Equality slowly making its way to Turkey

According to the Turkish Daily News, this month sees the opening of Turkey’s first GLBT hotel, the four-star Planet Victorya in Kemer, about an hour’s drive from Antalya. TDN speculates that this could perhaps be in response to the European Union putting pressure on Turkey to show full respect for human rights.

I used to live in Kemer, and I think a gay hotel will do quite well there. Kemer is quite liberal-minded and a popular destination for gay travelers. There are a few gay-friendly hotels there already, but this will be the first facility which is geared specifically for the gay community.

The only thing is, I’d like to go check this hotel out, but apparently I can’t— the owner says they will only accept GLBT guests. I understand this is a common policy in GLBT resorts, but I think it’s ironic that by creating an environment where homosexuals can exclude heterosexuals, the gay community is leaving itself open to a situation where homophobes can then turn around and say, “if they can exclude us, we can exclude them,” and then no one is any more accepting of each other than they were before. I would think a better idea would be to have a policy similar to that which is implemented in many gay clubs— let anyone in as long as they understand that it’s primarily a gay environment and that any hateful or homophobic behaviour will not be tolerated and that everyone needs to respect one another.

After all, how does one determine who is gay and who is not? Would a man have to somehow prove it in front of the manager before he can check into the hotel, or would they take his word for it if he claims to be gay? It sounds ridiculous, and it is. I used to have a converse issue when I lived in England with a particular “couples only” resort that advertised their vacations on TV, with small print at the bottom of the screen that said “couples must be one man and one woman.” This infuriated me. I called the toll-free number and asked if my partner and I would have to show our genitals to the booking agent before we could go on vacation. What right do they have to demand to know my sex before selling me a service? I wasn’t the only one who was offended by this policy; the company came to national attention and it turned out that their policy was not intended to exclude gay or transgendered couples, but rather to keep pairs of single same-sex friends from checking into the resort thinking they were going to do some damage. I understand that the company has since revised their policy to allow couples of any gender/sex combination, which is great.

In any case, next time I’m in Kemer I plan to drop in at Planet Victorya and see if they’ll give me a tour of the place. I’ll let you know.