Recently, the former president who committed corruption was impeached by the resistance of the citizen. And on May 9, Moon Jae-in was elected president. During the election campaign, in the TV debate that the whole nation watches, the abominable remarks of the LGBTI+ poured out. Candidate Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korean Party said that “HIV / AIDS is spread because of homosexuality.” Candidate Moon Jae-in of Democratic Party said, “I oppose homosexuality.” The sexual minority community was frustrated, and on the next day, the surprise protest were held at the speech venue of the candidate, and 13 people were arrested on the spot and released on the evening. On the following day, Moon Jae-in apologized, “I am sorry for the sexual minorities,” but he raised the controversy by explaining that he expressed “objection to homosexuality in the military.” At this time, the Army crackdown gay soldiers in accordance with the only sodomy law in South Korea, penalized by Article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Code (penalties for anal sex and other misdemeanors of up to two years in prison) and gay captain A was arrested. Currently, A has been demanded of two years in prison and is expected to be sentenced on May 24.

In above situations, this year’s IDAHOBiT Korean LGBTI+ community raised voices of opposition to LGBTI hatred in South Korea with hosting rally for adjuring new president and government to stop LGBTI hatred and discrimination, abolish Article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Code and enact the anti-discrimination law include sexual orientation and gender identity.

1. Press Conference

Every year, Korean LGBTI community celebrates IDAHOBiT and organizes the IDAHOBiT joint action. This year, more than 50 organizations, including LGBTI+ groups, disability groups, labor organizations, civil society groups and political parties, joined together in a voice against LGBTI+ hatred. IDAHOBiT joint action held a press conference on the morning of May 17 and announced “There is no place to hate at the new country!” and issued a separate statement for each unit.

 the joint declaration is at the bottom

2. Citizen Busking Against LGBTI+ hatred – talking the new president.

On the same day, free speaking event called “Citizen Busking, Against LGBTI+ hatred – talking the new president” was hosted for 5 hours (from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm). The event included a variety of people including youth transgender, person living with HIV/AIDS, person with disability, genderqueer, and parents of LGBTI+ persons, and shared stories of their lives and hoping for a new government to oppose hate and discrimination.

“Captain A has been demanded to two years in prison. He cried a lot during the trial, saying, “I beg you would manage it all right.” Sometimes when I go to counseling, people ask “I am a gay soldier. What should I do if I got investigated?” or “I am a parent with a gay son, what if my son is investigated, what should I do?” I cannot give them a certain answer every time. Captain A had an agreed sexual relationship with another gay soldier at his home. He was another unit that had nothing to do with business. He have never posted or spread a video. “Captain A sincerely serves at the army. The praise of colleagues and the soldier’s reputation is good” This is what the superior of the A wrote in the petition.

If someone is qualified as a soldier when they hide their sexual orientation? If they cannot hide, should they lose their qualification as a soldier? If someone is gay, is he a potential sex offender? If then, exempt gays from military service right now. If not, do not care where they go and what you do. ” – HyungNam, KIM(Centre for Military Human Rights Korea(CMHRK))

I am now going to stop talking about beautiful stories. We say that we oppose LGBTI+ discrimination and we say, ‘We oppose sexual minority discrimination’ and at the same time, we say, “Our love is beautiful, and we can live a normal, ordinary life and a pretty family.” But being a beautiful and normal person does not entitle you to a right. People with a socially vulnerable position may be vulnerable to illness, disability, crime, drugs and other societal problems. The world will be weird because of us. The NORMALITY of society will be shaken because of us. I think the process of confronting hatred will be completed with courage to create this strange world.

