Conservative Protestant groups perpetuate oppression against LGBTQ+ as a strategy for their own profits.
English Translation: Juyeon
Translation review: 동치, 지니
Writer of the original text: 에스텔
Review and amendments to the original text: 레이, Miguel
In South Korea, going to college often functions as a way of liberation for many students. LGBTQ+ teens who have been oppressed also feel a sense of liberation regarding their sexualities. But at the same time, Korean universities are also places where sexual and gender minorities are not free from oppression. In many cases, Protestant groups actively engage in the oppressive system and hatred against LGBTQ+ people.
Protestantism is largely influential in S. Korea. Although Protestants make up only 17% of the population as of 2021, they maintain close ties with the conservative forces and exercise great influence over politics. Regardless of party affiliation, presidents have attended the Korea National Prayer Breakfast (KNPB), where Protestant politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties gathered each year. When former President Lee Myung-bak was the mayor of Seoul, he said that Seoul was “dedicated to God.” The current Speaker of the National Assembly, Member Kim Jinpyo, repeatedly expressed his homophobic intentions to oppose the Anti-Discrimination Act before becoming the Speaker of the National Assembly. And since he became the Speaker, he proposed a “movement to heal homosexuality” as a way to boost birth rates.
Researchers analyze that the hatred of Protestantism against LGBTQ+ people at universities reflects the overall trend of Protestantism in S. Korea, pointing out that Korean conservatives have adopted anti-homosexuality, anti-Islam, and anti-refugee ideologies to replace anti-communism.
The reason Protestantism can exert such a strong influence is that Korean Protestantism is one of the well-organized religious groups in S. Korea. Based on their organizational power, they put pressure on local politicians centered on megachurches. Social welfare facilities and private school foundations established by Protestants also function as religious communities receiving state support.
The influence of Protestantism extends to universities, with diverse forms of oppression caused by Protestants. As S. Korea is a country with a high college entrance rate, many LGBTQ+ youth are closely involved in college society. In particular, LGBTQ+ student groups in school play an important role. LGBTQ+ student groups require their own safe space more than other groups. To this end, it is essential for the school and student council to officially approve the group and provide the space. Student groups that have already been approved vote to approve the official registration of LGBTQ+ groups, and in this process, several Protestant groups demonstrate hostile attitudes: It is common to oppose or abstain for no particular reason, question the legitimacy of LGBTQ+ groups, and even openly use hate speech based on religious views at meetings.
Protestant student groups have close relationships with faculty organizations such as the Christian Professors Association and local churches nearby. They preach hate speech by holding public events such as lectures based on personal connections and financial power. They also held a press conference to prevent the enactment of the Human Rights Charter that prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. At Protestant universities, the authorities directly oppress LGBTQ+ people. For example, Chongshin University claims that LGBTQ+ student groups are against the founding ideology, officially maintaining a policy of immediate expulsion if they are found to be members of such group. They even carried out social media investigation and IP tracking to search out group members, even with professors infiltrating queer festivals to track down students. Due to such oppression, when a person outside the university raised the flag of the LGBTQ+ student group instead, the person was sued for defamation of the school.
This problem is not limited to seminaries alone. At Handong Global University, a private school foundation known for its strong Protestant tendencies, LGBTQ+ students were outed and severe punishments such as indefinite suspension were given to students for holding a lecture on feminism that mentioned LGBTQ+ people despite disapproval. Why have Korean universities become a battlefield for such intense LGBTQ+ hatred? Researchers analyze that the hatred of Protestantism against LGBTQ+ people at universities reflects the overall trend of Protestantism in S. Korea, pointing out that Korean conservatives have adopted anti-homosexuality, anti-Islam, and anti-refugee ideologies to replace anti-communism. All the incidents at the universities mentioned above are closely related to the movements of the center of the church. Denomination leaders talk about their opposition to the Anti-Discrimination Act with conservative politicians, and speakers at the forums held in the National Assembly give the same as lectures with hateful remarks just as they do at universities.
Korean Protestantism is experiencing a significant decrease in the number of believers, along with the global trend, and the decrease in the youth is particularly large. In response, Protestantism defines the current situation as a crisis that threatens their existence, arguing that 'the world is being corrupted by the Western humanistic ideology, centering on the youth, and we must save them and build a future.’
It seems that the oppression by Protestants in universities will become more intense. Since the Solidarity of University and Youth Queer Societies in Korea (QUV) was disengaged, the solidarity of the student society as a whole is not as stable as before. More attention is required to investigate the oppressive systems against LGBTQ+ within universities.
English Translation: Juyeon
Translation review: 동치, 지니
Writer of the original text: 에스텔
Review and amendments to the original text: 레이, Miguel
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