diff --git a/Lib/test/support.py b/Lib/test/support.py
--- a/Lib/test/support.py
+++ b/Lib/test/support.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ __all__ = [
     "threading_cleanup", "reap_children", "cpython_only", "check_impl_detail",
     "get_attribute", "swap_item", "swap_attr", "requires_IEEE_754",
     "TestHandler", "Matcher", "can_symlink", "skip_unless_symlink",
-    "import_fresh_module", "requires_zlib", "PIPE_MAX_SIZE"
+    "import_fresh_module", "requires_zlib", "PIPE_MAX_SIZE",
+    "requires_tkinter",
     ]
 
 class Error(Exception):
@@ -471,6 +472,16 @@ requires_IEEE_754 = unittest.skipUnless(
 
 requires_zlib = unittest.skipUnless(zlib, 'requires zlib')
 
+def requires_tkinter(gui=False):
+    # Skip test if _tkinter wasn't built.
+    import_module('_tkinter')
+    if gui \
+    and sys.platform == 'darwin' \
+    and 'DISPLAY' not in os.environ:
+        raise unittest.SkipTest(
+            "DISPLAY environment variable is required "
+            "to run Tkinter GUI tests")
+
 is_jython = sys.platform.startswith('java')
 
 # Filename used for testing
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tcl.py b/Lib/test/test_tcl.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_tcl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tcl.py
@@ -5,18 +5,17 @@ import sys
 import os
 from test import support
 
-# Skip this test if the _tkinter module wasn't built.
-_tkinter = support.import_module('_tkinter')
+support.requires_tkinter()
 
 from tkinter import Tcl
-from _tkinter import TclError
+from _tkinter import TclError, _flatten
 
 
 class TkinterTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def testFlattenLen(self):
         # flatten(<object with no length>)
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, _tkinter._flatten, True)
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, _flatten, True)
 
 
 class TclTest(unittest.TestCase):
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tk.py b/Lib/test/test_tk.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_tk.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tk.py
@@ -1,17 +1,10 @@
 from test import support
-# Skip test if _tkinter wasn't built.
-support.import_module('_tkinter')
+support.requires_tkinter(gui=True)
 
 import tkinter
 from tkinter.test import runtktests
 import unittest
 
-try:
-    tkinter.Button()
-except tkinter.TclError as msg:
-    # assuming tk is not available
-    raise unittest.SkipTest("tk not available: %s" % msg)
-
 def test_main(enable_gui=False):
     if enable_gui:
         if support.use_resources is None:
@@ -19,6 +12,14 @@ def test_main(enable_gui=False):
         elif 'gui' not in support.use_resources:
             support.use_resources.append('gui')
 
+    support.requires('gui')
+
+    try:
+        tkinter.Button()
+    except tkinter.TclError as msg:
+        # assuming tk is not available
+        raise unittest.SkipTest("tk not available: %s" % msg)
+
     support.run_unittest(
             *runtktests.get_tests(text=False, packages=['test_tkinter']))
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ttk_guionly.py b/Lib/test/test_ttk_guionly.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_ttk_guionly.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ttk_guionly.py
@@ -2,20 +2,13 @@ import os
 import unittest
 from test import support
 
-# Skip this test if _tkinter wasn't built.
-support.import_module('_tkinter')
+support.requires_tkinter(gui=True)
 
 from _tkinter import TclError
 from tkinter import ttk
 from tkinter.test import runtktests
 from tkinter.test.support import get_tk_root
 
-try:
-    ttk.Button()
-except TclError as msg:
-    # assuming ttk is not available
-    raise unittest.SkipTest("ttk not available: %s" % msg)
-
 def test_main(enable_gui=False):
     if enable_gui:
         if support.use_resources is None:
@@ -23,6 +16,14 @@ def test_main(enable_gui=False):
         elif 'gui' not in support.use_resources:
             support.use_resources.append('gui')
 
+    support.requires('gui')
+
+    try:
+        ttk.Button()
+    except TclError as msg:
+        # assuming ttk is not available
+        raise unittest.SkipTest("ttk not available: %s" % msg)
+
     try:
         support.run_unittest(
                 *runtktests.get_tests(text=False, packages=['test_ttk']))
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ttk_textonly.py b/Lib/test/test_ttk_textonly.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_ttk_textonly.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ttk_textonly.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 import os
 from test import support
 
-# Skip this test if _tkinter does not exist.
-support.import_module('_tkinter')
+support.requires_tkinter()
 
 from tkinter.test import runtktests