20th Century
In 1993, the group Lambda Istanbul is founded. It was a cultural safe-space for LGBT community in Turkey, the first of its kind in the area. It became an official Turkish organization in 1996. Lambda works to report human rights violations against LGBTs and amend the Turkish constitution to include laws, such as the recognition of same-sex marriage and the addition of gender and sexuality to the list of groups protected from discrimination. However, after years of growing and providing an accepting community for LGBT people the group was ordered to be dissolved by the Turkish Supreme Court in 2008 on the grounds that Lambda Istanbul's goals were "against the law and morality" of Turkey. The ruling was overturned later that year after criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Lambda Istanbul reformed in 2009 and continues to help the LGBT community today by providing centers and hosting movie screenings.
The first gay pride parade was held in Istanbul in 2003 with 30 people participating. Since then the parade has grown to over 10,000 participants, including refugees from countries like Iraq that have strict and deadly laws against homosexuality.
In September of 2011 Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Eahin met with an LGBT organization. She said that the government will actively work together with LGBT organizations. She submitted a proposal for the acceptance of LGBT individuals in the new constitution that the parliament plans to draft in the coming year. She is calling on members of the Parliament to handle the proposal positively. She asserted that “if freedom and equality is for everybody, then sexual orientation discrimination should be eliminated and rights of these LGBT citizens should be recognized.”