” Dikmen is himself on trial as a member of the group’s supervisory board.
“This is not about obscenity. Activities that are perfectly legitimate, legal and in line with the constitution are being criminalised. It is a form of dehumanisation,” he added.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but the LGBTQ+ community has been frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling AK Party, who have blamed it for the country’s declining birth rate.
LGBTQ+ rights campaigners are also appealing against a separate court ruling issued in December ordering the association’s dissolution on the basis of the same charges. “We will not give up defending human rights. But they are trying to send a message to society through us,” Dikmen said.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 14 October.
A proposed amendment to Turkey’s penal code that would have criminalised behaviour deemed contrary to biological sex and general morality, as well as the promotion of such behaviour, was withdrawn last November. Since 2015, annual Pride marches have been almost systematically banned and suppressed across the country.