Rainbow Digest August 2025
The truth is not a crime: Freedom for Enes Hocaoğulları
Turkey’s war on free expression and the courage of Enes Hocaoğulları
Enes Hocaoğulları, 23, a youth delegate to the Council of Europe, was arrested at Ankara airport on August 5. Turkish authorities say he “spread misleading information” and “incited public hatred” after he spoke in Strasbourg about police violence and the arrest of elected mayors back home. His comments quickly became the target of a coordinated smear campaign, painting him and his organisation ÜniKuir as agents of “moral corruption” and “foreign influence.”
We call on international actors to raise these ongoing rights violations in all engagements with the Turkish government, and on donors to increase support to civil society on the ground. Most urgently, we join ÜniKuir in calling for the immediate release of Enes Hocaoğulları and for his right to free expression to be upheld.
ILGA-Europe news
Join us as a grantee partner to work towards stronger democracies
We launched a new 2-year programme to support LGBTI organisations working to protect democracy.
Through funding, convenings, and opportunities for learning and capacity building, the programme will resource, strengthen and amplify diverse national strategies of LGBTI organisations, supporting their role in broader pro-democracy efforts. This will include integrating LGBTI-specific strategies into wider democratic organising and discourse, and fostering greater civic participation of LGBTI people.
Latest news
ASYLUM
HIV-positive Turkmen man fears deportation
An HIV-positive gay man who fled Turkmenistan risks being deported, imprisoned and tortured from a European country. In Turkmenistan, homosexuality is punishable by jail under the criminal code provision. HIV-positive people regularly find themselves imprisoned and tortured, according to several human rights groups.
EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
French Court orders end to mandatory gender titles on train tickets
France’s Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that the country’s national railway company, SNCF, can no longer require passengers to select between “Mr” or “Ms” when purchasing train tickets. The decision follows a judgement from the Court of Justice of the European Union earlier this year.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Timeline of Hungary’s Assembly Act banning Pride events
We created a living timeline that tracks developments in Hungary’s Assembly Act and its impact on civil liberties. Adopted in March 2025, Hungary;s law restricting freedom of assembly by linking LGBTI events to the anti-LGBTQI propaganda law passed in 2021.
Russia pass a bill punishing online searches for information deemed to be ‘extremist’
Russian lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist”. The bill passed by the lower house, the State Duma, moves to the upper house and then goes to the President to be signed into law.
HATE CRIME
Ukraine introduces bill to combat anti-LGBT hate
Ukraine’s government has introduced a bill that would strengthen penalties for discrimination, hate crimes, and hate speech, including protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
Movement focus
La Bassa Mar, a rural refuge of queer racialised power
In the Catalunyan countryside, nestled among olive trees and far from the hurly burly of urban life, La Bassa Mar is doing something radical.
It is building a space where racialised trans, intersex and non-binary people can slow down, reconnect with each other, and reimagine resistance.
Temple Of is a collective transforming resistance into celebration
Temple Of creates immersive cultural events that centre racialised queer migrants, combining music, performance, and community care in ways that are both deeply political and deeply joyful.
Their approach is unapologetically political. The collective refuses to treat music as apolitical and chooses not to collaborate with institutions complicit in nationalism, militarism, or colonialism.
Notice board
- ILGA World is hiring an Advocacy Senior Manager. Apply here by 19 September.
- The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is recruiting an Events and Administration Associate. Apply by 14 September.
- IGLYO is looking for a consultant to develop an educational tool counter anti-gender discourse in education. Apply before 10 September.
- TGEU published a guide to media engagement and digital wellbeing essentials for trans communities. Download the guide here.
- TGEU is organising a webinar on 25 September to explore the Council of Europe’s human rights and advocacy mechanisms for trans rights. Register here.
