(no subject)

[satyrica]

As you may already be aware, on May 29, 2008, the Civil Court of the
Beyoğlu district of Istanbul ruled in favor of a complaint brought by
the Istanbul Governor's Office, and ordered the closing of Lambda
Istanbul, LGBT Solidarity Association.

The Governor's office argued that Lambda Istanbul's objectives are
"against the law and morality" and "undermine the structure of the
family". However the Court ordered the organisation to be closed down
not on these points but on a technical detail. This court case is seen
as part of an ongoing campaign by the Istanbul Governor's office against
the LGBT group. On April 7, 2008, police raided the offices of Lambda
Istanbul (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/16/turkey18561.htm). The
police justified the raid by claiming Istanbul Lambda "encourages" and
"facilitates" prostitution.

Despite all this, the activists involved in Istanbul Lambda have vowed
to keep the association open and functioning and are appealing the
case in the courts.

The group have set up a website petition and are calling on people
everywhere to sign the petition to show the courts and the city
authorities that they have widespread support. They are also calling for
the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to be added to
the new equality article of the Turkish constitution.

The petition call is at the link below, in English, Turkish, French
and German - please take a minute to go there, click on the sign the
petition link and add your name to the call
and please pass it on....

http://www.lambdaistanbul.org/php/imzaKampanyasi.php?imzaKampanyasiID=3