– NAYOUNG (Network for Glocal Activism)

I am a mother of transgender daughter. I am proud that my child is a transgender.  Four years ago, when I knew my child’s gender identity, I heard the word transgender first. I was able to feel the pain of my child had suffered in the meantime, so I was able to support the child’s gender identity in a relatively short time. Our family accepts her as a daughter and prepares the mind for hormones and surgery. She was happy just by changing the title to daughter and sister. She said she did not want to have surgery yet, so she is now living well without surgery

I require gender recognition without surgery. I would like to change the resident registration without sex marks. Transgender people start to puberty in the secondary sex characteristics, gender discomfort is getting worse and thus also the self-disgust. Transgender youth’s attempted suicide rate is over 50% and 80% of them have depression. I think that proper suppressive therapy and hormone therapy can relieve this discomfort during puberty. In addition, gender diversity education should be preceded in elementary to high school education system. Please abolish the current national standards of sex education and enforce comprehensive sex education in terms of human rights and gender equality. – Lala (PFLAG Korea)

3. Local Voices

Also, this year, various events such as Daegu, Busan, and Daejeon were held to celebrate IDAHOBiT. There were lectures in Daegu and street campaigns in Busan and Daejeon.

The Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination, a coalition of LGBTI+ groups, will continue the photo campaign of citizens opposed to LGBTI+ hatred from IDAHOBiT to Korea Queer Culture Festival and Pride parade(15th of July). We also will carry out the petition campaign to abolish the national standards of sex education which promote the abhorrence of sexual self-determination, sexual orientation and gender identity of youth.

International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOT/IDAHOBiT)

2017 Joint Action for the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia

Joint Statement against LGBT-phobia

“There is no place for hate in the new country!”

In May 2017, South Korean society is full of spring energy amidst which a new country is about to bud. The sea of candlelight that melted the cold winter has ended ten years of a refusal to communicate, destruction of democracy, and a politics of lies and fraud.

The past ten years were an age of hate as well. People resisting injustice and inequality, powerless minorities were branded with all kinds of labels such as “North Korean followers,” “seditious forces,” and “terrorists” and forced into silence and resignation. Indeed, LGBT people were some of the major scapegoats of a politics of hate.

Hate against gender/sexual minorities served as a moral weapon for those who remained silent about inequality and corruption. Ultra-right organizations such as the Korea Parent Federation and the Mothers’ Troops led the crusade against homosexuality. Even in the case of those who pursued a reformist image, the human rights of LGBT people became a real touchstone and were treated as a nuisance. All this time, gender/sexual minorities had to withstand craven disregard and silence while being subjected to torrents of blatant insults and violence without any defense.

The time of hate was a time of awakening as well. LGBT people realized that, to lead their lives as dignified beings, they needed a voice and resistance. The cry that human rights are life itself to gender/sexual minorities and resistance against hate with rainbow flags became invaluable experiences for the LGBT public. The legislation of the inclusive Anti-Discrimination Act, abolishment of Article 92(6) of the Military Criminal Act, and guarantee of the rights to marry and form diverse families emerged as concrete demands.

LGBT people were among the candlelight protesters who cried out for the resignation of the Park Geun-hye regime and, by their existence alone, became living questions about the meanings of human rights and dignity. In the process, South Korean society learned about the meanings, pretexts, and effects of hate directed at minorities and expanded solidarity to protect everyone’s human rights. The LGBT movement firmly established itself as a part of social movements and civil society in South Korea.

Nevertheless, a reality of discrimination remains unchanged. Institutionally and systematically deep-rooted exclusion and disregard, and hatemongering that makes use of vested interests have continued. Only yesterday, a South Korean soldier arrested for being a homosexual was tried under the charge of having engaged in same-sex acts.

The South Korean army’s searches for and investigations of LGBT soldiers were similar to the witch hunts against LGBT people in the Chechen Republic, which appalled the world. The army committed hunts and entrapment through apps used by gender/sexual minorities. A reality where someone is turned into a criminal, a scapegoat of violence, and an object of ostracism simply for being an LGBT person is the reason that we must act together against such hate.

Gathered here on May 17 in commemoration of the IDAHOT, we declare sternly:

Regardless of the gender of the person one loves or the gender that one feels and expresses, there can be no exception or postponement to each person’s dignity. We all are inherently dignified and equal. Though hate seeks to make us fear and exclude one another, we desire a life where diversity coexists and forges solidarity. To achieve this, the state has a responsibility and a duty to fight against hate and to resolve discrimination.

Let us create a country where equality, instead of discrimination, and love, instead of hate, are possible. There is no place for hate in the new country.

