Foreigners of the LGBTQIA+ community in Korea find it harder to be themselves

Nilesh Kumar, a British graduate student from Yonsei University who openly describes himself as gay, was surprised recently to find that there are more people who identify as LGBTQIA+ in Seoul than he first thought.

A rainbow flag hangs on the building of the Embassy of the United States in central Seoul on June 7. [YONHAP]

Emma Sherbine, who openly identifies as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, said she realized that her identity wasn’t viewed in a positive light in 2019, when she moved to Korea to work as an English teacher.

LGBTQIA+ is short for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersexual, asexual and more.

“Whenever I would nuance something about the LGBTQIA+ community in Korea, there would be silence, or some people would give me uncomfortable looks,” she said.

Sherbine was an active member of the LGBTQIA+ community back in her home country, the United States, and was involved in many volunteering activities to help spread awareness of the LGBTQIA+ group.

“I even once heard, ‘Oh that’s disgusting,’” she added.

“After you hear that, you close up and realize that this is nothing like my home country,” she said. “It’s another world over here.”

Many foreign people of sexual minorities, and their advocates, have a tough time living in Korea, which they say is very conservative compared to Western countries.

Emma Sherbine at a pride parade in New York [EMMA SHERBINE]

According to a recent survey by Statista held in September and October last year of 8,077 Koreans aged 19 or older, around 54 percent stated that they were opposed to homosexuality.

In another survey of 1,006 Koreans by the Pew Research Center, 53 percent said homosexuality should not be accepted by society. That is significantly higher compared to Canada’s 5 percent and 21 percent in the United States.

In Britain, only 11 percent said homosexuality should not be accepted, and 5 percent of Swedish people.

The survey also showed that opposition is particularly strong in people who practice a religion, especially Christianity. Sixty percent of respondents who are religiously unaffiliated said homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared to 24 percent of Christians and 31 percent of Buddhists.

Some 20 percent of Korea's population identifies as Christian, according to Hankook Research.

Korea’s apathy toward the LGBTQIA+ community was brought under the spotlight when more than 100 people were infected with Covid-19 in clubs in Itaewon, central Seoul, in the early months of the pandemic in May 2020.

Many of the clubs that saw their customers infected were frequented by gay men, according to multiple local media reports, which partly explains why some partygoers wrote down fake phone numbers at the entrances, used for contact tracing in the case that an outbreak occurred.

Civic groups opposing the discrimination against sexual minorities stage a protest on May 14 in front of Yongsan station in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

Itaewon is a commercial area known for its international cuisine and vibrant nightlife, including an area popular within the LGBTQIA+ community.

At the time, many local media outlets reported news associating the spread of the virus to gay clubs and portrayed discriminatory views on the sexual minorities that were present at certain Itaewon clubs.

During that time, Sherbine recalls Korea’s perception of LGBTQIA+ spread to foreigners in general.

“This began a witch hunt for foreigners because the Itaewon area is known for having a lot of foreigners,” said Sherbine.

“My co-worker, who is also a foreigner, and I were sent home for two weeks and we were not allowed to leave, otherwise we had been told that we would get fired,” she shared.

Still, some say Korea is slowly making progress on LGBTQIA+ rights, though it has a long way yet to go.

“Awareness of sexual minorities tends to be better than before, as depicted by the increased exposure in the press or media, but there is still no major change in the perception and prejudice that they, too, are citizens who co-exist with us,” said Kim Myeong-chan, a counseling and psychotherapy professor at Inje University.

In order to transition away from the prejudice, Prof. Kim emphasized the importance of rectifying the ignorance surrounding LGBTQIA+ people.

“Since our society has a low sensitivity to diversity, it should be seen that there is no interest in the ‘other’ group,” he stated. “In an ignorant state, if people come across the existence of LGBTQIA+, they will most likely take a stance of exuding ostracism or distance themselves for the purpose of safety, rather than taking on an accepting stance.”

Kim also pinpointed that education is more important than anything for improving awareness, such as through comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for adolescents, a curriculum that Unesco provides.

“CSE provides an overall direction for how sex should be regarded in our society, including the existence of sexual minorities in education,” Kim added. “This should be a priority for elementary, middle and high school education.”

A banner opposing the discrimination of sexual minorities was torn down in Sinchon station in western Seoul on Aug. 2, 2020. [YONHAP]

BY STUDENT REPORTER CHOI DO-HWI [kjd.kcampus@joongang.co.kr]