April 7, 2018 : The first Pride March in Jeonju, South Korea Photo: Shutterstock
In South Korea this month, the conservative People’s Power party suffered big losses as a rejuvenated liberal opposition took a majority of seats in the legislature.
The shift in South Korea’s balance of power could signal progress for the country’s embattled LGBTQ+ community, which faces widespread homophobia in the Christian-dominated country.
Related:
That prospect, however, has ignited a fiery response from South Korea’s radical Christians, who warn of a “homosexual dictatorship” if proposed equality legislation passes with the help of the resurgent Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), according to an analysis by longtime South Korea journalist Raphael Rashid in The New York Times.
Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox
Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world.
Despite South Korea’s portrayal in its global entertainment industry as modern and gay-friendly (see the boys of any K-pop group), the country has long tolerated LGBTQ+ discrimination and is ranked among the least gay-inclusive countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and South Korea’s own human rights commission have all called out successive South Korean governments over a lack of protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.
The absence of progress can be traced to lobbying efforts by The United Christian Churches of Korea and other church associations, and to very public hate campaigns by loosely affiliated groups like Anti-Homosexuality Christian Solidarity, who have deep-rooted connections to the country’s political class.
Trucks blaring bible verses and warning “Homosexuality is sin” are a common in Seoul, where aged activists roam shopping centers wearing placards denouncing same-sex marriage.
Efforts to pass a broad anti-discrimination law through the legislature have failed seven times since 2007. The latest set of bills offering LGBTQ+ protections is languishing in the National Assembly where the current session ends in May.
Locally, officials regularly target gay-affirming events and content. When an anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group applied to hold their own event in Seoul the same spot that Pride celebrations take place, the mayor supported the anti-gay eviction. Last year, the mayor of Daegu ordered 500 civil servants to obstruct that city’s Pride festival.
Activists cite other instances like canceled gender equality lectures and queer film screenings, library purges, and opposition to local regulations on hate speech as proof of the government’s anti-LGBTQ+ animus.
The government of South Korea’s current, conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol has echoed those efforts nationally. In September 2022, his Orwellian-sounding Gender Equality Ministry rejected a new legal definition of “family” that included common-law couples, cohabitating households and foster families.
Three months later, his Education Ministry deleted the terms “sexual minorities” and “gender equality” from the national school curriculum.
A nationwide survey by the National Human Rights Commission the same year contradicted the government’s complicity in the church’s anti-LGBTQ+ campaign. It found 67% of South Koreans were in favor of equality legislation.
It has long been a Christian lobby rallying cry that the mere mention of homosexuality will bring about their imagined “homosexual dictatorship”, a prophecy that includes crumbling family structures, crashing birth rates, an AIDS pandemic, and gay soldiers surrendering en masse to a North Korean invasion.
Some churches in South Korea are so full of hate and vemon. They literally profit out of preaching hate:
“Oppose the homosexual dictatorship anti-discrimination act (equality act) which prohibits even opposition based on faith and conscience!” pic.twitter.com/7XrLviRX1l
Christian churches and their affiliated groups are also pushing the false claim that the anti-discrimination bills under consideration will reach into their organizations to shut down their venomous rhetoric.
“If such a law is enacted, it is certain that the activities of churches that teach the Bible will be restricted,” the United Christian Churches of Korea wrote in a translated email, “as it does not even allow criticism of homosexuality.”
Along with the mischaracterization of the legislation, lawmakers received a warning about representing their LGBTQ+ constituents’ interests and accurately reflecting the country’s support for LGBTQ+ rights.
“No matter how overwhelming the majority party is,” a recent editorial in South Korea’s Christian Daily warned officials, “they could face backlash if they recklessly push out legislation that causes social chaos.”
