Sawt Falasteen - For Turkey's LGBTQ community, draft law sparks existential alarm

Discussing the proposed new legislation with AFP while making last-minute adjustments to hair and make-up, the artist known as Florence Konstantina Delight -- who identifies as non-binary -- did not mince their words.

Turkey's conservative government is proposing changes to its penal code that would criminalise any behaviour deemed "contrary to biological sex and general morality".

That, right groups say, would allow for the prosecution of anyone who identifies as gay, bisexual or transgender.

The changes would also criminalise any activities "promoting" such behaviour.

Wearing a wig of tumbling blonde curls and a black strappy sequinned dress, Florence -- whose small pencil moustache is coloured turquoise -- carefully curled their long false eyelashes before spraying on perfume and wafting out into the evening.

"Tonight is Halloween, the safest night for drag artists," when everyone is out in costume, said the 27-year-old.

Their evening began with a DJ session at a club in Istanbul's bustling Nevizade district, near Taksim Square.

After that, it was on to a second venue to take centre stage with a drag queen act.

"I started dressing up as a woman eight years ago when I was studying as a way of expressing my feelings," Florence told AFP in a dressing room hung with wigs and richly-coloured garments of lace, feathers and fur.

"But I dropped out of university because the campus was full of police and I don't like uniforms."

With the new law looming, that fear has only got worse.

Many in Turkey's LGBTQ community, who have had to endure a string of verbal attacks from Turkey's Islamo-conservative government, fear the new legislation could have a life-changing impact.

"If this law passes, it will threaten our very existence as LGBTQ individuals. It interferes with people's everyday appearance, which is terrifying," Florence said.

"Because it's not just about the aesthetics, it's interfering with our emotional health. This will push people to suicide," they added quietly, without elaborating.

- 'Deviant movement' -

Last week, Human Rights Watch called for the proposed changes to be "immediately withdrawn", warning that if the legislation passed, it would amount to "one of the most alarming rollbacks of rights in decades", involving a "profound violation of human dignity".

The text, which is to be put before parliament before the year's end, also envisages raising the minimum age for gender-affirming surgery from 18 to 25, among other restrictions.

The LGBTQ community has been frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a pious Muslim who has denounced it as a "deviant movement" and who regularly brands them "perverts".

He has also accused them of posing a threat to traditional families and being responsible for the nation's falling birthrate.

Last month, several organisations called for protests against the bill.

But the authorities imposed a ban, forcing demonstrators to gather inside the Istanbul premises of Turkey's Human Rights Association.

"This law provides for between one and three years of prison for vague reasons: you can be convicted for your appearance or just because you're LGBTQ," explained rights activist Irem Gerkus, one of the demonstrators.

Ogulcan Yediveren, who heads an NGO called SPOD, which offers psychological and medical support to LGBTQ people, sees the draft law primarily as a bid to "limit their presence in the public space".

"The ministry of the family uses publicity that directly targets LGBTQ individuals and does it with a big budget... it's no longer about hatred in political discourse, it has become state policy," he said.

- Bars and clubs closed -

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Turkey in 1858 during the Ottoman Empire.

But today it is frowned upon by swathes of the predominantly Muslim society, and since Erdogan's AKP came to power in 2002, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has grown steadily.

Since 2015, Pride Marches have been regularly banned.

"Such a law won't only affect the LGBTQ community. Its parameters will expand: what does biological sex or public morality actually mean?" asked Yediveren.

Even in relatively liberal Istanbul, LGBTQ spaces have been shrinking, with several community bars and nightclubs shut down in recent months following overnight police raids.

Under the neon orange and green glow of a renowned LGBTQ club in the ancient city, hundreds of dancers moved to the thumping mixes of Turkish and English tracks put together by Florence.

"I used to perform every week but I don't any more because these places are being closed," sighed the artist.

Pushing through the bustling alleyways near Taksim, Florence hurried to the next club accompanied by two friends for safety, eyes lowered.

But this all might soon be over for Florence, who has had enough.

"I've thought about leaving several times but always changed my mind. This time, I want to leave for good. I feel increasingly alone," they said.

K.AbuDahab--SF-PST