LGBTI+ activists condemn TRT’s ‘Rainbow Fascism’ docuseries
The Trans Pride Week Committee issued a statement yesterday in İstanbul's Taksim Metro station, denouncing a docuseries aired on the state broadcaster TRT’s digital platform tabii, titled Rainbow Fascism (Gökkuşağı Faşizmi), for targeting LGBTI+ communities.
The activists criticized the series for portraying LGBTI+s as the cause of social problems, asserting instead that the real threats to their lives stem from poverty, violence, and discriminatory state policies.
“Have you heard? The first episode of Rainbow Fascism, a documentary that targets LGBTI+ people, was released today on the digital platform tabii," said the group. You who promote this documentary are the true fascists. It is the state and its policies, those that foster poverty, child labor, femicides, trans murders, and workplace deathsü that are truly fascist.”
'Whitewashing' through LGBTI+s
They also referenced recent controversies surrounding the state-backed vocational training program MESEM, where child labor and fatalities have drawn criticism. “While children are being killed in MESEM, while our murderers put on ties and get sentence reductions, those who target us are the real fascists. When the minimum wage is below the hunger threshold, we will not allow you to scapegoat LGBTI+s to whitewash this system.”
The group called for solidarity against what they described as the state’s politics of hate, urging the public to oppose platforms like tabii and to boycott all government tools that promote LGBTI+ hostility. “We are neither imports from the West nor a threat to this society,” they said. “It is our lives that are truly in danger.”
They pointed to institutions like the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) for surveilling trans students, and the Health Ministry for restricting access to gender-affirming care through hormone regulations and age limitations. “The real danger,” they said, “is male violence, a state hostile to women, LGBTI+s and workers, and the police who blockade our streets and courts that imprison us. The men who exploit our labor, kill women and trans people, and try to control our lives through violence—these are the real threat.”
“You are the fascists,” they concluded. “And we are part of the millions resisting your fascism. Our struggle is united against this hatred. We will defeat it together. Long live our trans solidarity and dignified resistance!”
The docuseries
The docuseries Rainbow Fascism, which premiered last week on TRT’s international digital platform tabii, has drawn sharp criticism from rights organizations and human rights advocates for its anti-LGBTI+ narrative.
Comprising six episodes, the series frames the LGBTI+ movement as a “global lobby” and an “ideological imposition,” employing language that strips equality demands based on sexual orientation and gender identity from their context and criminalizes them.
Although the production claims to be based on expert opinions and research, it has been criticized for obscuring the discrimination and structural violence faced by LGBTI+ people, instead portraying their struggle for rights as a societal threat. (TY/VK)
