Being LGBT in Korea

Today I felt like posting something a bit different than my usual. I want to talk about being LGBTQ in Korea and share what the situation is like to the fabulous folks here in steemit. I'm writing this rather off the cuff so it won't be my best writing.

In order to do that I want to place things into 4 categories; openness, punishment, political, and rights.
Even though I'm a white Canadian, I am talking about the experiences of my partner and my many Korean LGBTQ friends whom have experienced many of what I am going to talk about.

Openness

Korea is not a open country to be frank. The vast majority of LGBTQ people in Korea are in the closet. Korean families place a huge emphasis on getting married and having children. So being LGBTQ in Korea is in a way, a family betrayal. As they are going against what their parents expect them to do.

Of course this goes deeper than my personal perception, but young people simply don't come out to their families in Korea.

This is of course is also changing, although slowly. The younger generation is much more open about LGBTQ rights then the older ones. Although the current total support of Gay marriage is at 34%, the support among older Koreans reminds under 10%.

There have been very few open LGBTQ people in the media. Harisu, and Hong seok cheon. Both of whom suffered greatly after they came out but over a long period they were able to build their careers back up.

Korea also has 4 different pride festivals in the country. Seoul (18 years) , Daegu (8ish years), Jeju (1 year), and Busan (1 year). Last year drew over 85,000 people to seoul pride festival, and two new festivals started. Of course people have to fight long and hard every year to have the parades run, and often leads to legal battles with city and government officials.

Punishment

As of right now there are no punishments for LGBTQ people in the public space, although there are no protections for LGBTQ people in Korea. If a company finds out someone is LGBTQ, there is a chance they will be fired, and it would be completely legal.

On the other hand military service in Korea is mandatory for all men. In the military homosexual acts are considered illegal and gay men have been rounded up and criminally sentenced for being gay. A case last year which drew publicity, had the military entrap and attempt to sentence 40 gay men in the army for being gay, with at least one receiving criminal punishment.

Political

This is where things get a lot worse. Currently only one party in Korean congress supports LGBTQ people, they are called the Justice party and only have 6 of over 300 representatives in congress.

The 2 largest parties, both the conservative liberty party, (ironic, I know) and the minjoo party oppose gay marriage and even are against anti-discrimination measures. The current president of Korea, moon jae-in, has publicly stated he "doesn't like" gay people. Of course he is tame compared to the liberty party leader who has said nasty things about gay people.

Again though progress has been made, some fringe members of minjoo have expressed support for anti-discrimination measures, although they are vastly outnumbered.

Rights

LGBT people simply do not have any rights in Korea. No protection currently exists for LGBTQ people and any efforts to pass laws have been protested by homophobic groups.

Recently Korea has even opened its first "ex gay" clinic in Seoul. Although I don't know much about it other than it opened in 2016 and I've yet to hear of it's closure.

Writing this has been a little cathartic for me. And I definitely forgot many things, as I could write a entire book on the subject. But thank you for reading and if you like gaming, I write a lot about gaming on my regular blog.

Please feel free to ask any questions too about LGBTQ life in Korea and I'll try to answer the best I can