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Kim Se-yeon and Kim Kyu-jin pose for wedding photos outside of Myeongdong Cathedral on July 1, the day of Pride. The couple had hoped to have their wedding there last November but was unable to. During the Pride event, the Kims announced that they were expecting a child together. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Kim Kyu-jin and Kim Sae-yeon, the first openly pregnant same-sex couple in South Korea, announced that they were expecting a child together on Saturday afternoon at the 24th Seoul Queer Culture Festival.

Dressed in wedding attire, the couple celebrated the occasion by taking photos in front of Myeongdong Cathedral with Kim and Pack, a gay couple going on 10 years who run the YouTube channel Mango Couple. Myeongdong Cathedral is where Kim Sae-yeon wanted to get married.

Kim Se-yeon and Kim Kyu-jin pose for wedding photos outside of Myeongdong Cathedral on July 1, the day of Pride. The couple had hoped to have their wedding there last November but was unable to. During the Pride event, the Kims announced that they were expecting a child together. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

The 24th Seoul Queer Culture Festival was held in the Euljiro 2(i)-ga area in the Jung District of Seoul, as the city’s metropolitan government disallowed the use of Seoul Plaza. No obstacle including the heat, hatred, and exclusion could stop love. Despite the local government siding with homophobia, Kim Kyu-jin remained hopeful at the fact that the Pride parade continued on without letting itself be cut off. 

Kim Se-yeon and Kim Kyu-jin, a lesbian couple, pose with Kim and Pack, a gay couple, outside Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on July 1. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Kim and Pack, who have been together for a decade, pose together outside Myeongdong Cathedral on July 1, the day of Seoul’s Pride event. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Kim Se-yeon and Kim Kyu-jin toss a bouquet as they take wedding photos outside Myeongdong Cathedral on July 1, the day of Seoul’s Pride event. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Kim Kyu-jin, who is pregnant, and her wife, Kim Sae-yeon, registered their marriage in New York in May 2019 and even held a wedding ceremony in South Korea in November that same year. The couple got pregnant through artificial insemination at a fertility center in Belgium with donated sperm. Although Kim Kyu-jin considered getting the procedure done in her home country, she ultimately gave up due to difficulty finding sperm donors, and because sperm donations are provided only to heterosexual couples who are legally married or in a common law marriage.

Kim Kyu-jin wears a medallion that indicates that she’s pregnant, an item often used on public transportation, where special seats are reserved for pregnant people. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

The Seoul Queer Culture Festival featured booths from a variety of organizations set up in the Euljiro area at 11 am Saturday morning. Civil society groups, embassies representing various countries, and corporations set up booths as well, where performances and statements in solidarity took place. At 2 pm, the stage was opened to welcome festival participants.

At 4:30 pm came the Pride parade, the festival’s highlight, which started in Euljiro and continued through the city center past Myeongdong Station, Jongno, Seoul Plaza, and Jonggak Station.

A member of Parents, Families and Allies of LGBTAIQ+ People in Korea hugs a Pride-goer. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

The event is put on for LGBTQ people to share the message that they exist everywhere and deserve equal treatment.

Dressed in various costumes, the participants took advantage of the day to share their identity as LGBTQ people and enjoy their freedom, as a road in the heart of Seoul became a setting where people representing all different sexual orientations, gender identities, and other identities interacted on equal terms.

The Queer Cultural Festival had been held on Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall every year since 2015, apart from a period during the COVID-19 pandemic when the event took place online.

This year, however, it was forced to relocate after the city of Seoul denied it permission to use the plaza.

Participants in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival on July 1 pose for a photo. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

SQCF-goers pose for a photo at Seoul’s Pride event. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

A temporary tattoo given out by the Green Party reads “Let’s melt hate, not the ice caps.” (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

On Seoul Plaza the same day, the Christian group CTS Cultural Foundation held a “concert for rescuing adolescents and young adults.” Religious groups opposing the festival held a large-scale demonstration on nearby Sejong Boulevard. There were no confrontations between the two groups.

The theme of this year’s Seoul Queer Culture Festival was “Bloom, Queer Nation.” It shared a message expressing the hope for and commitment to equal rights and human rights for LGBTQ people.

The festival is taking place over an 18-day period from June 22 to July 9. It also includes a film festival and online events.

Participants in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival on July 1 pose for a photo. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

Participants in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival on July 1 pose for a photo. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

By Kim Bong-gyu, senior staff writer

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