May 17, 2017

2017 Joint Action for the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia

The event also included a press statement issued on the problem of discrimination in South Korea (with a focus on transphobic issues), as well as a press conference and social media campaign. Outside of the internet a flashmob and choral performance was held at the Sejong Centre on May 14.

While also raising awareness of LGBT discrimination in South Korea, the event aimed to engage the general public in important issues. The entire campaign has also helped foster a significant amount of public discourse on national issues of LGBT discrimination through social media and other public spaces.

The event will include a press statement issued on the problem of discrimination in South Korea (with a focus on transphobic issues), as well as a press conference held on May 17th. It will also include online videos shared through social media and a flashmob choral performance on May 14th at Sejong Centre.

The event hopes to raise awareness of LGBT discrimination in South Korea, while also encouraging the public to engage with problems facing the local LGBT community.

For more information on events across the globe please follow our Facebook page for regular updates and news. 

The festivities in South Korea, which have been organised by the Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination, had the title ‘STOP HATRED and OPEN the SQUARE’.

As part of the programme the organisers have launched a face campaign on the Facebook. LGBTI people and the supporters shared their wishes for the Korean society in the campaign photo. You can find more images here. 

On Saturday May 16th they held a cultural festival with info booths that started at 2pm at the Seoul Station Square. over 1,000 people from Seoul and outside the capital gathered for the celebrations.

103 LGBTI, women’s, people with disabilities’, labor, human rights, and civil society organizations and 159 supporters were involved in the festivities on May 16th.

Additionally, the organizers issued “Demands of the Joint Action for the 2015 International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBiT)” and “Resolution of the Joint Action for the 2015 International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBiT)”.

In South Korea, communities came together for a photo exhibition focused on queer childhoods as well as a dance & musical flashmob under the banner “Speak UP, Act UP”.

Photo Exhibition

Korean Gay Men’s Human Rights Group Chingusai held a photo exhibition called “The Story I Can’t Tell My Mum” to commemorate the Day. The showcased photos were based on the online submission of the photos of Koreans’ queer childhood, accompanied by their “secret story” of growing up as LGBT individuals. Watch the blurb of the exhibition below.

Dance and Musical Flashmob

The Rainbow Action- a coalition of sexual minority organisations in Korea – added the festivity of the celebration of the Day by holding a dance flash mob in the Daehanmun square on May 17. With the title “Speak UP! Act UP!,” the flashmob aimed to encourage Korean LGBT individuals to embrace their identities and their rights in attaining basic freedom, such as freedom to express their sexual and gender identities. Watch the flashmob on the video below.

Chingunsai, an LGBT-rights organization in South Korea, is going to hold a photo exhibition called “The story which I cannot tell my mum” on the Day. The showcased photos will be based on the submission of online entry of the photos of Koreans’ queer childhood, accompanied by their “secret story” of growing up as LGBT individuals. The photos will be shown in a online exhibition which you can find here, as well as in an exhibition at the Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on May 17.

Chingusai (‘between friends’) is one of the oldest sexual minority organisations in the country. If you are looking for more information about the history and the work of the group, please visit their website here.

The Rainbow Action- a coalition of sexual minority organisation in Korea- are in the midst of planning a flash mob with singing and line dance to commemorate IDAHOT in the Daehanmun area on May 17, starting at noon.

Patchwork Project Team, the transgender human rights project at the Korean Sexual-Minority Culture and Rights Center KSCRC will be launching a campaign about transgender human rights around the Itaewon area (Seoul). The printed materials will be distributed on the Day.

Find more information about the Centre here.

Rainbowflash Actions in Seoul

Dubbed ‘One fine day in 2013 in South Korea’ by activists, on May 17 in the center of Seoul, Korea, around 100 people gathered for an action against homophobia and transphobia, with a flashmob version of the song “You make me proud”:

According to the activists, homophobia is no longer hidden in Korean society. They claim conservative Christians are explicitly, and increasingly, exhibiting hate towards LGBT people and using that position to boost their political power.

The activists affirmed their commitment to fighting homophobia and violence taking place against LGBT people throughout South Korea. They have also pledged to advocate for a legal system that would help end homophobia, including the enactment of non-discrimination legislation.