29/07/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
LGBTI+ associations jointly reacted to the shutdown of Hacettepe Queer Studies Club.
Photo: Hacettepe Pride March
Hacettepe Queer Studies Club was shut down by the university administration. The Student Clubs Establishment and Functioning Commission stated that it had evaluated “complaints about the club” and decided to close it.
In the Commission’s decision, it was alleged that the club’s activities and its members “engaged in actions and behaviors that disrupt public order by opposing religious, national, and social values,” and “acted against social harmony.” It was also claimed that students engaged in violent acts, and that this “negatively affected the peace, security, and respect-based educational and social environment on campus,” further alleging that “other students no longer felt safe.”
The Commission targeted the expressions “gender,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity” included in the club’s statute, as well as its stated objectives such as “carrying out activities where individuals with gender identities and sexual orientations can freely express themselves,” “researching issues based on gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation and developing proposals for solutions,” “examining the problems, policies, and outcomes related to gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation,” and “redefining gender from a different perspective and conducting studies in this field.”
The Commission also described the club’s events as “activities that promote gay and lesbian sexual orientations.”
University administrations, pawns of the state
LGBTI+ associations issued a joint statement against the shutdown of Queer Deer. The associations evaluated the closure decision as follows:
“While this decision by the university administration is based on arbitrariness, as stated in the ruling of the lawsuit won by Hacettepe Queer in recent years, it also proves that university administrations have become pawns of the state’s LGBTI+phobic war during the so-called Year of the Family.”
In the joint statement by the associations, it was emphasized that this decision constitutes a violation of freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the rights to protest and education. The associations made the following call:
“We call on Hacettepe University administration to immediately reverse this decision; and we invite all students, student clubs, academics, and the public to stand in solidarity against this clearly discriminatory and repressive decision.”
The anti-LGBTI+ bill began to be implemented even before it was passed
The associations also emphasized that the anti-LGBTI+ bill has begun to be enforced in practice even before being enacted:
“In the anti-LGBTI+ bill that was leaked to the public in March, the aim was to ban so-called ‘LGBTI+ propaganda’ and to make the transition process for trans people virtually impossible. Following this, we witnessed steps such as raising the minimum age for trans people to access hormones to 21, clear signs that this bill is already being implemented in practice, despite not having been passed into law. The climate of repression that the government is trying to legitimize through the declaration of a ‘Year of the Family’ is systematically criminalizing rights advocacy through blacklisting, intimidation, and silencing policies. Today, we clearly see that these unlawful practices are also being put into effect by university administrations and other institutional bodies.”
Tags: human rights, life, education, family, lgbti
