Trans
Activist Murdered in Turkey

Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender rights activist, was murdered in front of her home in central Istanbul on Tuesday. The LGBT rights group Lambda Istanbul says that she had reported being beaten and threatened on several occasions by the same man, who is now in police custody as the murder suspect.

Soykan, a leading figure in Lambda Istanbul, was the second member of the group to be murdered in the past year. Advocates attribute the violence in part to lack of legal protections and police inaction.

No legislation exists in Turkey to protect people based on sexual orientation or gender identity. While homosexuality is not illegal in the country, municipalities have used morality laws to discriminate against the LGBT community.