Tens of thousands of people poured into central Seoul on Saturday for the city’s annual queer culture festival, turning the streets into a rainbow-soaked, drum-thumping spectacle that ranks among Asia’s largest Pride gatherings. Lee Seo-hee, a bisexual university student from Seoul, captured the bittersweet vibe: “I only tell friends who I think can accept it. It doesn’t feel like a completely safe society.”
But on a blazing sunny day, the mood was jubilant and unguarded, despite the fact that LGBTQ+ people in South Korea still lack basic legal protections, and a comprehensive anti-discrimination law has been blocked in parliament for nearly two decades. A group of parents of LGBTQ+ children offered free hugs to attendees, some of whom were in tears - a stark reminder that many can’t come out to their own families in a society where homosexuality, while not illegal, remains widely stigmatised.
Seoul’s mayor, Oh Se-hoon, who has publicly said he “cannot support homosexuality” and that holding Pride at the city’s main square is “not desirable,” has kept Seoul Plaza off limits for the past four years. The square had been the festival’s home for nearly a decade. The conservative mayor was re-elected earlier this month, so don’t expect a change of heart. Instead, booths lined the festival grounds at another location, representing civil society groups, university clubs, and diplomatic missions including the British embassy.
“This is the one time of year people feel they can truly show who they are,” said Jay Park, a film-maker and frequent attender. “Until a few years ago, many came covering themselves up, afraid of being seen.” Days earlier, a Seoul court offered a rare step forward, ruling that a same-sex couple who shared their lives and finances constituted a protected legal union - even as same-sex marriage remains unrecognized.
South Korea’s conservative Protestants represent only a fifth of the population, yet they wield huge influence, blocking an anti-discrimination law that would protect LGBTQ+ people, women, people with disabilities, and racial minorities. Last month, the government quietly committed to laying the groundwork for such a law, listing it among national policy tasks of President Lee Jae Myung’s administration. “Even Korean companies that sponsor Pride abroad keep their mouths shut about LGBTQ+ rights in Korea,” said Heezy Yang, a Seoul-based queer artist and activist. Nearby, counter-protesters held a rival rally with trucks blasting hymns and banners declaring homosexuality a sin. Park summed it up: “Korean politicians have always treated minority issues as an afterthought, people not worth their votes. Stop pretending we don’t exist. Pass the anti-discrimination law.”