Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed his dissatisfaction with the “LGBT colors” used in the design of the United Nations. This week, the UN Hall is decorated with bright colors symbolizing the Sustainable Development Goals.
“One of the problems that worries me the most… is that when you enter the UN General Assembly, you see LGBT colors on the stairs and elsewhere,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkish media.
Erdogan, whose Islamist Justice and Development Party criticizes the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people and has repeatedly called members of the community “deviants,” added that he would like to discuss this with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“How many LGBT people are there in the world today? No matter how many rights they have to take these steps, those who oppose LGBT people have the same right,” the Turkish president emphasized.
However, some UN diplomats have suggested that Erdogan may have confused the 17 different colors associated with the Sustainable Development Goals that decorate the halls and staircases of the UN headquarters with the colors of the rainbow of LGBTQ Pride.
Although Guterres is an active supporter of LGBTQ rights and speaks openly about discrimination, there are no rainbow colors of pride at the UN headquarters.
In Turkey, same-sex relationships are not a crime, but hostile attitudes toward them are widespread, and police repression of parades has become more severe in recent years.
- The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by world leaders in 2015 with a deadline of 2030, are a global list of goals that include ending hunger, extreme poverty, fighting climate change and inequality, and promoting gender equality.
