If you have not been to Istanbul before, it is
recommended to start with understanding the special gay
culture of this city. Being the most crowded city of
Turkey, Istanbul is the heart of Turkish gay life.
Although Turkey is undergoing a rapid change, certain
things are still very traditional and peculiar in this
country. The gay culture is a good sample of this.
Taking immigration from all over the country, Istanbul
is a summary of the whole Turkey.
Istanbulgay.Com is published by local people living in
Istanbul and updated frequently with the latest
information about the gay venues in Istanbul which you
can not find anywhere else. We are not only listing the
existing venues, but also the places which have already
been closed down for various reasons, still being listed
on other websites and printed gay-guides as well.
Turkey has got a traditional bisexual or
hetero-flexible
culture taking its root from the history. The classic
gay relationship is between real gay men and
bi-curios
men. In this traditional culture these bi-curious men would
not define themselves as gay or bisexual and the passive partners are
usually appreciated to be young, glabrous an slightly
feminine. Hetero-flexible / bisexual guys are supposedly
top and do not have sex with each other. This gay
culture is kind of similar to historical buggery or sodomy
culture in the western countries. As a result of this bisexual
culture, there is a big transvestite & transgender
society in Istanbul and in other big cities of Turkey.
In the last 20-30 years Turkish gay culture has been westernized
rapidly and sexual interactions between gay people have become more common. In fact there is still not a
sharp distinction among the sexual orientations. The
border-line is very transitional between straight,
bisexual, gay, queer, transvestite and transgender
people.
According to the statistics Istanbul is listed among the
safest metropolises in the world. But naturally, there
are some risks in gay and night life
just as in other
big cities of the world; and you can bump into bad
guys along the way. As long as you know what is
happening and behave accordingly, you do not need to
worry too much. Not surprisingly, the most common
criminal incident in gay life is small-scale thefts
(mobile phones, cash money etc). Theft and robbery
incidents are more likely to take place in isolated
cruising spots or when you go somewhere with someone
about whom you know nothing. Of course these things are
not happening everyday and should not discourage you
from meeting people but just in case it is advised not
to carry valuable belongings and a lot of cash on you
when you go out for cruising especially in outdoor
places such as parks. Do not go with local people to their places,
as much as possible. Prefer public
venues such as cheap hotels,
bath
houses and saunas, if your own hotel
is not suitable. Naturally, you should be more careful
if you date someone via internet or gay dating
applications, just like you should be
anywhere else in the world. The most popular dating
app among Turkish LGBTQ people are
Hornet,
Growlr and Turkish-owned
Gabile.
There are several other potential risks for tourists,
regardless of being gay. First of all, avoid some tourist-hustlers who usually hang around
Taksim and sometimes around Sultanahmet districts. They
will try to convince you to go to some scam night clubs to rip you off.
Your bill can be up to several thousand Euros depending
how far you follow your basic instincts instead of your
logic. There are few night clubs like that but their
hustlers are always around who are said to be taking
commissions. Briefly stay away from people who are
too friendly all of a sudden, no matter what their
stories are.
It is of minor importance but there is a new tourist
trick played by some fake shoe-shine men walking about
some main streets. They deliberately drop their brush
and keep walking as if they are unaware; so that you
pick it up and give it to them. Then they try to look
very grateful and suggest you to shine your shoes, as if
returning the favor. But they do want money at the end -
even more than normal shoe-shine price. It is just a
silly but annoying confidence trick, in other words.
Another less possible scam risk is dishonest taxi
drivers. Some taxi drivers may
over-ride tourists to charge them more. Although rarely
it is also heard that some drivers may also switch the
big banknotes with smaller ones, and blames you for
giving the smaller note. It is better if you really pay
them with small banknotes, indeed. If you have a problem
with taxi drivers, write down the plate number of the
taxi explicitly (make sure he understands), and try to
tell him that you will go to the police ('police' sounds
the same in Turkish). If you do not want to experience
such headaches on your holiday it may be wise to ask
taxi driver how much you will pay for the place you go
before you get in. You can also ask your hotel's staff to
call you a familiar taxi driver, if they can..
