ARTS CULTURE
Welcome to the Pride Parade
The sun shone brightly on June 1, the street between Jonggak and Euljiro 1-ga Stations lit up with the colors of the rainbow. Dozens of tents lined the street and thousands of people waved brightly colored signs to celebrate the 25th Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF). From the smiling faces and exuberant atmosphere, it would be difficult to imagine such an event as a wellspring of political controversy. However, despite its quarter-century history in South Korea, the SQCF and LGBTQ issues in general have been highly controversial. Queer Festivals, anti-discrimination laws, and marriage equality are contentious political matters, while online discussions routinely devolve into dirty fights. As a proud ally—someone who is not part of the LGBTQ community but supports it—I wish to focus on why LGBTQ issues have become such a volatile subject and my proposal for mediation of this problem.
Hate groups commonly slander queer festivals as “obscene festivals”. Some of my university peers regularly call gay people “perverted freaks”. The Seoul government routinely rejects SQCF’s permit applications on the grounds that it “violates social norms”. You would think from this treatment that the SQCF is some obscene, profane event. But the reality is that the SQCF is an inviting place where friends, families, and individuals celebrate queer culture. At the festival, we can see: college friends running a tent for their college club, students exploring tents run by foreign embassies and human rights groups, and families with little children waving pride flags are the scenery of the SQCF. Some of the most heartwarming scenes come from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Korea, an ally group made up of parents of LGBTQ people. They offer free hugs to anyone at the festival, a comfort for those who have been pushed away by their families because of their sexual orientation. The religious community is also sizable, with many Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and other religious groups holding prayers and blessings for those who cannot receive them elsewhere. For religious LGBTQ people, these prayers provide moments of deep comfort. Religious ceremonies, song and dance performances, human rights booths, and foreign embassies all create an environment of love, safety, and acceptance, not the sexual imagery that people assume. Participating in a Pride festival cannot lead you to the conclusion that they are “obscene festivals”.
Another common line of attack against LGBTQ events is the question, “Why do they show up in public places and disturb the peace?” When the first Daejeon Queer Festival was announced this year, it faced such opposition. Many supposed-moderates often use this argument. They say they have no problem with the LGBTQ community but only wish they wouldn’t make a public scene. But if you are willing to accept people only when they stay quiet and out of sight, you are not being as moderate as you believe. LGBTQ people hide their true selves from society 364 days a year; celebrating one day of Pride is not “making a scene”. All members of society have the right to exist as their true selves. Saying that LGBTQ people need to hide themselves for others’ convenience is discriminatory. To the outsider, Pride Parades and LGBTQ struggles can be just another annoying headline or eyesore. But to the people they affect, these festivals represent the hope of being able to live as an equal member of society.
Many people miss this humane aspect of Pride events. Pride festivals are safe spaces for all people to celebrate who they are. The inappropriate imagery associated with Pride Festivals is an unfair representation intended to silence the movement. As most people only see LBTQ people through media depiction, they develop incorrect ideas of what the community is like. This leads to biases, fear, hate, and alienation of LGBTQ people from society. LGBTQ people are reduced to headlines and political debates that people want to avoid. But LGBTQ people lead lives just like everyone else. They go to school, go to work, have families, make friends, laugh, cry, love, and hate just the same. Any conflict resolution for LGBTQ issues requires that people understand this.
In short, due to media bias and political alienation, people dehumanize the LGBTQ community people. Instead of being seen as autonomous individuals, they are perceived as an annoyance and an obscenity. But you cannot know people through news articles, dramas, or online videos. To know people, you must see and interact with them firsthand. Come see who we are at a Pride event. We are not a dangerous “other”—not some vague threat or nuisance. We are as diverse, layered, and complex as everyone else. We are people just like you, so come see us as people.
This article is written by Kim Ha-jin, 1st place winner of the The SNU Quill x The Korean Herald 2024 Student Column Contest. --Ed.
Hate groups commonly slander queer festivals as “obscene festivals”. Some of my university peers regularly call gay people “perverted freaks”. The Seoul government routinely rejects SQCF’s permit applications on the grounds that it “violates social norms”. You would think from this treatment that the SQCF is some obscene, profane event. But the reality is that the SQCF is an inviting place where friends, families, and individuals celebrate queer culture. At the festival, we can see: college friends running a tent for their college club, students exploring tents run by foreign embassies and human rights groups, and families with little children waving pride flags are the scenery of the SQCF. Some of the most heartwarming scenes come from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Korea, an ally group made up of parents of LGBTQ people. They offer free hugs to anyone at the festival, a comfort for those who have been pushed away by their families because of their sexual orientation. The religious community is also sizable, with many Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and other religious groups holding prayers and blessings for those who cannot receive them elsewhere. For religious LGBTQ people, these prayers provide moments of deep comfort. Religious ceremonies, song and dance performances, human rights booths, and foreign embassies all create an environment of love, safety, and acceptance, not the sexual imagery that people assume. Participating in a Pride festival cannot lead you to the conclusion that they are “obscene festivals”.
Another common line of attack against LGBTQ events is the question, “Why do they show up in public places and disturb the peace?” When the first Daejeon Queer Festival was announced this year, it faced such opposition. Many supposed-moderates often use this argument. They say they have no problem with the LGBTQ community but only wish they wouldn’t make a public scene. But if you are willing to accept people only when they stay quiet and out of sight, you are not being as moderate as you believe. LGBTQ people hide their true selves from society 364 days a year; celebrating one day of Pride is not “making a scene”. All members of society have the right to exist as their true selves. Saying that LGBTQ people need to hide themselves for others’ convenience is discriminatory. To the outsider, Pride Parades and LGBTQ struggles can be just another annoying headline or eyesore. But to the people they affect, these festivals represent the hope of being able to live as an equal member of society.
Many people miss this humane aspect of Pride events. Pride festivals are safe spaces for all people to celebrate who they are. The inappropriate imagery associated with Pride Festivals is an unfair representation intended to silence the movement. As most people only see LBTQ people through media depiction, they develop incorrect ideas of what the community is like. This leads to biases, fear, hate, and alienation of LGBTQ people from society. LGBTQ people are reduced to headlines and political debates that people want to avoid. But LGBTQ people lead lives just like everyone else. They go to school, go to work, have families, make friends, laugh, cry, love, and hate just the same. Any conflict resolution for LGBTQ issues requires that people understand this.
In short, due to media bias and political alienation, people dehumanize the LGBTQ community people. Instead of being seen as autonomous individuals, they are perceived as an annoyance and an obscenity. But you cannot know people through news articles, dramas, or online videos. To know people, you must see and interact with them firsthand. Come see who we are at a Pride event. We are not a dangerous “other”—not some vague threat or nuisance. We are as diverse, layered, and complex as everyone else. We are people just like you, so come see us as people.
This article is written by Kim Ha-jin, 1st place winner of the The SNU Quill x The Korean Herald 2024 Student Column Contest. --Ed.
