For instance, in Turkey, there have been reports of a man being imprisoned merely for appearing gay.
From Greek City Times:
A 34-year-old Portuguese man was arrested by the police while vacationing in Turkey because he "looked gay", Portuguese media reported.
In speaking to Público, Miguel Álvaro claimed that he was arrested because his shorts were "shorter than usual for a man."
He said the issue began when he left the apartment he was renting in the Taksim district in Istanbul and saw a group of police officers. He headed towards them, asking for directions on how to get to the tourist district of Balat.
Álvaro says he was immediately surrounded by police officers who grabbed his hands.
"One of them hit me in the ribs, pushed me into a van, hit me in the shoulder, which was bleeding," the young man recounted. “After five hours in the police van, where they were just telling me to shut it up and be quiet, one of them explained to me that I had been arrested because of the way I looked."
"They thought I was going to join an unauthorised LGBTQI+ march nearby because I looked gay. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“That was the beginning of my nightmare. I continued to be in the police van as the officers proceeded to arrest people who had taken part in the march. I was joined by an Iranian and a Russian. We were taken to a detention centre where we remained for another 17 hours.
"During the detention we did not have access to the bathroom and we were not allowed to eat or drink water."
All three were told by the police that they would be released and deported to their countries on the condition that they "cooperate". This did not happen and so they were taken to a prison "a few kilometres from the Syrian border."
According to the young man, he did not even have access to his mobile phone and therefore did not have the opportunity to talk to his relatives.
Just imagine the absolute outrage if something like that happened here in America.
Cities would literally be burned to a crisp.
