Today’s Don’t: Believe That People Believe That Korea Has No Gays
I was regrettably late in hearing about this year’s Seoul LGBT Film Festival but as you can see here and here the event was well-publicized to any Korean who reads the film magazines available at every newsstand. Plenty of posts in the archive here (my favorites are on lesbian park and the film Lesbian Censorship in School) show that no Korean who reads news magazines could believe this myth either. And recently Choi Hyeon-suk, 52 year old woman politician with the New Progressive Party, came out of the closet (after doing so to her family in 2004) and marched in the Gay Pride Parade in Jongro.
Now nobody has ever said to me that Korea has no gay people, but other expats swear they have been told so. My advice is to keep in mind that Koreans who say this don’t really believe it — they know better but perhaps feel it is something they have to say. It’s a lot like saying soju tastes fantastic and you can use chopsticks and speak Korean quite well. It’s just part of the talking-to-foreigners chapter of the handbook on meeting new people — reliable standbys to get you through any situation, like the weather and sports.