{"id":2204340,"date":"2024-03-19T16:31:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T07:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2204340"},"modified":"2024-03-20T19:23:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T10:23:24","slug":"south-koreas-hostility-to-lgbt-issues-is-a-failure-to-uphold-basic-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/03\/south-koreas-hostility-to-lgbt-issues-is-a-failure-to-uphold-basic-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s hostility to LGBT issues is a failure to uphold basic human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
South Korea\u2019s head-in-the-sand approach to LGBT rights is a stark human rights failure. It is glaringly inconsistent with President Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s <\/span>commitment to human rights<\/span><\/a> globally and out of step with its Western peers. Now, even its Asian neighbors are leaving it behind.<\/span><\/p>\n During my five years in South Korea as an ambassador, I encountered many LGBT Koreans: men and women, young and old, business people, diplomats, professors and homemakers. Nearly all felt forced to hide their sexuality, their partners and their true selves.<\/span><\/p>\n Virtually none felt able to come out to their parents or at their workplaces. They managed the social and psychological stress with varying degrees of success.<\/span><\/p>\n Typical comments I heard were: \u201cMy parents will not understand,\u201d \u201cMy family does not believe LGBT people exist in Korea,\u201d and \u201cIt is impossible to have a successful career and be out in Korea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I recall one young student at an event where we linked Korean and New Zealand high school students in virtual English discussions. She courageously spoke up about her personal journey of diversity, saying she was inspired by her interaction with foreign students to overcome her fears about ostracism in her own society.<\/span><\/p>\n For a long time, many Asian countries dismissed LGBT rights as a liberal, Western fad that did not apply to Asia, whether traditionally Buddhist, Muslim or Confucian like South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet in the last five years, there has been a wave of advances in LGBT rights across much of Asia, adding pressure on South Korea to uphold the human rights values it preaches.<\/span><\/p>\n PROGRESS IN ASIA<\/b><\/p>\n Taiwan<\/span><\/a> became the first jurisdiction in Asia to legislate same-sex marriage in 2019. In Nov. 2023, <\/span>Nepal<\/span><\/a> became the first country in Asia to register a same-sex marriage. A month later, <\/span>Thailand\u2019s<\/span><\/a> parliament began debate on a same-sex marriage bill.<\/span><\/p>\n LGBT rights also saw progress in <\/span>India<\/span><\/a> in Oct. 2023. Although the country\u2019s Supreme Court declined to legalize same-sex marriage outright, it came as close as it felt able by affirming the constitutional rights of LGBT citizens and called on parliament and state legislatures to enact laws to \u201cmeet challenges\u201d the LGBT community faces.<\/span><\/p>\n That ruling represents a rapid change in a nation that only decriminalized homosexuality in 2017, ridding the country of an egregious relic of its colonial history under the British.<\/span><\/p>\n