Detained LGBTQ activists in Istanbul Pride being released

ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul’s LGBTQ Pride organizers say 373 people detained by police Sunday following a ban on all Pride events are being released. A leading LGBTQ rights association, said all the detained were being freed Monday after giving their police statement and undergoing health checks. Some were released overnight. Turkish authorities allowed Pride marches to take place for more than a decade starting in 2003, when Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan served as prime minister. But in 2015, police dispersed crowds using tear gas and water cannons after a last-minute ban. The march has been banned ever since and top Turkish officials have called LGBTQ people “perverts” who aim to hurt traditional family values.