Korea’s Struggling Gay Movement Celebrates #LoveWins #동성결혼 :Marc;Belisle

Korea’s Struggling Gay Movement Celebrates #LoveWins #동성결혼 :Marc;Belisle

Today's ruling by the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states will reverberate socially and politically not only across America, but across planet Earth. This was evident on Twitter, especially from Tweets coming out of South Korea. The Korean phrase 동성결혼 , "gay marriage," was among the highest trending phrases in the world on Twitter, even hours after the decision. Most of the tweets celebrated or expressed awe.

Today's ruling must seem like a beacon of hope to activists struggling from the underground in Seoul. While an American court ruled that gays are universally allowed to marry Friday, earlier this month a Korean court ruled that gays are allowed to have a parade. This was seen as a huge victory. Conservative Christian groups in South Korea threatened to attack the parade-goers, and Seoul police sought to ban the parade. They said it was too dangerous. But the gay activists won their first skirmish... Korea is having its Stonewall moment.

The Stonewall riots of 1969 were the first step in the American gay community's long, arduous journey toward public acceptance and equality. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village was one of the few places where the gay community could congregate in some semblance of openness. The establishment was raided by police, but those there drew a line in the sand and fought back. And here we are today, 46 years later.

Something similar is happening in Korea. The gay community has a vibrant underground life in Seoul, but it is very hush-hush. I lived in South Korea for four years teaching English, and I encountered Koreans, especially outside of the cities, who would insist that there were no gays in the country. The subject rarely came up, but when it did, it seemed to make the skin crawl on mainstream society.

Korea was originally a Buddhist country, but today, it is nearly 30% Christian evangelists. It is the second most Christian country in Asia — after the Philippines — and the second most Protestant evangelist country in the world outside of the United States. The Christians can be quite aggressive. As a white American man living in Korea, evangelists would often assume that I was an active Christian, and they would occasionally chase me down the street, waving pamphlets in my face, trying to convince me to join their church.

The Buddhists are infinitely more low key about their religion. Two consecutive Christian presidents who, like George W. Bush, pandered heavily to the evangelists for political power, have given them an outsized influence. The growing gay movement is something of a chicken and egg relationship. As the evangelists have grown more vocal, the gay movement has begun to fight back, and vice versa.                                                   http://reverbpress.com/world/struggling-gay-movement-side-world-celebrates-lovewins/