For years, the Seoul Queer Culture Festival has been a battleground for LGBTQ rights in South Korea. With same-sex marriage still not recognized and anti-discrimination laws facing staunch opposition, the festival has become an annual symbol of the struggle for equality. However, this year, the Seoul city government has blocked the festival from taking place in front of city hall by granting a permit for a Christian youth concert instead.
Since 2015, the Seoul Queer Culture Festival has been held in front of city hall, drawing thousands of attendees each summer. But this year, the organising bodies for both events requested to use the space on the same day. Despite protests from human rights groups, university clubs, and foreign embassies, a citizen council that includes some members of the city council chose the Christian youth concert over the LGBT festival.
The move has been condemned by the festival’s organisers and supporters as an act of discrimination. The decision to permit a concert hosted by an organisation linked to a local Christian broadcaster, CTS, has sparked accusations of anti-LGBTQ bias. CTS has vocally opposed homosexuality and the festival in the past.
The Seoul city government has yet to comment on the decision, but the festival’s chief organiser, Yang Sun-woo, has called it a yearly struggle to secure a venue to hold the event. The decision to permit the Christian youth concert instead of the LGBT festival has drawn criticism from those who see it as a setback for the fight for equal rights.
The Seoul Queer Culture Festival has become a yearly symbol of the battle for LGBTQ rights in South Korea. Despite facing strong opposition from conservative religious groups and others, it has drawn thousands of attendees each year since 2015. However, this year’s decision by the Seoul city government to permit a Christian youth concert instead has reignited the debate over discrimination and inequality in South Korea.