Law sparks existential alarm

FLORENCE, a drag queen and DJ, has a warning before taking to the stage in an Istanbul nightclub: if Turkiye passes a new law policing biological sex and morality, it will "threaten our very existence".

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Discussing the proposed new legislation while making last-minute adjustments to hair and makeup, the artist known as Florence Konstantina Delight - who identifies as non-binary - did not mince their words.

Turkiye's conservative government is proposing changes to its penal code that would criminalise any behaviour deemed "contrary to biological sex and general morality".

That, right groups say, would allow for the prosecution of anyone who identifies as gay, bisexual or transgender.

The changes would also criminalise any activities "promoting" such behaviour.

Wearing a wig of tumbling blonde curls and a black strappy sequinned dress, Florence - whose small pencil moustache is coloured turquoise - carefully curled their long false eyelashes before spraying on perfume and wafting out into the evening.

"Tonight is Halloween, the safest night for drag artists," when everyone is out in costume, said the 27-year-old. Their evening began with a DJ session at a club in Istanbul's bustling Nevizade district, near Taksim Square.

After that, it was on to a second venue to take centre stage with a drag queen act.

"I started dressing up as a woman eight years ago when I was studying as a way of expressing my feelings," Florence said in a dressing room hung with wigs and richly-coloured garments of lace, feathers and fur.

"But I dropped out of university because the campus was full of police and I don't like uniforms."