A draft bill proposed by the government in Turkey would significantly extend existing restrictions on the freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community.
Details of the draft of the 11th Judicial Package, which is expected to be submitted to Parliament soon, were shared by T24’s Ceren Bayar.
Whilst same-sex activity is currently legal, Turkey does not recognise same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnership benefits, and same-sex adoption is not permitted.
Turkey scored just five out of a possible 100 on ILGA-Europe’s 2024 rainbow map and Turkish LGBTQ+ people continue to face abuse whilst queer visitors are advised to be cautious when travelling in the country.
The proposed legislation would amend Article 225 of the Turkish Penal Code, entitled ‘Immodest Acts’, and sets out that anyone who behaves “contrary to the biological sex assigned at birth and general morality” faces a prison sentence of one to three years.
Alongside this, the legal age for gender-affirming surgery will increase from 18 to 25 and the requirements needed for such care will be more strict.
The stringent conditions will include that trans folks must not be married, be sterilised and that the “necessity of gender reassignment in terms of mental health” must be medically diagnosed.
Those who perform illegal surgeries for members of the trans community will face penalties, as set out in the article: “Any perpetrator who performs any medical intervention aimed at changing a person’s sex in violation of the conditions set by law shall be sentenced to imprisonment of three to seven years and a judicial fine of between 1,000 and 10,000 days.”
Furthermore, the proposals state: “If people of the same sex hold an engagement or marriage ceremony, these people will be sentenced to imprisonment from one year and six months to four years.”
The current sentence for “engaging in open sexual intercourse or exhibitionism”, which entails a prison sentence of six months and one year, will increased up to three years.
“The regulation aims to raise physically and mentally healthy individuals and generations and to protect the family institution and social structure,” the draft bill allegedly reads.
These abhorrent roll backs on the rights of the LGBTQ+ people are described as being enacted to protect the country’s “traditional values.”
“Regulations that strengthen our social structure and protect human dignity are being adopted in order to protect the institution of the family, prevent attacks on the general morality and values of society, and more effectively combat trends of standardisation and gender neutralisation,” it reads.
In recent years, Turkey has sought to crack down on LGBTQ+ rights by banning Pride parades, a move which saw hundreds of people arrested when they marched in protest.
The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is vehemently anti_LGBTQ+ and has branded the community “perverse” and threatening to the family unit.
In January Erdoğan announced 2025 had been designated the Year of the Family and launched the year-long celebration of traditional values – which seeks to promote marriage and bolster Turkey’s birth rate – by attacking the LGBTQ+ community.
Giving a speech in the capital, Ankara, Erdoğan insisted he would clamp down on LGBTQ+ activism.
“It is our common responsibility to protect our children and youth from harmful trends and perverse ideologies,” he said. “Neoliberal cultural trends are crossing borders and penetrating all corners of the world. They also lead to LGBT and other movements gaining ground.
“The target of gender-neutralisation policies, in which LGBT is used as a battering ram, is the family. Criticism of LGBT is immediately silenced, just like the legitimate criticisms of Zionism. Anyone who defends nature and the family is subject to heavy oppression.”
Prior to this, in October 2023, Erdoğan declared at an AK Party congress that he and his party would never recognise the LGBTQ+ community in Turkey.
“We do not recognise LGBT. Whoever recognises LGBT can go and march with them,” he said.
“We are members of a structure that holds the institution of family solid, that strongly embraces the family institution.
“We will dry the roots of sneaky acts aiming to destroy our family institution by supporting perverse political, social and individual trends.”
Previous to this, Erdoğan stated he is “against the LGBT” because he believes “family is sacred”.
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