LGBT history in Turkey

Prior to 1600

• 314 – Council of Ancyra (now Ankara, Turkey). This council was representative of the Eastern European Church and it excluded the Sacraments for 15 years to unmarried men under the age of 20 who were caught in homosexual acts, and excluded the man for life if he was married and over the age of 50.

17th century

18th century

• 1858 – The Ottoman Empire (predecessor of Turkey) decriminalizes sodomy.

19th century

20th century

• 1993 - Lambda Istanbul is founded.
• 1994 - ÖDP bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity within the party. Demet Demir of the ÖDP becomes the first transgender candidate to run for political office in Turkish history.
• 1996 - LEGATO is formed.
• 1997 - In April, Lambda Istanbul becomes the first Turkish LGBT NGO to be invited by the government to a government conference, namely the National Congress on AIDS; Hamam, a Turkish film featuring a gay romance, is released internationally and broadcast on state television.

21st century

• 2003 - The first ever gay pride parade in a predominately-Muslim country is held in Istanbul, Turkey. 30 people are in attendance.
• 2006 - 26-year-old Ahmet Yildiz is shot and killed by his father in Turkey's first gay-targeted honor killing.
• 2008 - Pride is first observed in Ankara.
• 2011 - The 2011 Pride march is considered as the biggest until now, with more than 10.000 participants. And turned out to be one of the biggest LGBT Pride march ever in Southeastern Europe. Politicians of the biggest opposition party, CHP and another opposition party, BDP also lent their support to the demonstration.^[1]

References