SPoD offers free legal counseling to support LGBTI+ people’s access to justice and continues to campaign and litigate rights violations. We ensure that LGBTI+ people who are subjected to rights violations due to their gender identity or sexual orientation, who have difficulties in accessing justice even if they are not subjected to rights violations, and who live with HIV can benefit from free legal counseling. We establish collaborations with law faculties at universities, support lawyers by preparing legal publications, and organize events and seminars in this field.
Legal Team
Our Legal Team consists of lawyers who participated in the Capacity Enhancement Program for Lawyers. SPoD also contributes to the production of legal content on the LGBTI+ field with our volunteer team working on campaigns and strategic lawsuits in which the association is a party / intervener. In this direction, our legal team follows and translates the decisions of international courts; related publishing and events are organized by SPoD.
Lawyer Network
Our lawyer network consists of lawyers who participated in the Capacity Enhancement Program for Lawyers. Through this network, SPoD cooperates and exchanges information with specialized lawyers from various provinces of Turkey, especially Istanbul, and supports LGBTI+ people who reach SPoD to carry out their litigation processes with lawyers who have had orientation in this field. With the lawyer network, SPoD also aims to provide a safe space for LGBTI+ lawyers. In addition, SPoD organizes advanced workshops on specific topics for lawyers in the lawyer network within the framework of the capacity enhancement program.
Capacity Enhancement Program for Lawyers
Lawyers are joining our Legal Team and Lawyer Network within the scope of the Capacity Enhancement Program for Lawyers titled “National and International Legislation and Jurisprudence on LGBTI+ Rights”, which we have been organizing since 2012. With this program, SPoD aims to increase the number and capacity of lawyers who advocate for the rights of LGBTI+ people.
In this program, the topics such as LGBTI+ Basic Concepts, Attorney-Client Relations for LGBTI+ people, Gender Reassignment Process Cases under the Civil Code, Intersex Assignment Operations, Regulations on Inheritance Law, LGBTI+ Legal Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, Non-Discrimination, LGBTI+ people Living with HIV, Refugee Law and LGBTI+ people, Discrimination in Employment, Sex Work Legislation and Practice, Freedom of Expression and LGBTI+ Activity Bans, Criminal Law for LGBTI+ people are lectured by lawyers, experts and rights defenders working in related fields.
Campaign Cases
We follow the lawsuits on the fundamental rights of LGBTI+ people, especially the right to life, the right to housing and the right to work, which are frequently violated. As SPoD, we intervene in these cases and work with lawyers and civil society to obtain results in favor of LGBTI+ people, whose rights are violated.
SPoD’s efforts to publicize these cases through the press aim to ensure accurate and effective information flow to the public against the LGBTI+phobic and discriminatory language used by the mainstream media.
SPoD fights against the hate speech produced and popularized by the mainstream media, through the law. Therefore, SPoD does not only deal with the legal aspects of the cases or the conduct of the cases, but also works in the background and works to reduce the cases that lead to violations of rights.
- Ahmet Öztürk Case – Violation of the Right to Life
- Ahmet Yıldız Case – Violation of the Right to Life
- Baki Koşar Case – Violation of the Right to Life
- Roşin Çiçek Case – Violation of the Right to Life
- Avcılar – Metis Sitesi Case – Violation of the Right to Housing
- Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ Case – Discrimination in Employment
- E. Case – Dismissal from Civil Service on Grounds of Sexual Orientation
- Ç. Case – Discrimination in Employment
- 2019 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride March Ban Case – Right to Assembly and Demonstration
- 2019 3rd Queer Olympix Ban Case – Right to Assembly and Demonstration
- Esra Ateş Case – Violation of the Right to Life
- 2021 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride March Criminal Cases – Freedom of Expression
- The Case on the Banning of the 2021 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Maçka Park Picnic – Right to Assembly and Demonstration
- 2022 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Events Ban Cases – Right to Assembly and Demonstration
- Nefes Balkan Case – Violation of the Right to Life
