An Intersectional Analysis of Freedom of Belief and Discrimination of Iranian LGBT+ Individuals in Turkey

Abstract

The authors use an intersectionality framework to examine the discrimination that individuals belonging to the LGBT+ community who have immigrated from Iran experience in Turkiye due to their beliefs and sexual differences. By following in Brintnall’s (2013) footsteps, the authors preferred to focus specifically on the intersection of LGBT+ community members and freedom of religion and belief. In this study, the authors applied a questionnaire to Iranian LGBT+ people to examine the discrimination they suffered from both being LGBT+ and religious. The religious discrimination scale used in the study was taken from the study of Allen et al. (2020). Questions of sexual identity, orientation, and discrimination were selected and developed from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency 2012 LGBT survey (FRA, 2013). At the end of the study, the hypothesis that Iranian LGBT+ refugees are discriminated against more than once because of their beliefs and sexual orientation, and tendencies will be tested in the context of intersectionality. © 2023 by IGI Global.