hankyoreh

Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo speaks to municipal workers as they attempt to block Daegu Queer Cultural Festival organizers from setting up their venue on the morning of June 17. (Yonhap)

LGBTQ Pride events are being challenged across South Korea, with mayors in major metropolitan cities taking it upon themselves to reinforce prejudices against and exclusion of sexual and gender minorities of late.

Earlier this month, the Seoul metropolitan government denied the Seoul Queer Cultural Festival use of Seoul Plaza, its usual venue, and the Incheon city government sparked controversy by demanding that the Incheon Women’s Film Festival remove queer films from its screening program.

On Saturday, Daegu city officials clashed with police, with municipal workers attempting to prevent Daegu Queer Cultural Festival organizers from setting up at their venue in the city’s Jung District, and police attempting to prevent this obstruction.

All three cities’ mayors have at least one thing in common: they are all members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

More than 500 civil servants from Daegu’s municipal and district offices arrived at the Pride venue on Saturday to exercise “vicarious administrative execution” to prevent organizers from setting up, citing a lack of a permit for use of the road.

As the festival was a lawful event that had been registered as a rally, the police in turn attempted to block the municipal workers’ obstruction, which could lead to major clashes, in order to maintain order and protect the event’s participants.

“The queer festival was registered, meaning that, according to law, it has to be protected,” a police official told the Hankyoreh over the phone. “Even if you don’t have a permit for the use of roads, it’s not a legitimate reason [for administrative action]. Article 74 of the Road Act states that administrative action can be applied in cases of repeated and habitual occupation of roads, or in cases where it is necessary to quickly take necessary measures to ensure road traffic and safety, but this was not the case.”

The confrontation between police and administrative authorities ended when the municipal workers left at noon, just before the event was scheduled to begin.

However, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo took to Facebook on Sunday, calling Daegu’s chief of police “not qualified to be in charge of public security of Daegu, since he suppressed and interfered with the execution of official duties by Daegu city officials, injured said officials, blocked public roads without permission, and essentially hosted a party for queer people.”

“The chaos that will unfold in Korea’s big cities if large-scale parties happen in areas that are off-limits for rallies and without road permits, simply because it’s okay if they’ve been registered, is far too obvious,” emphasizing that his executive order to shut down the festival was justified.

The plight of LGBTQ events in Korea is nothing new. The People Power Party and its politicians have regularly stoked homophobia by declaring themselves “anti-gay” and “anti-queer festivals.”

It is no secret that their behavior is strictly vote-conscious. The most vocal opponents of recognizing the political and social rights of LGBTQ people in South Korea are conservative Protestant denominations and their mega-churches.

Whenever a major election is around the corner, they rally their massive numbers and demand that “anti-homosexuality” make an appearance on candidates’ platforms.

“The actions of conservative local government leaders in Seoul and Daegu are not surprising,” commented Lee Kwan-hu, a professor at Konkuk University’s Sang-huh College of Liberal Arts, while speaking to the Hankyoreh on Sunday. “In terms of party identity and electoral strategy of rallying support, [banning LGBTQ events] is more of a politically rational choice.”

It’s worth noting that these leaders are generally tolerant of religious issues unrelated to LGBTQ issues.

For example, Hong criticized local residents and some Christian extremists for blocking the construction of a mosque in Daegu for more than two years, saying, “If you want your religion to be respected, you shouldn’t denigrate and ostracize the religions of others.”

However, Hong’s emphasis on “acceptance” and “tolerance” do not apply to LGBTQ people, as evidenced by the attempted crackdown on the Daegu Queer Cultural Festival. A commentary released by the Daegu branch of the Democratic Party also took aim at Hong’s contradictory rhetoric.

“A person who said that the doctrine of Christianity is ‘love’ and that he wants to embrace all religions while supporting the construction of a mosque is showing his hypocrisy by demonstrating ‘hate’ instead of ‘love’ towards a queer cultural festival,” the party said in the commentary.

The duplicity of Hong’s “tolerance” is confirmed by his own words. On May 10, 2023, Hong wrote on Facebook, “The people inciting some residents [against the mosque] were reported to be certain pseudo-Christian groups from Seoul. The Federation of Christian Churches in Daegu has informed me that they do not oppose Islam.”

The federation spearheaded the backlash to this year’s Daegu Queer Cultural Festival, filing for a preliminary injunction against the event.

“As next year’s general election approaches, we’re likely going to see a revival of inertia of right-wing populism, which attempts to escape its political predicament by blaming its governing failures on external enemies or internal minorities,” said Lee Na-young, a professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University.

“With the power of solidarity, we must confront the politics of mindless hatred and intolerance,” she added.

By Kim Gyu-hyun, staff reporter; Park Da-hae, staff reporter; Lee Seung-wook, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]