THE GUARDIAN: Civil society campaigners form protective cordon around LGBTQ+ campaigners as they unfurl flags and placards
Queer and gay protesters defied a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Turkey to lead a civil society climate march on Saturday in the city hosting this year’s UN climate summit.
Turkey’s LGBTQ+ groups have faced increased persecution since September, with police targeting activists in their homes or at the offices of the NGOs that advocate for their rights.
But on Saturday afternoon, civil society campaigners from around the world that had gathered in Antalya for tCop31 formed a cordon around them as they unfurled rainbow flags.
Őzgǔr, a 20-year-old Turkish LGBTQ+ activist, marched defiantly with a rainbow flag wrapped over her shoulders. She said holding the flag “feels a bit dangerous” and that usually police would not allow it.
“It feels like I am living in a prison in this country. I am running all the time,” she said. “We can do this because the eyes of the international media are here.” » | Damien Gayle, Graham Readfearn and Gabrielle Canon in Antalya, Turkey | Saturday, November 14, 2026
What on earth is the matter with these political fossils, these throwbacks of a bygone age? Why don’t they grant gays equal rights, for heaven’s sake? What kind of unequal world are these retrogressive, anachronistic relics trying to reconstruct? All people, straight or gay, are God’s children, and therefore by extension all deserve the same rights to live happy lives. — © Mark Alexander
