On 8 April, 2026, eleven
leaders of a Turkish gay-rights group faced a judicial trial on charges of “obscenity”
and “violating the protection of the family.”[1]
These charges are of course heavily subjective and even controversial,
especially well into the twenty-first century by which time gay and lesbian
couples were raising children in family units so the issue in Turkey could be
said to be which type of family warrants protection. The obscenity charge
had to do with the fact that two men or two women kissing romantically in
public still made a significant proportion of people uncomfortable in Turkey.
Turkish authorities had deemed photos showing gay couples kissing and put on
social media to be obscene. That homosexuality was not illegal there at the
time rendered the trial perplexing to many in the gay community in Turkey and
elsewhere in the world. Perhaps even more perplexing is the fact that the constitution
of Turkey contained an article on protecting family values and that gay couples
raising children were exempted from even being deemed families.
The full essay is at "Turkey on Gay Obscenity."
1. Gavin Blackburn, “Turkey Puts 11 Leaders of LGBTQ+ Rights Association on Trial for ‘Obscenity,’” Euronews.com, 8 April, 2026.
