When Yasemin Oz, a lesbian lawyer in Istanbul, heard President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claiming victory after a runoff election on Sunday, she said she feared for the future.
In his speech, he declared “family is sacred for us” and insisted that L.G.B.T.Q. people would never “infiltrate” his governing party.
They were familiar themes, heard often throughout Mr. Erdogan’s campaign for re-election: He frequently attacked the community, referring to them as “deviants” and saying they were “spreading like the plague.” But Ms.
Oz said she had hoped it was just electioneering to rally the president’s conservative base. “I was already worried about what was to come for us,” said Ms.