Courts Approve Bans of LGBTI Events

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Courts have issued decision of refusal in lawsuits brought by Kaos GL and Pink Life Association, the LGBTI organizations in capital Ankara, against Ankara Governorship’s decision to indefinitely ban LGBTI events. The LGBTI organizations had demanded reversal of decision and suspension of the execution.

According to a report by Yıldız Tar from Kaos GL, in its reasoned decision Ankara 4th Administrative Court said that “the decision of banning will not cause unrecoverable consequence and it is not openly contravening law”.

In the case filed by Pink Life, 13th Administrative Court rejected the demand for suspension of execution by the same justification.

What happened?

Ankara Governorship banned the events to be held by “LGBTI NGOs” indefinitely on the pretext of “public morality” and “social sensitivity and sensibilities” on November 19.

The Governorship banned German LGBTI Film Days on November following some tweets posted with the hashtags #LGBTFilmGünleriİptalEdilsin (#MayLGBTFilmDaysBeCancelled) and #İstiklalimizeKaraLeke (#BlackMarkOnOurFreedom).

The 11th leg of the Gender-Based Journalism Workshop carried out by the International Press Service (IPS) Communication Foundation with the support of Kaos GL, was cancelled as well as it was targeted by the media. The workshop was planned to be held on November 18, in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin. (BK/TK)