Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has fined TLC TV for airing a show depicting the life of a homosexual couple as part of its “Extraordinary Pregnancies” series, according to Turkish media reports.
The council has argued that the homosexual relationship between two women, which is shown as a partnership model in one episode of “Extraordinary Pregnancies,” goes against the moral values of the society.
RTÜK experts said the presentation in the program of two women as parents, their having a child and the depiction of problems they encountered during the pregnancy have the potential to damage social gender roles and social norms.
Homosexuality is not banned in Turkey, but same-sex couples are not given the same legal protections available to heterosexual couples. The country has allowed transgender people to change their legal gender since 1988.
Yet, the Turkish government does not allow LGBT activities in the country as numerous LGBT events have been banned in recent years, including the gay pride march in İstanbul, which had been running smoothly since 2003 and attracting tens of thousands of people until it was indefinitely cancelled in 2014.