Calls to LGBTI+ hotline has increased by 85 percent during pandemic

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Social Policies, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD) has released a report on the violence and discrimination experienced by LGBTI+s during the coronavirus outbreak.

Accordingly, calls to the association's LGBTI+ hotline significantly increased after March 11, the day the first coronavirus case in Turkey was confirmed.

LGBTI+s returning to their families' homes due to the pandemic has caused them to feel less safe, the report suggests.

Hate speech towards the LGBTI+s by the country's religious authority head also led to an increase in the calls to the hotline, the report notes.

Here are highlights from the report:

• Since mid-March, 82 people applied for psychological support.
• After the announcement of free psychological support, 35 people applied in April.
• Although nearly 20 people applied every week for the "Conversations Without Distance," four people on average attended the online events. While this is not considered precise and scientific data proving that LGBTI+s cannot have a safe space by staying at home during the pandemic, it induced us to think about LGBTI+s' safe spaces.
• The counseling line was open on 57.5 out of 60 days when it should be open from March 11 to June 11.
• While the counseling line received 214 applications in the first 45 days of the pandemic, it received 244 applications in the 45 days following President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş's statement about LGBTI+s. After his statements, applications about discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and violence increased by 100 percent. Counselees felt less safe in this period when incidents of violence increased after the hate speech.
• The counseling line received a total of 481 applications via phone and email between March 11 and June 11. While there was no significant difference in the number of applications in the first two months of 2020, applications during the pandemic increased 85.7 percent compared to the same period last year (259 applications between March 11, 2019 - June 21, 2019).
• SPoD has provided verbal and written legal counseling to 60 people since the pandemic started, and all face-to-face meetings with clients were conducted on online platforms. In this period, the most common subject of counseling was the violence, insults and threats experienced by LGBTI+s who returned to their families' homes due to the pandemic.
• LGBTI+s in Turkey have become a more fragile community during the pandemic and experience severe difficulties in access to the right to life and other rights such as the right to health and work. (EMK/VK)

Click for the full report (Turkish)