If it is your first time in Istanbul, it is recommended
to make a discovery tour to find the locations of gay
bars and clubs in day time. It is not wise to ask people
directions at night, because you can bump into a crook
or get lost in risky back-streets. If you can afford, we
highly recommend you to hire a
private guide from
this Turkish travel agency which operates gay friendly
tours for more than 10 years.
In general feel at home and even be a little snob when
necessary. Make sure that there is law in this country,
and fight for your rights if needed. In fact ordinary
Turkish people are very hospitable and nice people, but
do not expect everyone you meet will be like that in
such nightlife or tourist districts of the city.
Istanbul is a big metropolis ultimately, where you can
meet any kind of people.
The gay events and activities have become more visible
since late 80's. The number of the gay venues
increased rapidly in recent decades. Vicinity of Taksim
quarter of Beyoglu town on the European
side of Istanbul is where almost all major gay
venues are located. In fact, this district is the center of
night life in general. There are many gay
bars, night clubs, gay-friendly saunas and Turkish baths around
Taksim. This gay neighborhood is also frequented by many
gay-for-pay rent-boys. Some of these escort boys can
be very handsome, but caution is
highly advised. There are also a number of clubs
exclusively for transvestites
and transsexuals and their admirers around Taksim
neighborhood. Indeed, the gay
life of Istanbul is very colorful and vibrant. Istanbul
is hosting gay parade every year since early
2000's, which is one of the biggest LGBT gathering in
Eastern Europe. There are several LGBT solidarity groups
in Istanbul, including
Lambda Istanbul
and
SPoD.
Lambda Istanbul is the first gay and lesbian
organization of Turkey founded in early 1990's
Click here for
some major gay
events, parties, concerts and other LGBT friendly cultural activities in Istanbul.
Most
Turkish people are a mixture of Caucasian (white) and Mediterranean in appearance. Although the
majority of
Turkish people have fair complexion you can also see
many brunettes as well as blond people with color eyes.
The major ethnicities other than Turks are people of
Kurdish and Arab origin who still carry their
characteristics despite considerable miscegenation by
means of intermarriages in recent decades especially in
big cities. Istanbul is a city of domestic
emigration and houses a total mixture of all these
ethnicities from all around Turkey, also including
smaller non-Muslim
minority groups such as Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Istanbul
is in
top 10 list of the most visited cities in the world,
welcoming over 10 million tourist every year from all
around the world. There
are also considerable number of
expats
coming from variety of western countries
living in Istanbul for work and other reasons.
To see the ethnic diversities in Turkey click here for
picture gallery
of famous Turkish male celebrities
Turkey is a constitutionally secular country and there
is not any law against homosexuality since founded in
1923. Even
though sexual orientation is not being mentioned
specifically an anti discrimination law
(5237/122) enacted by the parliament in early 2000's can
also be used by Turkish LGBT people to protect their
rights. The first
significant
implementation of this law was in 2015 against a
bath house owner who refused to offer service to a
Turkish transgender woman. Also in 2016 an openly gay
Turkish referee
won a landmark lawsuit against Turkish Football
Federation following his dismissal in 2009. Since the
beginning of 2010's two of the major
opposition parties have been openly supporting LGBT
rights and they have even presented few
LGBT candidates in local and general
elections.
The age of consent is 18, which also applies as the age
limit to be able to enter bars and clubs selling
alcohol. Regardless of the sexual orientation, any
sexual intercourse with someone below the age of consent
is regarded as pedophilia and it is illegal even if it
is done with the approval of the minor partner.
The official numbers of HIV + people in Turkey is still stated by just a few thousands, Istanbul being the leading city, naturally. A total of 15000 people are diagnosed to have Aids/HIV virus by 2018 in whole of Turkey, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Health; and homosexuals hold a very small percentage (around %10) of these official numbers. But the real number should be much bigger than this. Majority of Turkish society is still conservative about certain things and HIV is still regarded as a sexual disease. Less-educated part of the population are not very knowledgeable/careful about safe sex. Consequently the people either do not take any HIV tests or tend to hide themselves, and it is not very possible to obtain accurate numbers. Regardless of the accuracy of these numbers Istanbulgay.Com supports safe sex all over the word.
The popular gay and lesbian friendly hotel in the past few weeks
Read MoreA private gay guide will accompany your first nights in Istanbul
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