‘LGBTI+s subjected to violence at home during pandemic’

Click to read the article in Turkish

Young Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Intersexual Youth Studies and Solidarity Association (Genç LGBTİ+) has released its report entitled "The Situation of LGBTI+ Community During COVID-19 Outbreak."

Aiming to make the effects of the pandemic on the LGBTI+s more visible and raise concerns and awareness about the experiences of LGBTI+ community in this process, the online surveys underlying this report were participated by 252 LGBTI+s from all 81 provinces of Turkey in May-June.

Click here to read the full report (in Turkish)

Assisted by the "Think Civil to Make Change" (Sivil Düşün) program, the report has focused on the experiences of LGBTI+s during COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, housing, economy, mental health, social effects, education and experiences of violence.

Some highlights from the report are as follows:

'Pandemic interrupted education'

* 38 percent of the participants (97 people) had to change their living arrangements and 26 percent (66 people) had to change the cities where they lived. The change of cities was from big cities to small ones. 35 participants had to leave their student dormitories.

* 75 percent of the participants indicated that while they could continue with their education online in this process, they still had personal hardships and problems with the education process.

* 16 participants said that they dropped out of school, 13 participants said that they froze their school registration and 21 participants said that their education was interrupted for other reasons.

* 30 percent of the participants said that they were subjected to violence during pandemic. Of the ones who said this, 56 percent were subjected to violence at home, 53 percent to emotional violence, 48 percent to verbal violence, 22 percent to economic violence, 12 percent to physical violence, 3 percent to sexual violence and 22 percent to cyber violence.

* 24 percent said that they were threatened with violence.

* 30 percent of participants (76 people) said that they were subjected to violence during the pandemic. 44 percent of the ones who reported experiences of violence noted that the violence in question was directly or indirectly related to their identities as LGBTI+s. (EMK/SD)