Turkish authorities have launched a crackdown on LGBT organizations and individuals, sparking criticism from human rights advocates. The crackdown has resulted in the arrest of at least 116 people, with 83 placed in pretrial detention and over 160 subjected to criminal investigations. Hundreds of websites and social media accounts have also been blocked or restricted.
What happened
The Turkish government has used the language of family protection to justify the crackdown, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denouncing "global gender-neutralization policies" and portraying LGBT people as a threat to children and the family. This has led to concerns that the government is using religious doctrine to justify persecution. The crackdown has been condemned by human rights advocates, who argue that it is an attack on the freedom of gay people.
The situation in Turkey has highlighted the selective outrage of American LGBT activism, with some critics arguing that the movement is more vocal about issues that align with progressive politics. The Turkish government's actions have been compared to those of other authoritarian governments that use religious doctrine to justify the persecution of LGBT people. LGBT organizations and activists have been called upon to condemn the use of Sharia and Islamic law to justify the criminalization and persecution of gay people.
The issue has also raised questions about the priorities of the American LGBT movement, with some critics arguing that it devotes more energy to condemning Israel, where LGBT people have extensive legal protections, than to governments that criminalize homosexuality and persecute gay people. The contrast has been noted in the Palestinian territories, where the Palestinian Authority and Hamas criminalize and persecute LGBT Palestinians, yet receive less attention from Western activists.
