Antalya. Media regulations LGBT-themed movies are not banned in Turkey. Brokeback Mountain, as an example, was seen in Turkish cinemas without any government censorship. Anyone eighteen years of age or older could buy a ticket to watch the film. LGBT-themed DVDs can also be legally sold in Turkey, albeit DVDs with sexually explicit content may only be sold to people eighteen years of age or older. In 2013, a Turkish vendor was charged with selling "immoral" DVDs because the DVD movies featured gay sexually explicit content. Judge Mahmut Erdemli from the court in Istanbul overturned the criminal charges. He ruled that gay sex is natural, stated that an individual's sexual orientation should be respected, and cited examples of same-sex marriages in Europe and in the Americas. Restriction of expression In Turkey, everyone has the constitutionally protected right to hold a peaceful protest without prior permission, so long as the topic of the protest is not explicitly banned by law. Even though there are not any laws explicitly forbidding LGBT-related protests, the Istanbul Pride parade in June 2015, which overlapped with the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, was banned by the Istanbul governorship hours before the event over "security concerns". Soon after, it was shut down through police intervention for the first time in its 13-year history. The parade had taken place the previous year during Ramadan without issue. In 2016, it was banned again and arrests were made as participants tried to hold the rally regardless of the prohibition. It was banned again in 2017, and in 2018 it was banned again and arrests were made as participants tried to hold the rally regardless of the prohibition. It was banned again in 2019. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held online with no official interference. In 2017, the capital city of Ankara banned all LGBT or LGBT rights related events, under the pretext of providing "peace and security", with officials saying that such "exhibitions" could cause different groups of society to "publicly harbor hatred and hostility" towards each other; on the other hand news media noted that the ban came in the context of the steady erosion of civil liberties in Turkey following the failed 2016 coup attempt. In Ankara, all public LGBTI-related discussions are banned. In November 2017, the Ankara governor's office under state of emergency imposed an indefinite ban on LGBTI-focused public events. The