June 2021 marked 51 years since the first Pride march in New York which commemorated the raid of Stonewall Inn on 28 June 1969. Pride month, which now takes place every June, still gives a public space for the LGBTI community to be open and safe about their sexuality.
However this year, just seven days into July, one week after Pride Month ended, a flurry of news stories has illustrated just how prominent anti-LGBTI sentiment remains in certain areas around the world. Recent news from Turkey, China, Hungary, Georgia, and Spain have all given LGBTI campaigners cause for concern.
Turkey
President Erdogan’s government has become increasingly vocal in denouncing the LGBTI community. This vocalism has been accompanied by crackdowns on Pride events and other curbs to free speech and assembly.
As International Pride month ended, Turkish authorities in riot gear detained an estimated 100 people for taking part in parades and demonstrations across the country as a new report by Reuters highlighted how discrimination for the community “looms larger” than before.
Turkish citizen Cayan Hakiki said:
“We are subject to all kinds of violence from the moment we begin to exist as an LGBTI+ person, whether from people on the street, the government or the police.”
Transgender Europe, a network of organisations that advocate for rights, said 54 transgender people were killed in Turkey from 2008 through September 2020, the highest rate in Europe.
In 2020, for the third straight year, Turkey was ranked second lowest in the “Rainbow Index”, which measures respect for LGBTI rights in 49 European countries.
China
WeChat, a popular Chinese social media platform akin to WhatsApp, has deleted dozens of LGBTI accounts run by university students, prompting fear of a crackdown of gay content online.
The platform has long been an effective censorship tool for the Chinese government, with posts about politics and many other topics often disappearing from the app. On Tuesday 6 July 2021, many members of the Chinese LGBTI community reported being blocked from accessing their accounts.
In China homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder until 2001 then legalised however same sex marriage is not recognised and social stigma and pressure still deter people from publicly ‘coming out’.
Darius Longarino, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai’s China Center, who focuses on LGBT rights and gender equality said:
“Authorities have been tightening the space available for LGBT advocacy and civil society generally. This is another turning of the screw,”
Last year during covid restrictions, China’s only pride festival was cancelled indefinitely after organisers cited concerns over staff safety.
Hungary
On 7 July 2021 a controversial law banning materials seen as promoting homosexuality or gender change to minors took effect in Hungary. The legislation prohibits the “display or promotion” of homosexuality or gender reassignment in television shows, films, and sexual education programmes to kids in schools.
The European Union has been vocal in opposing the changes, with President of the European Commission Ursula von Der Leyen tweeting:
“We cannot just stand aside while whole regions declare themselves as ‘LGBTIQ free zones’. Europe will never allow parts of our society to be stigmatised.”
Critics accuse the law of attacking the rights of LGBTI people, saying it stigmatises sexual minorities and seeks to stifle discourse on sexual orientation.
Georgia
In the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, a Pride rally scheduled for 6 July was cancelled after counter demonstrators arrived at the scene and stormed the building housing Tbilisi Pride’s office. The anti LGBTI demonstrators used sticks and bottles to attack around 20 journalists covering the event and a Polish tourist was reportedly stabbed and hospitalised.
Animosity against sexual minorities is strong in Georgia, a former Soviet republic. President Salome Zurabishvili condemned the violence, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili alleged the march was organised by “radical opposition” forces that, he claimed, were led by exiled former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Spain
On Monday 6 July across Spain citizens took to the streets to protest the death of a man who was beaten to death for being gay.
Samuel Luiz was killed outside a nightclub in the town of A Coruña, northern Spain. The nursing assistant was video calling friends when a group of individuals using derogatory homophobic words attacked him. Luiz’s subsequent death in hospital sparked widespread protests including large crowds filled a square in central Madrid, chanting slogans and waving rainbow-coloured flags against homophobic attacks.
Ione Belarra, Spain’s social rights minister, described the attack as a hate crime and said:
“We want a country free of violence where everybody feels free to be who they are,”
Interior Ministry data shows 278 hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender identity were reported in Spain in 2019, an 8.6% increase on the previous year. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights warns that only a fraction of hate crimes are reported to the police.