Turkey, like many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, is homosocial. Profoundly intimate, though nonsexual, relationships between members of the same gender predominate. In such cultures it is expected that male friends kiss one another on the cheek when greeting or saying goodbye, and it is common to see men walk arm-in-arm together, hold hands, and stroke the face and hair of one another. In many Western societies, such interactions would be labeled "homosexual," yet in Turkey these behaviors are prevalent and natural. However, in most contexts, to speak positively of homosexuality or suggest someone might be gay or lesbian would elicit virulent homophobia. Even so, students in a Turkish classroom are hungry to talk about this subject. In this article, the author, an American teacher teaching in Turkey, describes the challenges he faced and the successes he and his students achieved in their class discussions about homophobia.