K-pop: Why 's hard for stars to be gay South Korea | CNN

Contents:

• GAY SOUTH KOREA: 'SHE SAID I DON'T NEED A SON LIKE YOU'
• THE COMPLITED LIV OF GAY MEN SOUTH KOREA
• WHAT IS LIKE TO BE GAY SOUTH KOREA?
• GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA
• IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY
• SOUTH KOREA’S GAY UPL FIGHT FOR REGNN, ONE LAW AT A TIME

GAY SOUTH KOREA: 'SHE SAID I DON'T NEED A SON LIKE YOU'

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Christian anti-LGBT protters are makg their prence felt at gay events like here SeoulHe proudly showed me his T-shirt wh a special rabow logo on , one that lls for an anti-discrimatn law. Homosexualy may not be illegal South Korea - sce 2003 is no longer classified as "harmful and obscene" - but discrimatn remas wispread. Jt unr half of South Koreans don't want a gay iend, neighbour or lleague, acrdg to one natnwi survey by The Korea Social Integratn ptn, Why holidays n be tough for S Korea's LGBT munyThe proportn of gay and lbian teenagers who have been exposed to vlence is also high.

He was alone a park late at night when he was approached by a man who told him homosexualy was an unfiveable s and he should return home to his parents, before beatg him wh a bamboo stick.

The Prottant Christian Communy is so ncerned that homosexualy will be accepted South Korea that has cid to hold s first "real love" event Ban - jt a month after the Queer Ftival anisers were forced to ncel their own event the cy.

THE COMPLITED LIV OF GAY MEN SOUTH KOREA

In a statement to the BBC, they said LGBTQ people were "uhil and abnormal" so their discrimatn was "the right kd of discrimatn" ptn, Menorah said she felt a rponsibily to stop LGBTQ people "om gog to hell"In September, this fluential church group turned up at the Queer Ftival Incheon, South Korea's send biggt cy, their waved paper fans which said NO to homosexualy and YES to "real love". A huge screen was placed near the Queer Ftival square blastg a warng vio claimg that enuragg homosexualy would spread Aids and st tax payers lns.

WHAT IS LIKE TO BE GAY SOUTH KOREA?

Meanwhile, Japan has elected s first openly gay lawmaker, and spe the current polil opposn, a survey found that 78% of people aged 20 to 60 favoured legalizg same-sex marriage.

)Acrdg to anthropologist John Cho, sgle gay men South Korea retreated om gay life the wake of the 1997 Asian bankg crisis and began to ncentrate on makg money, while married gay men beme much more active the gay muny. The ma issue of beg a gay man South Korea, said Cho, is how to fd a boyiend and a gay muny, the two thgs that create the basis for a gay life. Internatnal Instute, UCLA, April 2, 2013 — After a of sexual eedom as homosexuals the 1990s, said anthropologist John Cho, sgle gay men South Korea beme nsumed by fancial worri followg the 1997 Asian bankg crisis (also known as the “IMF crisis”).

GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA

Cho, who spoke at a lecture anized by the Center for Korean Studi, noted after this crisis, sgle gay men their thirti and forti retreated om gay life to ncentrate on makg money, while married gay men began to play a much more active role the gay muny. In the absence of the “fence” of the fay (an exclive group of belongg that helps people navigate the adversi of life), sgle gay men began to regret the time they had spent on love their youth, said Cho, feelg they uld no longer afford “the luxury of love.

IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY

” The speaker, who nducted his rearch South Korea between 2007 and 2009, explaed that many sgle gay men then curred big risks, eher by changg reers or by takg signifint gambl their pursu of higher e. In the 1990s, he explaed, the media began to ver gay issu and TV shows began to clu gay characters—exposg South Koreans to more rmatn about homosexualy. In fact, many married men realized at this time that they were gay, a notn that they had prevly risted or had been unable to articulate.

In a untry where many people still believe that homosexualy is a foreign phenomenon, the speaker explaed that the chang enuraged sgle gay men to exprs their sexual inti and pursue love relatnships. Cho claimed the ma issue of beg a gay man South Korea was how to fd a boyiend and a gay muny, the two thgs that create the basis for a gay life.

Cho noted that was a sad irony of filial duty that sgle gay men rea om tellg their parents about their sexual orientatn, yet wa for them to die.

SOUTH KOREA’S GAY UPL FIGHT FOR REGNN, ONE LAW AT A TIME

The speaker traced the advent of the “bats” (married gay men) to the risg divorce rate the South Korea and the advent of “gee fathers”—fathers who live alone South Korea while their wiv and children live abroad orr to ensure the children’s tns and future succs. Cho noted that South Koreas tend to view homosexualy as a kd of ee-floatg sire that n attach self to anyone, observg that several of his rearch subjects nfsed to beg “overtaken” by their te sexual feelgs the absence of their fai. Acrdg to Cho, the “bats” live plited double liv which their gay and straight liv are strictly segmented, wh their fai and jobs takg precence over their boyiends.

Dcribg married gay men South Korea as “good hbands, dutiful lovers, and gentle fathers, ” Cho explaed that the bats were voted to their fai and even ted themselv on female sexualy to please their wiv.

He claimed that although gay married men and their sgle boyiends were assymetril relatnships, both paid high emotnal and polil sts their adaptatn to a very mascule, fay-oriented culture. ” One petn sent to the Mistry of Jtice prophied, whout any evince, that “homosexuals will try to sce everyone” if the bill were to bee law. ” Pastor Yonah Lee, center, leads an "ex-gay" march LifePastor Lee acknowledged that discrimatn agast LGBTQ dividuals is “wrong, ” but he argued that the Bible “nmns homosexualy” and baselsly claimed that an anti-discrimatn law that explicly protects LGBTQ people would “force church to close.