The Handbook of LGBTQA+

what you need to know about south korean lgbt+ rights

SOUTH KOREA GAY RIGHTS • I attached a video of a gay couple going on a trip in South Korea. They are Korean themselves so you will get the full "what its like to be gay in South Korea" view. Pay attention to how nervous they are in public! This will teach you a lot along with this chapter about what its like go be gay in South Korea!

K-Pop has been a hit lately and Korea's economy is booming because of it. Even though Korea sounds amazing and great, there is something you need to know about their culture. They don't like gay people. Well, at least the older generations (Ajummas and Ajussis). I don't really know about the younger generations.

Most of this is from wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_South_Korea. I am just summarizing and simplifying.

In more relevant terms, heterosexual men are allowed to kiss the homies goodnight, but the second a homosexual kisses a homie goodnight its not okay at ALL.

LGBT South Koreans face legal discrimination

- Gay Marriage is not legal

- Male and Female same sex activity is legal, but is highly shunned upon. [Which I don't get, being gay is pretty awesome, try it some time]

law stuff;

Homosexuality in South Korea is not specifically mentioned in either the South Korean Constitution or in the Civil Penal Code. Article 31 of the National Human Rights Commission Act states that "no individual is to be discriminated against on the basis of his or her sexual orientation." However, Article 92 of the Military Penal Code, which is currently under a legal challenge, singles out sexual relations between members of the same sex as "sexual harassment", punishable by a maximum of one year in prison. The Military Penal Code does not make a distinction between consensual and non-consensual crimes and names consensual intercourse between homosexual adults as reciprocal rape [Wikipedia.org].

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this states that South Koreans can face one year in prison, sexual assault and rape charges if they are caught doing same sex actions.

Homosexuality not condoned by military. All male citizens are conscripted into service and subject to military's policies regarding homosexuality. So females are not allowed to serve, and neither is any LGBT+ human.

- There is no discrimination protections

- No recognition by the government

HISTORY OF LGBT RIGHTS IN SOUTH KOREA:

There is very little history of LGBT rights in Korean Literature, but this did happen;

In the Goryeo [고려] dynasty, King Mokjong (980-1009) and King Gongmin (1325-1374) of Goryeo are both on record as having kept several wonchung ("male lovers") in their courts as "little-brother attendants" (chajewhi) who served as sexual partners. After the death of his wife, King Gongmin even went so far as to create a ministry whose sole purpose was to seek out and recruit young men from all over the country to serve in his court.

My kind of dynasty lmao

TRANSGENDER RIGHTS:

The Supreme Court of South Korea has ruled that in order for a person to be eligible for a sex-change operation they must be over 20 years of age, single and without children (?What does that have to do with anything but okay?)

COMING OUT:

A 2016 survey states that 16.1% of people who came out of the closet were recommended conversion therapy. 65.4% of that 16% said it had a negative and harmful impact on them, and 94% of those 65% started experiencing psychological trauma.

THE MEDIA RECOGNITION;

- South Korea's first gay-themed magazine, Buddy, launched in 1998 and several popular gay-themed commercials have also aired

- Paving the way for television was the 2005 South Korean film The King and the Clown, a gay-themed movie based on a court affair between a king and his male jester. The movie became the highest grossing in Korean film history, surpassing both Silmido and Taegukgi.

- In 2010, the soap opera Life Is Beautiful [인생은 아름다워] premiered on SBS broadcast TV, becoming the first prime-time drama to explore a gay male couple's relationship as their unwitting families set them up on dates with women.

- Personal Taste [개인의 취향, also "Personal Preference"] was broadcast on MBC and revolved around a straight man who pretends to be gay to become a woman's roommate.

- Coming Out, which debuted on cable channel tvN in late night in 2008, in which a gay actor and straight actress counseled gays with publicly acknowledging their sexual orientation.

- "The Daughters of Bilitis" a KBS Drama Special about the lives of lesbian women, aired on 7 August 2011. Immediately after it aired, internet message boards lit up with outraged protesters who threatened to boycott the network. The production crew eventually shut down the online re-run service in four days after the broadcast.

- "XY She," a KBS Joy cable talk show about MTF transgender individuals, was virtually cancelled after its first episode due to public opposition.

- In 2016, a Christian broadcasting company was sanctioned by the Korea Communications Standards Commission for broadcasting an anti-LGBTI interview on a radio program, in which the interviewer claimed that, if an "anti-discrimination law for LGBTI people" is passed, "pedophilia, bestiality, etc. will be legalized" and that South Korea "will become stricken with unspeakable diseases such as AIDS"

- Method. The film talks about a gay relationship between an actor and an idol.

[ there may be a media recognition, but it is all homophobic, and if it is positive, homophobes take it down ]

OPENLY LGBT KOREAN ENTERTAINERS INCLUDE:

- Hairsu ; a transgender woman [ male to female ]

- Hong Seok-cheon ; a gay actor

- Kim Ji-hoo ; once a gay actor he hanged himself on October 6, 2008. Police attributed his suicide to public prejudice against homosexuality. R.I.P Ji-hoo.

- Kim Jho Kwang-soo and his partner Kim Seung-hwan became the first South Korean gay couple to publicly wed, although it was not a legally recognized marriage
- Holland is an openly gay K-Pop idol

PRIDE PARADES:

- In July 2017, an estimated 85,000 people marched in the streets of Seoul [ South Korea's capital ] in support of LGBT rights.

- POLITICAL

- Political support for LGBT rights is limited in South Korea due to the significant lobbying power exerted by conservative Christian groups

C'est Fini of South Korean Gay Rights