The Korea Queer Culture Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary over the weekend with its largest-ever march through downtown Seoul. But as South Korea’s LGBT activists celebrate over a decade of queer community organising, funding cuts and a hostile political environment threaten its future. Matt Kelley reports from Seoul.
The Korean public is aghast at a rash of celebrity suicides. In the week following the apparent suicide of popular actress Choi Jin-sil on Oct 2, two queer entertainers are also suspected of taking their own lives.
Although South Korean society continues to resist acceptance of homosexuality, two new LGBTQ media projects and an annual queer pride parade last weekend suggest that the climate is warming a little on the Korean peninsula this spring.
Choi Hyun-sook hopes to become South Korea's first openly gay legislator. Although her historic candidacy is another sign of Korea's changing attitudes about homosexuality, the social climate for the country's lesbians still presents many challenges. Matt Kelley reports from Seoul.
South Korean queers have responded forcefully to the anti-gay Christian fundamentalist lobby's efforts to remove them from a landmark non-discrimination bill currently being reviewed by lawmakers. Matt Kelley reports from Seoul.