Seoul Queer Culture Festival, SQCF, is the biggest LGBTQ+ culture festival in Korea and it also serves as a site of protest calling for abolishing discrimination against sexual and gender minorities. Recent 23rd SQCF reopens after its 3-year-long hiatus due to COVID19, but had to endure the city’s discriminatory administration.
English Translation: 피웊
Translation review: 동치, Miguel
Writer of the original text: Miguel
Review and amendments to the original text: 권태, 레이, 에스텔
On July 16th, Seoul Queer Culture Festival was held at Seoul Plaza. SQCF has been held mostly online for the past 2 years due to COVID19. But after 3 years, the streets of Seoul Plaza were bustling with festival participants. Though SQCF has suffered from various obstacles starting from Seoul city’s administrative dissonance to weather complications such as hot and murky weather and sudden rain just before the march, or even continuous loud chants from hate groups surrounding the Seoul Plaza, the estimate of 135,000 participants ran the festival booth and march with great passion.
The City is uncooperative of the festival
Through the article, we would like to address the fact that Seoul City, the competent administrative agency, was very uncooperative in hosting the festival and how it is a perfect example of the reality that Korean government facilities systematically neglect sexual and gender minorities. Seoul City formed ‘Seoul Metropolitan Citizens' Committee for Operation of Open Plaza’ in order to review the legitimacy of hosting SQCF with the criteria on whether the festival is “appropriate enough.” Seoul City requires every festival to only report before the use of Seoul Plaza, whereas the city has required examination and approval for only Queer Culture Festival for the use of the place.
The Committee conditionally approved the festival with a provision that showing excessive exposure of skin or exhibitions and sales of harmful sexually explicit content will restrict the festival to be held in the future. Hate groups are insisting on banning the festival by suggesting that products which imitate shapes of the genitals have been sold at the festival site. The Committee’s decision has been made in line with hate groups’ argument.
However, if we go through the Committee’s minutes, not only are there no clear standards on “showing excessive exposure of skin” or “harmful sexually explicit contents,” some members of the Committee claim that the existence of sexual and gender minorities is harmful to children’s education or argue that they should set a precedent to limiting such festivals. The Committee’s decision shows how government agencies censor sexual and gender minorities’ existence and act based on the hatred and prejudice that “the existence of LGBTQ+ and their festivals are promiscuous.”
There have been several cases where the government has implemented discriminatory administrations against LGBTQ+ events.
Furthermore, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-Hoon has said “I personally am against homosexuality” and “If there are any act of harming good manners, [...] the use of Seoul Plaza could be limited” in an interview with The Kukmin Daily, a Korean newspaper. Such statements imply that Seoul City will institute discriminatory administration and prohibit the festivals of LGBTQ+ people. Seoul City and Seoul Mayor are far from protecting their citizens from discrimination and violence. Rather, they neglect the reality LGBTQ+ people are in and justify government agencies to institutionalizing discrimination, hiding under the pretext of “fine customs” or ”personal beliefs.”
When the festival organizing committee and citizens asked the authorities what ‘the standard of overexposure’ is, Seoul City official gave a vague and subjective explanation by saying the standard will be “whether it makes you side eye on them or not [...] based on common sense.” It implies that there will be no clear standard and the judgment will be left to city hall officials’ personal beliefs. It is very problematic in that it makes LGBTQ+ people focus on unfair and unnecessary self-censorship.
Government’s discrimination against sexual and gender minorities repeats
Another problem the Committee’s examination faces is how long it has taken. The Committee has taken 2 months of examination and the decision should have been made in 48 hours. Such delay is reminiscent of the case of the establishment of the festival organizing Committee corporation. Last year, Seoul City had delayed the decision on the approval of the establishment on organizing the Committee and decided to disapprove. Furthermore, the city’s answer letter submitted to Central Administrative Appeals Committee claims that the goal of pursuing equality for sexual and gender minorities through the establishment of the committee infringes the Constitution. Such a claim has drawn public outrage.
There have been several cases where the government has implemented discriminatory administrations against LGBTQ+ events. We will shed a light on few cases. In 2017, when Queer Women planned a queer women's sports competition, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, abruptly canceled the lease of a gymnasium, and Haeundae-gu Office in Busan blatantly interfered with the hosting of the 2019 Busan Queer Culture Festival. Also in 2018, the Incheon Dong-gu Office banned Incheon Queer Culture Festival on the use of the square. And on the day of the festival, even though there were violent actions such as damaging festival goods and vehicles and physically assaulting participants of the festival by hate groups led by Christian communities, the police has not followed through a proper action against the violence.
For the recent Seoul Queer Culture Festival, diplomats from various countries, including U.S. Ambassador Goldberg, attended the festival and made solidarity remarks on stage. Many LGBTQ+ people find comfort through the call for the promotion of sexual and gender minority rights that many diplomats give out every year. Such comfort also proves the reality that Korean authorities, which should be the closest to Korean citizens, are discriminating against the citizens and abetting violence. Even though the 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival has been held and the voice condemning discriminatory administration has been raised, we are very worried about the expected indifference and irresponsibility from the government on various LGBTQ+ events.
※ We thank Goham 20 for supporting filming the site of Seoul Queer Culture Festival.
English Translation: 피웊
Translation review: 동치, Miguel
Writer of the original text: Miguel
Review and amendments to the original text: 권태, 레이, 에스텔
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