LGBTQ+ protests have been on the rise for the past few years. Individuals advocating for the suppressed rights of LGBTQ+ members have regularly initiated protests. Recently, these protests shifted focus to another aspect in some countries like Türkiye: anti-LGBTQ+ protests.
An anti-LGBTQ+ protest was held in Istanbul under the name of “Great Family Gathering” by the Great Family Platform (Büyük Aile Platformu), with the participation of families who are against the “LGBTQ+ propaganda and imposition.” This platform was established to protect the “family structure,” which is defined by the platform as the key element that holds together the society we see today.
The platform states on its website that it believes there has never been such a period in time as today where family structures were targeted and threatened as much. They blame this global problem on imperialist powers and global lobbies, which they claim cut society’s ties with their culture and traditions. The Great Family Platform defines these efforts as corrupted projects with the aim of turning citizens into “identityless, personalityless, genderless, propertyless, nationalityless, hedonist” individuals, which is also supported and quickened with propaganda mechanisms, resulting in a threat to the existence and sustainability of humankind.
The first anti-LGBTQ+ protest by the Great Family Platform was held in 2022. The most recent one was held on September 15, 2024, and was announced beforehand by the general secretary of the platform, Serdar Eryılmaz, at a press conference, where he explained the logistics of the walk: it would start from the Fatih Memorial Park in Saraçhane, and end in Beyazıt Square.
Eryılmaz continued his words by stating that the platform has collected over 150 thousand wet signatures in favor of removing the term gender equality from the deposit and banning LGBTQ+ propaganda, which they have presented to the Türkiye Grand National Assembly (TBMM). The comment about gender equality led many to believe that this platform wasn’t only homophobic under the name of protecting family structure but was also sexist, as they are also against equality between two genders.
Eryılmaz also made it clear that the platform aims to expand and become an international organization, as they suggested adding an 18th Sustainable Development Goal concerning the protection of a sustainable family to the United Nations’ already existing goals. They also asked for the creation of a World Family Agency based in Istanbul.
The protest that was announced at the press conference was also reiterated by the President of Türkiye’s Radio and Television Supreme Council's (RTÜK) website under the title “public service announcements," which wasn’t done to LGBTQ+ walks from previous years. This raised questions because, in the video, the members of the LGBTQ+ community were called “viruses.” This wasn’t the first time, as in 2022 the promotion video for the protest was once again published by RTÜK on television.
Many people believe these protests are because of the AKP regime, which seems to have a firm opposition to the LGBTQ+ community, as seen by the Gezi Park protests of 2013, the coup attempt in 2016—which started with bridges closed to entrance and streets filled with tanks that later turned out to be organized by FETÖ (Fetullahçı Terör Örgütü) to overthrow the government at the time. This was the first time LGBTQ+ protests were banned indefinitely, which is still going on today— and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s balcony speech after again being chosen as the president in 2023. In the last event, Erdoğan asked whether there were any LGBTQ+ supporters in the crowd, and the crowd enthusiastically responded, "NO!" However, this hadn’t always been the case. Before the AKP was brought to power, younger Erdoğa stated in a television campaign that he found the mistreatment of gay people inhumane and legal protections for them in Türkiye a "must.”
The yearly LGBTQ+ pride in Istanbul was banned in 2016, and those who haven’t followed the order ever since have consistently faced police violence.
However, as seen by the recent protest in Saraçhane, no such rules apply to anti-LGBTQ+ protests; no police intervened. This resulted in serious backlash from citizens, as many deemed the walk a form of “hate crime."
Thousands participated in the rally, making it the biggest anti-LGBTQ+ protest of its kind in Türkiye, with pan cards and slogans, saying “Say no to society without gender," "Father + mother + baby = family,” or “Stop the ones who are trying to take away my grandchildren's right to life.” A construction worker, Mehmet Yalçın, who is 21 years old, attended the meeting wearing a black headband with Islam’s testimony of faith written on it. He stated, “We need to make all our defense against this LGBT. We need to get rid of it,” and continued with, “We are sick of and truly uncomfortable that our children are being encouraged and pulled to this.”
The meeting became a topic of joke on X, with people telling the protestors to stop exaggerating. Others, on the other hand, thought of the protests as inappropriate or as ways of distracting citizens from more important events going on around the country, like the mysterious death of Narin.
International platforms commented on the issue too, with the Human Rights Research Center claiming that this protest may be caused by the conservative Islamic values deeply rooted in Turkish culture, despite Türkiye being a secular country with an ever-changing demographic. They stated that this resurgence of conservative ideas can be attributed to the AKP regime.
In the article, the Human Rights Research Center included a part about Kaos Gl, one of the oldest LGBTQ+ organizations in Türkiye. In 2022, the organization reported abuse of LGBTQ+ rights, such as bans and censorships on their right to perform, publish books, broadcast, and assemble, as well as political hate speech, and police and public violence. On the other hand, there were anti-LGBTQ+ rallies being organized in over 15 provinces under the protection of the government, highlighting the difference between the government's policies about the two.
Umut Rojda Yildirim, a gay activist who works as the lawyer of The Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association, a nongovernmental LGBTQ+ outreach organization in Istanbul, believes the anti-LGBTQ opinions that were on view in the meeting aren’t dominant across Turkish society but that the minority conveying them seem “louder when they have government funds, when they’re supported by the government watchdog.”
Many believe the Great Family Gathering is a sign of Türkiye’s political shift, as it now inclines more to right and Islamic or conservative ideas, which could be seen from the shifting opinion of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from protecting the LGBTQ+ community to advocating against them. However, this "shift," as Umut stated, may not be the actual case and can just be conservative groups stating their opinion more loudly than others.
No matter if the shift is fake or not, it affects and hurts the LGBTQ+ community deeply, while also implying that LGBTQ+ may only be the beginning and that many more bans or censorships may be coming, which will parallel the conservative ideas supported by Islamic groups and the government.