Tag: gays

Here is the latest gay rights issue being promoted in South Korea:

Kim Gyu-jin and Kim Se-yeon held their wedding ceremony during the 2023 Seoul Queer Culture Festival earlier this month in central Seoul. Hundreds at the festival congratulated the wife-wife couple on their union — even though it is not legally recognized by South Korean law — as well as on the baby they are expecting.

The Kim couple revealed that their quest to have a child required a trip to a foreign country, Belgium, as accessing a sperm donor had not been possible for them in South Korea.

In addition to same-sex couples, single women also face significant obstacles here when it comes to accessing sperm donations, largely due to a combination of legal restrictions and customary practices within the medical community.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The Seoul Queer Culture Festival will go on as planned this year, but in Seoul’s Euljiro neighborhood:

This year’s Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) will be held as scheduled on July 1 in downtown Seoul’s Euljiro area due to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s disapproval of its event taking place at Seoul Plaza, according to the festival organizer, Wednesday.

“The (festival’s) use of Seoul Plaza was disapproved by the discriminatory administration of the Seoul Metropolitan Government,” Yang Sun-woo, chairperson of the SQCF organizing committee, said during a press conference in Seoul, Wednesday. “The 24th SQCF and parade will be held in the Euljiro 2-ga area.”

The SQCF, which was launched in 2000 with around 50 participants in the capital’s northeastern Daehangno area, grew in size over the years, eventually settling in Seoul Plaza in 2015, one of the biggest public squares in the capital. This will be the first edition of the event to not be held there since 2015 except for the two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the city government rejected the committee’s request to use the city square in favor of a youth concert by the Christian Television System (CTS) Culture Foundation instead. 

In response, the committee filed a notice of assembly for the Euljiro area to secure an alternative venue. One month prior to the event, 64 activists and supporters took turns lining up at three police stations in the jurisdiction of the locations for 89 hours to receive police authorization for use of the public space. As permission is granted on a first-come, first-serve basis, they had to compete with Christian activists also lining up to book the same spaces in order to deny them a venue, according to Yang. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what venue they are able to book this year for the SQCF:

A giant rainbow flag is carried aloft by participants at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival in Seoul Plaza, central Seoul, June 1, 2019. The event was joined by over 180,000 LGBTQ people and supporters combined. Courtesy of Seoul Queer Culture Festival organizing committee

For an estimated 2.5 million Koreans identifying themselves as sexual minorities, the annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) is the long-awaited “national queer holiday,” a rare occasion where they feel safe and encouraged to gather and express their identity.

The festival, which celebrates its 24th anniversary this year, started in 2000 with 50 participants on a road in northeastern Seoul’s Daehangno area. The event grew to over 135,000 participants last year, and despite opposition and interference by conservative Christians, it seemed to have nestled at Seoul Plaza, one of the biggest public venues in the capital.

However, the festival now has to find an alternative venue this year, after the Seoul Metropolitan Government earlier this month disapproved the use of the city square for the upcoming festival. 

This two-decade evolution of the SQCF has been a “journey of finding a public space where the country’s LGBTQ communities can be and show who they are,” Yang Sun-woo, the chairperson of the SQCF organizing committee, said during an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.

Yang, an activist at the Korean Sexual Minority Culture and Rights Center, has been taking part in the SQCF since she joined it in 2005 as a staff member of the Korea Queer Film Festival, a part of the SQCF. She has been in her current position since 2015.

Amid opposition from conservative Christians and merchants, the festival had to find one venue after another across the capital ― from Daehangno to Itaewon to Cheonggye Stream to Sinchon ― to house the growing queer community and its supporters, she said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how this case continues to play out since it was sent back to the ROK military court. They could try and find some different article to punish them with:

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a military court ruling that convicted two gay soldiers for having sex outside their military facilities, saying it stretched the reading of the country’s widely criticized military sodomy law.

The court’s decision to send the case back to the High Court for Armed Forces was welcomed by human rights advocates, who had long protested the country’s 1962 Military Criminal Act’s Article 92-6, which prohibits same-sex conduct among soldiers in the country’s predominantly male military.

The article prescribes a maximum prison term of two years for “anal intercourse” and “any other indecent acts” between military personnel. Following the Supreme Court’s full panel deliberation of its 13 justices, Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su said they concluded the provisions should not be applied to consensual sex between male service members that takes place outside military facilities during off-duty hours.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I would think he understood the ramifications of giving the blessing prior to the festival, so his suspension shouldn’t be too surprising:

“A hundred years from now, the church will have changed. And when that time comes, I want you to be sure that you won’t be embarrassed of your own decisions. Don’t be a sinner in the face of history.”  
   
When Pastor Lee Dong-hwan began to doubt his decision to give a blessing at the second Incheon Queer Culture Festival last year, his wife was the one who encouraged him to stand strong not only in the face of history, but also God.  
   
On Aug. 31, 2019, Lee, who is part of the Korean Methodist Church, took to the stage of the queer festival, clad in a white robe to bless those in attendance, throwing flower petals and offering a prayer. Just three days afterward, he was required to attend a meeting at a gathering in Suwon, Gyeonggi, where his church is located.  
   
A day later on Sept. 4, he was reported by the Incheon Pastor’s Gathering for Healthy Society (represented by Pastor Seong Jung-kyeong) and the Chungcheong Annual Conference of the Korean Methodist Church (represented by Pastor Lee Gu-il) to the Gyeonggi Annual Conference for violating the Book of Doctrines and Discipline by advocating and agreeing with homosexuality.  
   
On Oct. 15 this year, he was sentenced to two years of suspension of duty by the Korean Methodist Church. He appealed that decision but a retrial date has yet to be set, leaving Lee in limbo as he cannot preach.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

South Korea Supreme Court Ruling Considered A Victory For LGBT Rights | NewNowNext https://t.co/7GBm3Sjdcg

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) August 6, 2017

Here is an image that has supposedly gone viral on the Internet from the Korea Queer Culture Festival:

An ironic image ended up embodying this year’s Korea Queer Culture Festival (KQCF). Standing in front of a line of Christian protesters bearing a banner reading “Homosexuality is sin! Return to Jesus!” is a bearded white male in robes, clearly dressed as “Jesus,” holding a rainbow-colored sign reading “I’m cool with it.” The image went viral, making the front page of Reddit Tuesday morning.

“It’s been a wild ride these last few days. I thoroughly enjoy reading the comments everywhere though,” said Robert Evans, 27, the American seen in the picture.

He recalls the picture was taken right before the pride parade departed Seoul Square. The festivalgoers were corralled by riot police, protecting them from Christian protesters. The protesters were gathered in front of the Hwangudan gate right next to the gate leading to the street where the parade would start.

“There were thousands and thousands of people just outside the frame of this photo but I guess nobody wanted to get too close to the protesters,” Evans said. “I took the opportunity to fill that space and present my message. I was aware of the banner behind me but I did not craft my sign with the specific intent of standing in front of that banner.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.