Gay Life in Turkey From a Local
“There was a time when Turkey was way more progressive and Western-facing. It had a high level of freedom of speech and Istanbul even had one of the biggest Pride Marches in the world”.
So said our buddy Saf, an openly gay born-and-bred local from Ankara. In fact, there was a time when this beautiful country was a queer haven – at least it still is for LGBTQ people in the Middle East and in the Arab world which are home to some of the most dangerous places in the world for LGBTQ people.
We fell in love with Turkey when Sertab Erener won Eurovision in 2003 with the banger of a track “Everyway That I Am”, which became a staple in every gay club around the world. Sadly, Turkey withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, and hasn’t participated since! The country we know today went the other way – Pride events are banned each year and LGBTQ laws are almost non-existent.
We got the lowdown on what gay life in Turkey is like now from Saf, who also told us about the scene across the country, and what life was like growing up there.