Memes you can find anywhere on the Internet express cultures and emotions that people share. Here are some satirical memes of the LGBTQ+ community in Korea, filled with humor.
English Translation: 지니
Translation review: Juyeon
Writer of the original text: Miguel
Review and amendments to the original text: -
Memes that you can look up anywhere on the Internet have become essential in any community in the world, including the queer community. “Jjal” refers to a meme in Korean, which is useful to examine cultures and emotions that people share based on their tastes and the internet communities to which they belong. Here are some memes that gained popularity in the Korean queer community through social media platforms such as Twitter/X. You can especially find memes that sarcastically reinterpret hate group’s propaganda!
(Left) “Homosexuality sneaked up on us, and we weren't prepared.”
(Right) “Homosexual dictatorship has already started.”
A conservative Christian community, which leads hatred against LGBTQ+ has also provided plenty of satire for the queer community. Screen captures of the CTS content with subtitles such as “Homosexuality sneaked up,” or “Sexuality dictatorship” to promote anti-LGBTQ+ statements, treating the issue as if it is a serious problem, are notably famous. In response, members of the queer community often share these memes during media coverage of queer issues or special events like the Queer Culture Festival, turning the originally hateful messages into subjects of mockery.
In 2014, a citizen’s interview with Newstapa regarding the Human Rights Charter for Seoul Citizens’ issue on LGBTQ-related phrases in Seoul became a hot topic. This individual laid bare their misunderstanding on LGBTQ+ and queer rights, which went viral due to its absurdity.
The “Korea Married Persons Association” appears to be an imaginary association that never really existed. At first glance, you may think that the design and wording are made by a hate group, but once you read it, you feel something is weird and read it again and again.
Every year, picketing by hate groups is a consistent feature of the Queer Culture Festival. It seems like they wanted to convey the message “Homosexuality is treatable,” but it became “Mohosexuality is treatebal” because they held the letter fan in the wrong order. Queer people humorously responded “Hope Mohosexuality feels better soon.”
Transmen refer to FTM (Female-to-Male) transgender individuals, who don’t identify as women. However, transphobes deny transgender’s way of identifying themselves, insisting transgender men to be “women.” Meanwhile, you can find some phobias who are confused by the term “Transmen'' and learned the concept reversed, often saying the right things on social media like “Transmen are not women!”
The first person posted a tweet that said “Homosexual is a disease.” Below the original tweet, other people responded by saying that the Korean word for “disease” sounds the same as the Korean word for “bottle,” which means “a container that mainly carries liquid materials.”
(Picture 1) Original banner written “Queers live in your life. 2020 International Day of Action Against LGBTQ Hate Groups” (Source: Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination South Korea)
(Picture 2) Original banner torn only in 2 days (Source: Yonhap News Agency)
(Picture 3) “Queer people will win over your hatred.”
Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination South Korea put a banner saying “Queers live in your life” at Seoul Sinchon subway station to celebrate IDAHOBIT, The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. The ad was supposed to be up for a month, but was found torn off only after 2 days, which triggered outrage. People ran into the station to protest by putting stickers where the ad had been. One internet user gained attention by posting a photo where they added the phrase “Queers will win over your hatred” to the torn banner. It’s one of the “jjals” that many of us recall, whenever we witness the ongoing reality of queer-related banners and posts being damaged.
English Translation: 지니
Translation review: Juyeon
Writer of the original text: Miguel
Review and amendments to the original text: -
Comments