Gangnam-gu's removal of LGBTQ+ dating app ad draws fire

A digital billboard with an ad for an LGBTQ+ dating app featuring same-sex couples kissing, heart and rainbow flag emojis in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu was taken down after four days Aug. 30. (Yonhap)

A backlash from the LGBTQ+ community has been mounting over Gangnam-gu office's decision to take down after four days what it called an "indecent" digital advertisement, which featured same-sex couples facing each other, hugging and kissing.

Yang Sun-woo, chair of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival organizing committee, told local media that the decision was based on discrimination against LGBTQ+ members of society.

"Many advertisements in Korea depict the affection between different sexes, and nobody calls them lewd. The thought that a kiss between people of the same sex is 'obscene' and 'decadent' is in itself discrimination," Yang was quoted as saying in local media.

Yang Eun-seok, the secretary-general of the group, denounced the decision as being based on hatred against sexual minorities.

The advertisement was for a LGBTQ+ dating app, and first appeared on a 6-storey digital billboard set up over the streets of Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu in southern Seoul on Aug. 26. Just four days later, Gangnam-gu officials said they decided to take down the advertisement after a series of series of civil complaints.

"We decided that promoting an app that arranges same-sex encounters could be indecent," a Gangnam-gu official said.

Article 5 of South Korea's Act on the Management of Outdoor Advertisements and Promotion of Outdoor Advertisement Industry prohibits "obscene or decadent content which is likely to undermine public morals." Additionally, Korea is one of two countries in the world that lacks comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation.

The company that posted the video advertisement had signed a contract to play the 20-second video at least 100 times a day for a year. But they were instructed to post advertisements for its other products instead.

The LGBTQ+ community strongly criticized the Gangnam-gu Office's decision, calling it a "regressive administration that is out of touch with the times."

This incident is not the first time that a Korean government institution has been accused of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

Last week, Daejeon Women's Association United said Daejeon Metropolitan Government had told it not to screen the 2023 film, "Concerning My Daughter," a drama about four women -- a woman who serves as a caregiver for an elderly woman, the woman's daughter and the daughter's female partner -- just a week before the Daejeon Women’s Film Festival.

The civic group refused the city's demand and its funding, instead using funds raised by the public to hold the film festival.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)