Students from Sungkonghoe University in Guro-gu in western Seoul organized Korea's first college campus Pride parade on Tuesday. The celebration included the students advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, while also voicing disapproval of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's perceived discriminatory actions.
The daylong Mini Queer Parade event commenced Tuesday with a press briefing in the morning and was due to culminate in an evening procession across the campus. Over 100 attendees were participating, according to the organizer Sungkonghoe Human Rights Committee.
“We seek a world void of discrimination, including LGBTQ,” the committee expressed at the opening press conference.
Sungkonghoe University, established by the Anglican Communion in 1914, has a longstanding identity associated with human rights, democracy and advocacy for peace.
The program for the day included advocacy speeches and activities in coordination with the Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee as well as campus community members. An English version of the key address, capturing the parade's core message and emphasizing the demand for LGBTQ+ rights, was also made available for international students attending the parade.
An "anti-outing" mask workshop, symbolizing resistance to forced disclosures of sexual orientation or gender identity, and booths offering queer-friendly tattoo stickers were also part of the event.
Korea's first on-campus Pride parade was particularly relevant this year, as the Seoul Pride Parade was denied the use of its usual venue at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall. Citing overlapping requests and a municipal clause giving priority to events for the youth's well-being, the venue was instead given to a Christian group for a concert aimed at children.
Park Kyung-seok, co-representative of Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, was present to offer support for the event. Park and the committee shared mutual support for their anti-discrimination campaigns, as Sungkonghoe Human Rights Committee members also attended several SADD protests last year.
“Just like disability, gender identity is not a subject for medical intervention. They need to be free from discrimination,” Park said.
The announcement of the event sparked some controversy, with nearly 600 derogatory posts on the university's online bulletin board since the announcement of the parade in May, according to the committee. The student body totals around 2,300 this year.
University President Kim Kyung-moon initially proposed pausing "controversial events" to assess the student response, but he withdrew his suggestion within four days.
Choi Bo-geun, the committee's chairman, expressed frustration over the exceptional scrutiny faced by the event. He noted that other events on campus do not receive the same level of intense examination, as they only involve the administration office in charge and the organizing body.
"It seems only this event provokes issues at every stage, even prompting calls for a campuswide poll," Choi told The Korea Herald.
