The international politics and money issue related with human rights movement in Korea led the U.S. diplomatic corps and Gilead to participate in the festival.
English Translation: 동치
Translation review: Miguel, 피웊
Writer of the original text: 에스텔
Review and amendments to the original text: 레이, Miguel
The 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) held offline ended in a great success despite a 3-year hiatus. There, however, have been some problems raised before and after the festival, especially regarding the U.S. diplomatic corps and Gilead Sciences Korea, multinational pharmaceutical company, taking part in the festival. Some questions still remain on whether they are ‘truly’ supportive of Korean queer community even though they have been well-praised for publicly stating that they support LGBTQ+ rights. How come have those questions arisen when they spoke out in a not-so-friendly Korean society with ever-present discriminatory institutions?
For similar instances, you may recall 2022 Madrid Pride case. As Air Europa joined as one of the sponsors for the pride, Kifkif and other organizations in advocate of migrant and refugee LGBTQ+ raised doubts about the authenticity of the support since the airline has been cooperative of forcibly returning LGBTQ+ refugees to their own countries. Also in America, leading corporations including Walmart, McDonald’s, and Amazon have been criticised for funding anti-LGBTQ+ politicians while they are pride-marketing. These cases all show that sexual and gender minorities’ rights are inevitably concerned with diplomatic relations and money. Through this article, we will be looking at the 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival’s case of the same issue.
The U.S. Embassy in SQCF
First of all, Philip Seth Goldberg, recently tapped U.S. ambassador to Korea, participated in the festival drawing lots of attention. The U.S. embassy and the ambassador’s taking part in SQCP has always been a talk of the town, due to its ‘Pink washing’ controversy: why do they pretend to be a defender of human rights when the U.S.A. has constantly acted against humanity for their national interest in the Middle East, Central and South America, and Guantanamo?
As sexual and gender minority events and festivals are scaling up, and more and more groups are joining, LGBTQ+ movement will eventually come into conflicts with a variety of politics and capital issues.
Though the U.S. ambassadors in the past have never missed Seoul Queer Culture Festival since 2015, it was different this time. With speculation that Goldberg is homosexual himself and the press reports that he is going to ‘give a speech’, people focused their attention on the issue. As rumours spread, Han Chae-yoon, a board member of organization committee for SQCF, clarified that the term ‘speech’ was an exaggeration by a reporter and it was only an one-minute comment just as in other years and as other ambassadors.
The controversy applies the same to Wendy Ruth Sherman’s visit to Korea, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State. Sherman held a discussion on ‘LGBTQ+ rights and prohibiting discrimination’ at Habib House, the residence of the U.S. Ambassador, and met with Harisu, a Korea’s first transgender celebrity, and Lim Tae-Hoon, the head of the Center for Military Human Rights Korea (CMHRK). CMHRK is a private human right group working to shed light on LGBTQ+ soldiers’ rights in Korea, where military service is compulsory. At the meeting, they raised the Progress Pride Flag, a symbol of LGBTQ+ community, along with the American flag, and spoke about Jessica Stern’s later visit to Korea, U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+.
After the talkfest, Nam Woong, an activist at Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea, gave a criticism through his contribution in the Kyunghyang Shinmun. He argued “We have to keep posing a question on the U.S. government being a defender of human rights,” and said that we must face up to the reality where each country is exploiting human rights and equality on the global stage under the name of international politics and security. Nam also remarked that the goal of humanity movement should be to caution ourselves and look for possible intentions hidden in the name of supporting human rights by powerful nations like the States, which holds relevant to today’s Goldberg’s whereabouts.
Gilead and HIV/AIDS Medicine
Another controversy on the 23rd SQCF has been raised with regard to Gilead Sciences. The global pharmaceutical company is widely known as a manufacturer of HIV/AIDS medicine such as Truvada used for PrEP(Pre-exposure prophylaxis). The company joined in as an official partner and was designated a festival booth and a parade truck.
As a respond to the participation, 12 organizations in HIV/AIDS Activists Network Korea expressed their concern over Gilead being assigned one parade truck, out of total eight, publishing a joint statement. While it is unquestionable the company is working on improving HIV/AIDS awareness, it is also true that if they keep extending patent term without reducing a charge for medicine, the profit all goes to the company. “Considering how they benefit in the market, we are more than insulted that Gilead was leading one of the trucks in the pride parade.” says the statement. On the day of the festival, some other activists and festival booths displayed their outrage using some pickets, banners, and posters explaining the problematic situation facing the multinational pharmaceutical company, Gilead.
As sexual and gender minority events and festivals are scaling up, and more and more groups are joining, LGBTQ+ movement will eventually come into conflicts with a variety of politics and capital issues. Therefore it is more needed than ever that sharp discussion be more active in Korean sexual, gender minority communities.
English Translation: 동치
Translation review: Miguel, 피웊
Writer of the original text: 에스텔
Review and amendments to the original text: 레이, Miguel
References (available in Korean)
Comments