Fridae

At a public forum in Seoul on Sunday, May 21, nine individuals talked frankly about their relationships and some of the legal and family problems they had encountered.

The forum, "Speak Out" was organised by Chingusai, the Korean Gay Men's Human Rights Group, with funding from the government's National Human Rights Commission. About 50 people participated in the forum, held in a small experimental theatre above a Hyundai car showroom close to the Hansung University campus.

The first speaker said he first faced legal problems when his partner was hospitalised and he was not recognised as a family member. The second talked about financial problems when relationships broke up. There were no rules for division of property or alimony. She was concerned now with inheritance rights for her younger partner. A Korean-Japanese couple talked of immigration problems. The Japanese partner could only be in Korea as long as he held his job. This created ongoing anxieties about whether immigration rules would force them apart.

A women in her late 40s was a member of the sexual minorities committee of the Min-jun-nodong political party, which has had around 10 per cent of the popular vote nationwide. After marrying and raising two sons, she realised her sexual orientation. She left her husband and is now living with a same-sex partner. Her husband refused to agree to a divorce, upset that his wife would leave him, particularly when it was for another woman. As a result the divorce case must go to a court hearing. She spoke of how divorce often left women penniless. Some lesbians lost custody of their children when they divorced. Her sons, now in their 20s, support her, but she has had great difficulty with other family members.

Some individuals reported that they now had the support of their families. One young man said his mother, who lived in the south, sent he and his partner food to make sure they ate well in Seoul. But others talked of very strong pressure to marry and rejection when they came out.

Chingusai will organise three more public events on issues of same-sex relationships. They it will submit a report on the issues to the National Human Rights Commission.