here's an article from an english-language newspaper in Korea sent to me by a lesbian friend who is still teaching there and who had to move from mokpo 5 hours north to seoul because her boss disliked her simply because he knew she was gay and he influenced a lot of other schools in mokpo.
from the
Korea Herald---
Korean homosexuals struggle with barriers
After years of wavering, Kim Byeong-suk, a 34-year-old
part-time graphic designer, decided to come out of the
closet and let his close friends know that he is gay.
Although 10 years have passed since, he still has to
hide it at work out of fear that disclosure of his
homosexuality might result in unfair treatment from
his superiors and colleagues.
Kim is one of many gay people struggling to overcome a
myriad of legal handicaps and social discrimination in
Korea where homosexuality remains an anomaly.
Although there are no official statistics on the
number of gay people in Korea, activists estimate it
to be somewhere between four and 12 percent of the
country's population of 47 million.
"The most serious problem is the lack of social and
legal acknowledgement," said Kim whose full-time job
is director of "Between Friends," a gay rights group
based in Seoul.
He said it was especially hard for him to give up his
training to become a pastor, as he could not find a
way to reconcile his religion and sexual orientation.
Lee Joo-won, a 55-year-old homemaker and mother of
two, says public perception of homosexuality is still
negative. "Homosexuality goes against social norms and
Christian principles," she said. "It is also the
source of such problems as AIDS."
Her thoughts, however, reflect a common misconception
in Korea. As a matter of fact, research shows that the
spread of AIDS in the heterosexual population is just
as prevalent as among homosexuals.
The issue of homosexuality became a big social
controversy two years ago, when actor Hong Suk-chun
publicly declared he is gay. He was pressured to leave
a children's television show in which he made daily
appearance. Later, Hong said when he came out, his
parents called and said the whole family should commit
mass suicide.
In Korea, being single for too long without apparent
reason often results in social discrimination. Family
pressure, thus, is another hurdle gay people have to
overcome.
In an effort to satisfy family members' demand for
marriage, Kim and his partner, a 33-year-old doctor,
devised an unusual "triangle" relationship.
According to the plan, Kim's partner will marry one of
his female colleagues, who is a heterosexual woman.
The two will live together, but will not share the
same bed. Kim will live close by and maintain his
relationship with his partner.
This marriage of convenience will provide the
necessary "married" status in building a successful
medical career.
On her part, the female doctor, who seeks freedom from
the bondage of marriage, can continue to enjoy her
life as a single and devote herself fully to her
career.
"This is the next best thing," Kim said. "And it is
probably the only way the three of us will survive."
To fight social, legal discrimination, gay people have
been pulling themselves together since early 1990s.
Between Friends and a lesbian support group Together,
both established in the early 1990s, are working on a
range of projects for the homosexual community,
including counseling, operation of online chat-rooms,
magazine publications and education about safe sex.
In 1998, they received the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission Award for their
achievements.
Now Between Friends and Together are the core members
of a six-group coalition, the Lesbian and Gay Alliance
Against Discrimination (LGAAD), which was founded in
July this year. LGAAD strives for public awareness and
better medical care for those who suffer from AIDS.
Gay activism is blossoming on university campuses as
well.
"Rainbow Fish," for instance, is a three-year-old
student-run club for homosexuals at Chung-Ang
University. Named after an exotic fish that inhabits
waters off the coasts of Australia and Papua New
Guinea, the club organizes special events, such as
"Queer Movie Night," to raise awareness and support
for gays.
"Younger people are much more aware of their
situation," Kim of Between Friends said. "They look
for ways to incorporate their homosexuality into their
lives."
Online resources play a critical role for young
homosexual women and men as they come to terms with
their sexual identity, according to advocates. Through
information on Web sites, they learn there is nothing
wrong with them. More importantly, they also learn
that they are not alone.
The flourishing of online resources for homosexuals
sometimes result in standoffs with the authorities.
Last year, the owner of the first Korean gay Web site
exzone.com, known by his apt pseudonym Exzone, was
ordered by the Information and Communications Ethics
Committee and the Commission for Youth Protection to
post a warning stating that the Web site contained
material "harmful" to young people.
Exzone.com was promptly blocked from cyber cafes,
schools and libraries through an Internet filtering
software called "Guardian Angel."
Gay rights advocates conducted a 60-day hunger strike
in December last year and filed a lawsuit against the
government in January, claiming that censorship was in
violation of the Constitution, which guarantees
freedom of _expression.
Foreign media, including CNN and the BBC reported the
case, and they drew support from international gay
rights groups.
In August, a court ruled in favor of the government.
Exzone, rather than giving in and posting the warning,
shut down the site to avoid being slapped with fines
or a jail term.
Government officials defended their actions were based
on the 1999 Youth Protection Law that defines
"perverted acts" related to homosexuality, not
homosexuality itself, as damaging to young people.
"The site was declared harmful to young people because
it was obscene," said Kim Mee-yeon, a senior officer
at the commission. "The key word here is lewdness, not
homosexuality."
Nonetheless, the Youth Protection Law clearly defines
homosexuality as perversion, as it does incest,
sadomasochism and bestiality. The legal code is
contradictory since the National Human Rights Law,
legislated in 2001, bans discrimination on the grounds
of sexual orientation, advocates claim.
"Sometimes it all feels like an exercise in futility,"
said Kim of Between Friends, adding that he knows this
was just one of many more cases to come.
He and gay rights advocates assume it will take
another generation before true equality is achieved.
Yet Kim continues to keep the faith and hopes to grow
old with his partner. The difference between him and
others is that he has to fight what he calls "great
enemies" - bigotry, hate and violence - to make his
simple wish come true.
(
kep21@koreaherald.co.kr)
By Park Eun-myo Staff reporter
2002.10.14
~La
Conquer anger with lack of anger; bad, with good;
stinginess, with generosity; liar, with truth.
~Dhammapada, 17
; and beginning in May 1944, Jews received an additional letter, "A" or "B", which signified the particular series of numbers being used at the time.
at: 10/7/02 11:41:10 am
at: 10/9/02 7:46:21 am
) getting-smootchy-with-it....