Tips for Gay and Lbian Travelers Turkey | Frommer's

Contents:

• TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY
• HAVG A GAY OLD TIME TURKEY
• EXPLORE VAST AND HIDN GAY TURKEY
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS TURKEY
• GAY TURKEY
• GAY LIFE MORN TURKEY
• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?

TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY

Murat has watched for years as LGBT people who face persecutn the Middle East have found refuge his smopolan neighbourhood of, the face of growg ernment hostily and vrl om Turkish Print Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people, the young gay man says he has jt one wish: to leave. "From cendiary ernment mister tweets to censorship of gay characters on TV and media-led boytts of LGBT-iendly brands, a growg animosy is suffotg Turkey's ee-spired LGBT the procs, the attacks have tarnished Turkey's image as a haven of tolerance the socially nservative Mlim groups believe Erdogan is attackg their muny to distract his supporters om Turkey's enomic travails.

"- Steady sli -Homosexualy is not illegal Turkey, but homophobia is there are no official figur, Turkey has slid down the LGBT rights x published by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) year, was ranked 48th out of the 49 untri ILGA lists s Eurasia GL, one of the olst LGBT rights groups Turkey, last year unted more than 2, 000 news articl qualified as discrimatory -- a 40-percent jump on before the Bogazici artwork sndal, the LGBT muny felt like was g unr siege.

Last year, Netflix ncelled the productn of a Turkish seri featurg a gay character after failg to w the ernment's permissn to June, the French sportg goods retailer Dethlon beme the target of Turkish media boytt mpaign, after sayg stood solidary wh the LGBT April, Erdogan rallied to the fence of a top relig affairs official who lked homosexualy to the spread of diseas, amid the ronavis panmic. In March 2021, after the ernment received wispread domtic and ternatnal cricism for whdrawg om the Council of Europe Conventn on Preventg and Combattg Vlence agast Women and Domtic Vlence (known as the Istanbul Conventn), officials rpond wh an anti-LGBT statement and clared that they whdrew om the nventn bee is beg hijacked by groups to normalize homosexualy.

HAVG A GAY OLD TIME TURKEY

Homophobic ernment statements like the have reverberatg effects the public sphere, where LGBT rights groups have documented a dramatic rise anti-LGBT rhetoric the news.

Though homosexualy is not nsired a crimal offence (same-sex sexual activy beg legalised by the Ottoman Empire 1858), tolerance towards gay people is limed and s of vlence have been known to occur. LGBT people are currently not protected by law, and Ankara meanwhile, a prohibn on all LGBT activy has been the bad news out of the way, remas to be said that travellers who act wh discretn, gay and straight alike, are unlikely to experience any trouble while Turkey. Turkey’s most open-md cy, Gay Istanbul n easily be found the area around Taksim but be reful when explorg lser-veloped areas outsi of the centre, the tradnal muny of Tophane for example where tourists may not be weled que so Dpa Galani2.

EXPLORE VAST AND HIDN GAY TURKEY

Check onle for the latt gay-iendly bars and clubs, and, if explorg the Izmir gay scene, be discreet on the street and aware that htlers and hookers may be operatg the area.

Check datg and hook-up apps for hts as to where to fd the Amasya gay muny, most likely wh the Turkish baths about | Photo: Emre ZaimogluWant to simplify luxury travel planng? However, ’s important to remember that Istanbul is pal of an Islamic untry; for all s liberal aspects, Turkey is chg s way closer to Middle Eastern valu daily, and this is havg a knock-on effect on LGBT rights Istanbul that gay travelers to the area should take to nsiratn.

Homosexualy is not illegal Turkey: between adults, same-sex sexual activy was ma legal the Ottoman Empire 1858, and sce morn Turkey’s foundatn 1923 has always been legal.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS TURKEY

However, there are some rather ambiguo bans the crimal on “offens agast public moraly” which n be terpreted agast LGBT people and homosexuals are banned om ary service. Currently, there are no anti-discrimatn laws Turkey that protect LGBT people om discrimatn the public sphere or employment, although opposn parti have tried to troduce bills providg legal protectn for gay and transgenr people.

GAY TURKEY

A report published by Human Rights Watch 2008 outled the daily threat of vlence and discrimatn faced by gay and transgenr people, wh sufficient reactn om police and the thori. The social suatn for members of the gay muny is better smopolan Istanbul than ral areas but whether or not people feel fortable g out to their fay and iends is extremely ntext-pennt and still pos a number of risks.

Istanbul has a fairly thrivg gay scene, wh pulsg dance floors, gay bars, and hamams; but many lols who participate are livg a double life, beg unable to be open wh their fai or at work for fear of the negative impact uld have on their future. The shift towards nservatism Turkey as a whole do not bo well, but Istanbul’s long-tablished liberal character uld hold firm agast a risg ti of anti-gay feelg and hopefully ph that ti back. In fact, the current climate, snas and hamams will actively avoid beg labeled as ‘gay-iendly, ’ so is better jt to enjoy the as cultural experienc unls you are wh someone the know.

Although homosexualy is legal Turkey, we're talkg about a fairly nservative culture, so discretn is advisable -- even if Turkish men are to more public displays of affectn wh each other than wh their wiv. Still gayns is g more and more out of the closet Turkey; 2009, more than 3, 000 members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muny attend the Pri March Istanbul. The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

GAY LIFE MORN TURKEY

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?

In many of the untri surveyed, there also are differenc on acceptance of homosexualy by age, tn, e and, some stanc, genr – and several s, the differenc are substantial. For example, some untri, those who are affiliated wh a relig group tend to be ls acceptg of homosexualy than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometim referred to as relig “non”).

For example, Swen, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have a per-pa gross domtic product over $50, 000, acceptance of homosexualy is among the hight measured across the 34 untri surveyed. The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years.

But sub-Saharan Ai, the Middle East, Rsia and Ukrae, few say that society should accept homosexualy; only South Ai (54%) and Israel (47%) do more than a quarter hold this view. However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn.