Religious Left

Amnesty International A local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of the Turkish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender solidarity organization, Lambda Istanbul. The court ruled on May 29 in favor of a complaint by the Istanbul Governor's Office that Lambda Istanbul's objectives were against Turkish "moral values and family structure". An appeal challenging this ruling is currently pending. Amnesty International considers that closure of or attempts to close organizations on the basis of advocating for the rights of persons with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities violate the right to freedom of association, and are discriminatory. Amnesty International is calling on people to write to Besir Atalay , the Minister of Interior.

According to a Chinese newspaper, Shanghai’s city government is readying laws that would criminalize the renting of housing space to unmarried couples, including same-sex partners. According to reports, the city government of Shanghai intends to stop cohabitation outside of marriage. However, reports also suggested that besides this moral values reason, there may be other, more pragmatic aims at work, such as thinning out the city’s population density. http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=22731