13/10/2026 | Writer: Kaos GL
Speaking alongside Yıldız Tar one month after the launch of the “My Family Is Safe” operations, Judith Butler condemned the criminalization of LGBTI+ people: “Whoever stands by your side is your family.”
One month after the launch of systematic crackdown operations targeting LGBTI+ people in Türkiye under the name “My Family Is Safe,” Judith Butler and Yıldız Tar spoke at a webinar titled “The First Month of the Crackdown on LGBTI+ Rights in Türkiye.” More than 1,500 people from Türkiye and around the world attended the webinar.
Kaos GL Editor-in-Chief Yıldız Tar was the first to speak at the webinar.
In a speech titled “Holding the Sky Together,” Tar described the impact of the operations on the lives of LGBTI+ people and emphasized the importance of solidarity with imprisoned human rights defenders.
Stating that the operations had torn apart their chosen families, Tar said, “Since that day, every morning I look around me and ask myself the same question: Whose family is being protected, and from whom?”
Tar also spoke about the aftermath of the arrest of Metin, a member of Kaos GL’s Supervisory Board and Tar’s housemate: “For a month now, the chair at our kitchen table has remained painfully empty. Every morning, the silence in our home echoes with his absence.”
During the speech, Tar also shared messages sent from prison by imprisoned human rights defenders Nedime Erdoğan, Janset Kalan, Umut Derin, and Selin Berghan.
“Even as we mourn, we organize”
Describing the operations as “an organized politics of hostility built on dehumanization,” Tar said that the concepts of “obscenity” and “public morality” were being used to criminalize LGBTI+ people.
“By defining human rights advocacy as ‘obscenity,’ they are trying to isolate us. They want society to look away. They want our friends to be too afraid to stand beside us,” Tar said.
Emphasizing that they continued their struggle despite the repression, Tar stated:
“Even as we mourn, we organize. Even as we face travel bans and attempts at intimidation, we defend our friends in courtrooms, report the truth, and continue our struggle.”
Tar calls for international solidarity: “Please do not look away”
At the end of the speech, Tar addressed the international community and called for greater solidarity to secure the release of imprisoned LGBTI+ human rights defenders:
“Authoritarian regimes rely on the world's silence as complicity. They rely on the world looking away. Please do not look away. Do not allow our friends to be buried in silence: Speak the names of Metin, Nedime, Janset, Umut, and Selin in your communities, your universities, and your parliaments. Let the authorities know that every wall they build is being watched by the entire world. Demand real accountability: Call on your institutions and representatives to confront the Turkish government directly over these fabricated charges, arbitrary arrests, and travel bans. Stand with us through concrete support: Help us sustain the legal defense, emergency support mechanisms, and independent journalism that keep our movement breathing.”
“It is very important to strengthen radical joy”
Speaking at the webinar, philosopher Judith Butler discussed the operations targeting LGBTI+ people in Türkiye, drawing attention to policies of criminalization, accusations of “obscenity,” and the importance of international solidarity.
Butler stated that the repression of LGBTI+ people threatened people's lives and emphasized the importance of queer joy and solidarity under these conditions:
“It is very important to strengthen radical joy. This attack is taking place on a horrifying scale and threatens people's lives. How much longer will this criminalization continue? It is possible to live in a state of panic and fear. But as long as LGBTI+ people support one another, there will be güllüm, there will be joy, and there will be resistance.”
“The state is trying to criminalize LGBTI+ people”
Recalling that homosexuality has been legal in Türkiye since the 19th century, Butler said that the operations were attempting to associate LGBTI+ people with crime:
“Homosexuality has been legal in Türkiye since the 19th century. There have been attempts to ban it from time to time. Through this persecution, they may be preparing to revoke the legal recognition of LGBTI+ people. What these attacks are really doing is associating LGBTI+ people with crime. They are trying to create a link between criminality and being LGBTI+ in the public imagination.”
Butler continued by stating that human rights advocacy was also being treated as a criminal activity:
“The state is trying to criminalize LGBTI+ people and, at the same time, imprison them. They are also trying to associate the human rights movement with organized crime.”
“Is gay or bisexual desire obscene?”
Butler also addressed the accusations of “obscenity” used in the operations, stating that the concept was being used to target LGBTI+ people's freedom of expression and human rights advocacy.
“One aspect of the criminal charges is obscenity. Is gay or bisexual desire obscene? And in what sense is any of the organizations being targeted a criminal organization?”
Drawing attention to the possibility that international solidarity could also be targeted, Butler noted that cross-border relationships established in support of LGBTI+ rights were being portrayed as a threat to national values:
“Türkiye also receives support from international organizations. Building transnational solidarity becomes difficult when LGBTI+ people are portrayed as a threat to national values. If they accuse our transnational solidarity of being cultural imperialism, they will have no grounds left to defend themselves.”
“Even reporting on what is happening poses a risk”
Butler said that accusations of “obscenity” also threatened media organizations, cultural production, and legal professionals:
“When LGBTI+ people are associated with obscenity, we believe films will also be banned. Any media outlet reporting on the demands of LGBTI+ people could be shut down, and lawyers face the same danger. Under this approach, any kind of thought could fall within the scope of obscenity.”
Butler also pointed to the consequences of the operations for academic freedom and press freedom, stating that the repression was connected to the international anti-gender movement:
“People are suffering as a result of LGBTI+ people being targeted. Academic freedom and the media are under threat. Even reporting on what is happening poses a risk. What is happening in Türkiye is part of the international anti-gender movement. Erdoğan's tactics are not very different from Orbán's.”
“No one who attacks LGBTI+ families can claim to be defending the family”
At the end of the speech, Butler addressed the rhetoric of “protecting the family,” emphasizing that LGBTI+ people's chosen families were also being targeted. Stating that family cannot be defined solely through blood relations, Butler concluded:
“We have families too. Some of them are related to us by blood, and some are not. These families are being harmed. No one who attacks LGBTI+ families can claim to be defending the family. Whoever stands by your side is your family. My heart is with you, and my mind is with you.”
Tags: human rights, women, media
