Turkish LGBT campaigner to receive David Kato award
Ali Erol, an LGBT activist in Turkey has been honoured with this year’s David Kato award, which was set up in memory of the gay Ugandan campaigner who was murdered in 2011.
Mr Erol will pick up the prize later this month and founded the LGBT group Kaos GL in 1994, the first of its kind in Turkey.
He has previously faced death threats and numerous court cases, and is at the forefront of the campaign to reform the Turkish constitution, pushing for a clause on non-discrimination of LGBT people.
Mr Erol said: “I am proud to receive the David Kato Vision and Voice Award. It will make me stronger and give me more courage to continue to fight for liberation.”
LGBT people remain largely hidden in Turkey as they continue to be subjected to humiliation, exclusion, and violence.
Gay men are still being regularly discharged from the country’s armed forces. The country also has no legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
The Trans Murder Monitoring project states that Turkey has by far the most reported murders of transgender people in Europe, with 29 reported since January 2008.
