Hate speech unacceptable, minister says over anti-LGBT rally

ANKARA

Following an anti-LGBT demonstration on Sept. 18 in Istanbul, where several thousand people gathered to protest, Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık has remarked that hate speech is unacceptable no matter for whom it is used.

“We can’t normalize homosexuality or see it as normal as we have values, but the government has to protect and deliver the basic human rights of every human being, every citizen,” Yanık said, adding that every group has the right to protest.

Noting that most of her professional life has been based on human rights as she is a lawyer, Yanık said, “We find hate speech wrong no matter who it is against.”

“Remember the trans people who were thrown to the side of the road with their stomachs ripped? Such things should not happen,” Yanık said. “You can see it as wrong or a sin, but with hate speech, you hinder the right to life.”

“If one of them did something wrong to cause chaos, who would be held accountable for this? The government can’t give up any of its citizens,” she added.

Hundreds of people attended an anti-LGBT rally in Istanbul, answering a call from dozens of conservative associations.

Bearing banners with slogans such as “protect your family and your generation,” participants urged a ban on associations upholding the rights of gay and transgender people, who have been denied the right to hold their rallies in recent years.

Many of the protesters backing associations brandished slogans such as “Say no to society without gender” and “Father + mother + baby = family.”

They converged on the traditionally conservative district of Fatih for a rally which earlier had gained the seal of approval from the Turkish broadcasting council in passing a TV advert for it, judging the event as being in the “public interest.”

That stance drew a storm of protest from human rights groups.

Opponents of the march took to the internet to display their support via social media in solidarity with LGBT backers, with messages such as “no to the march of hate.”