As the Turkish government has stepped up its pledges to protect family values, members of the LGBTQ community in the country say they increasingly feel targeted. During his United Nations General Assembly speech in New York, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued that “the institution of the family” was under attack. “Defending family and [the] institution [of family] means defending … the future of all humanity,” Erdogan said on Tuesday. “I call on all our friends to display sensitivity in protecting [the] family institution.” Having long espoused a conservative Muslim view of society, Erdogan insists that marriage can be sanctioned only between a man and a woman, and has encouraged women to have multiple children to build the nation.