hankyoreh

May 28. The yellow sign says

By Kimberly Hyo-Jung Campbell

The 12th Korea Queer Culture Festival (KQCF) opened with sunshine, rainbows and celebration at the festival site in central Seoul’s Hanbit Media Park. Turnout for this year’s festival was large, with crowds gathering prior to the parade to browse through booths set up by civic organizations and social groups and enjoy music and dance performances. A number of booths also offered face painting, cool drinks and snacks.

This year’s theme was “Viva! Queer.” The festival began with opening events followed by a parade and after-party at Club Pulse in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood, though celebrations continued at various LGBTQ clubs across the city.

Festival attendees seemed to have slightly less anxiety about being in the public eye, as some remembered having worn stickers saying “no photo” in previous years. This year, however, the staff changed the policy and asked every person taking pictures to register, while distributing pamphlets asking that photographers avoid close-ups and blur any distinguishable faces. A number of individuals wore sunglasses, though that may have been due to the sunny weather, while others were creative with masks and costumes.

In South Korea, pictures on the Internet and in news outlets can result in consequences for sexual minorities at the workplace or with family at home, although a small but growing number of individuals have come out to family and friends.

This year saw an expansion of representation by LGBTQ organizations, with at least 20 groups participating. They included: ivancity, Teen Support Group (shib-dae yae-chan), Lezpa, Lesbian Counseling Center of Korea, Seoul LGBT Film Festival, ITDA lesbian activist group, , Anti-Discrimination Law Solidarity (Cha-byeol keum-ji beob je-jeong yeon-dae), Korean Womenlink, Freedom for Sexual Minorities, Solidarity for LGBT Rights Korea and Unnie Network.

Representing the religious community were Rodem Church and, Christian Solidarity for a World Without Discrimination (Chabyeol-eopneun sesang-eul wihan gidok-in yeondae).

Political parties were also represented at this year’s festival.The Democratic Labor Party and New Progressive Party Sexual Minorities Committee is the first group representing political parties at the National Assembly. Having previously been the only political parties to make and hang banners in support of the KQCF, this year the Committee members and activists staffed a booth to distribute literature and speak with festival attendees.

The festival atmosphere was a mixture of community celebration and socializing and political and human rights-oriented advocacy. Likewise, a number of organizations also balance between both social and political purposes.

Representatives of Mapo Rainbow Residents’ Solidarity (MRRS) actively answered questions from festival attendees in addition to raising awareness about a political campaign joining local resident opposition to plans for a military base on Jeju Island. The organization’s members also meet monthly for dinner to give LGBTQ residents a change to get to know one another.

“LGBTQ residents living in the Mapo District sometimes feel like strangers because there are many straight families and community members in the district,” MRRS representative Na Young said during an interview with the Hankyoreh. “But we are not straight and not a conventional family, so that’s why we created this organization.”

Na Young, who goes only by her given name, added that during elections, the group also engages in campaigns and encourages voter participation.

Another lesser-known organization that began attending the festival two years ago was Rodem Church, South Korea’s first Christian church for the LGBTQ community. Located in Jongno 5-ga in Seoul, the church has a small congregation of about 40 believers. The congregation is mostly comprised of LGBTQ believers, but also includes straight allies that must first go through an approval process to ensure they will not compromise the church’s safe environment. The church meets at 6:30 on Saturdays.

Church director Marco, who gave only his nickname to protect his identity, sat down for an interview with the Hankyoreh, and said Rodem members were at first careful and focused on establishing the church internally before reaching out to the community and other civic organizations.

According to a number of advocates for sexual minorities, the two major issues holding back progress on LGBTQ human rights is a lack of awareness in society and strong opposition from the Christian church.

When asked about what needs to change for South Korean society to be more accepting of the LGBTQ community, Marco paused for a long moment.

“There is just no information in society right now, so it is difficult for Koreans to understand sexual minorities,” he then said. “Since there is such limited access to information, rather than asking them to do something, the queer community has to step forward and be willing to share the information.”

Those who missed the parade, seemingly many because the festival took place at an earlier date than in previous years, can still participate in the Seoul LGBT Film Festival (SeLFF), which runs from June 2 through 8. For more information, see SELFF.org.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]