Seoul Queer Culture Festival venue moved to Euljiro

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sun, October 1, 2023 | 01:29

Society

Seoul Queer Culture Festival venue moved to Euljiro

Posted : 2023-06-07 16:29

Updated : 2023-06-08 14:19

A giant rainbow flag is carried by participants at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, June 1, 2019. Courtesy of organizing committee of Seoul Queer Culture Festival

By Lee Hae-rin

This year's Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) will be held as scheduled on July 1 in downtown Seoul's Euljiro area due to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's disapproval of its event taking place at Seoul Plaza, according to the festival organizer, Wednesday.

"The (festival's) use of Seoul Plaza was disapproved by the discriminatory administration of the Seoul Metropolitan Government," Yang Sun-woo, chairperson of the SQCF organizing committee, said during a press conference in Seoul, Wednesday. "The 24th SQCF and parade will be held in the Euljiro 2-ga area."

The SQCF, which was launched in 2000 with around 50 participants in the capital's northeastern Daehangno area, grew in size over the years, eventually settling in Seoul Plaza in 2015, one of the biggest public squares in the capital. This will be the first edition of the event to not be held there since 2015 except for the two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the city government rejected the committee's request to use the city square in favor of a youth concert by the Christian Television System (CTS) Culture Foundation instead.

In response, the committee filed a notice of assembly for the Euljiro area to secure an alternative venue. One month prior to the event, 64 activists and supporters took turns lining up at three police stations in the jurisdiction of the locations for 89 hours to receive police authorization for use of the public space. As permission is granted on a first-come, first-serve basis, they had to compete with Christian activists also lining up to book the same spaces in order to deny them a venue, according to Yang.

Over four lanes of Samil-daero will be under traffic control. There will also be live performances, events and around 100 booths featuring advocacy organizations that also are in solidarity with sexual minorities, similar to previous editions.

Yang Sun-woo, center, chairperson of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) organizing committee, announces during a press conference in downtown Seoul, Wednesday, that this year's festival scheduled for July 1 will be held in downtown Seoul's Euljiro due to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's disapproval for the use Seoul Plaza. Yonhap

According to the committee, 14 diplomatic missions in Korea will operate booths to promote diversity and inclusion while the congratulatory messages made by foreign envoys will be shown in a video. Last year, several diplomats, including the newly arrived U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg attended the event and went onstage to give speeches in support of the local LGBTQ community.

The committee struggled to find an alternative public venue big enough to house around 150,000 participants, who are expected to join this year's event, said Kim Ga-hee, the group's parade and booths organizer.

Safety was the committee's top priority when searching for an alternative venue, and Euljiro's flat land seemed to help minimize the risk of possible violence by right-wing Christians, she said. The group is holding several meetings with police to discuss safety regulations.

"Most of all, the key significance of the pride parade is to show that sexual minorities will no longer hide who they are and reveal themselves in the greatest number in front of the largest audience," Kim said, explaining why the committee insisted on holding the event in the city center instead of in a park or stadium, as suggested by others.

The parade will begin on Samil-daero in Euljiro 2-ga, pass Myeong-dong Station, Seoul Plaza, Jongno and Jonggak Station and finally conclude at the starting point. All in all, the parade route will be 4 kilometers in length.

A group of activists, a religious leader and a lawyer raised their voices in solidarity.

"Christianity has defended human dignity from the start and we must reject social structures that destroy the human dignity of sexual minorities," said Fr. Pak Sang-hun, a Jesuit priest and chairperson of the Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity.

Chang Suh-yeon, attorney of the human rights law foundation Gonggam highlighted that the right to assemble and demonstrate are fundamental and constitutional rights for minorities in a democratic society, urging authorities to protect their rights from opposition instead of disapproving the festival.

The SQCF will be held from June 22 to July 9 and feature a queer movie festival screening 42 films from 16 countries, an online campaign and sales of rainbow-themed objects created by small businesses supporting the LGBTQ community.

lhr@koreatimes.co.kr