South Korean capital celebrates first pride parade in 3 years – Times of India

Seoul: Thousands gay rights Supporters celebrate under heavy police guard in the South Korean capital on Saturday as they celebrate the city’s first festival pride Parade after three years a covid-19 interval,
Church-backed counter-protesters rallied in the surrounding streets, highlighting the surrounding tension, alerting the police. rights of sexual minorities in the deeply conservative country, but there was no significant scuffle or disruption as of Saturday afternoon.
During speeches, ravens played music from a stage in front of City Hall, wearing or waving rainbow banners. Seoul Queer Paradethat promotes equality for lesbians, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people,
Police set up a perimeter to separate them from conservative Christian demonstrators, numbering in the thousands, who held banners and raised anti-homosexuality slogans as their leader prayed into a microphone, saying that God “destroys the Republic of Korea”. Save from the anti-discrimination law.”
Some of those protesters denounced conservative Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon over the city’s reluctance to block the “unsightly” pride parade. Gay rights activists are also unhappy with Oh, who said in an interview with a Christian newspaper last week that the city could ban the Pride event from using City Hall Plaza from next year if this year’s participants “obscene content”. over-expose or over-expose your body.”
Kim Man-seok, an official with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, said thousands of police officers from about 60 units were deployed to watch over protesters from both sides. Police did not immediately provide crowd estimates, but had previously estimated a turnout of around 40,000 for the events of the duel.
Pride parade participants later planned to march towards Seoul’s main train station, around the same time that counter-protesters were planning to march on nearby streets.
While prominent South Korean politicians avoided the Pride Parade, the event attracted many foreign diplomats, including the newly appointed US ambassador to South Korea. Philip Goldbergwhose support for gay rights has raised the ire of conservatives and Christian groups.
Some have protested in recent weeks in front of the US embassy, ​​condemning Goldberg’s appointment as part of the “gay cultural imperialism” of the Biden administration.
While views on sexual minorities in South Korea have gradually improved in recent years, they are still harshly stigmatized and often exposed to hate speech and crimes.
Calls for equality have so far been stymied by a powerful Christian lobby that has prevented politicians from passing laws banning discrimination. Representation is an issue as there are no prominent openly gay politicians or business leaders, although some celebrities have played a role in show business.
The Seoul Queer Parade was not held in 2020 and 2021 as the country adopted strict social-distancing measures to fight Covid-19.
The country’s anti-virus campaign has also highlighted its problems with homophobia. A massive public backlash to infections linked to Seoul nightspots popular with gay men in 2020 has led critics to say potentially intimidating many sexual minorities from coming forward to stand trial.