Seoul’s 12 Bt Gay Bars Jongno | Disverg Korea

Contents:

• THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL
• GAY BARS SOUTH KOREA YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
• SEOUL’S 12 BT GAY BARS JONGNO
• GAY SOUTH KOREA TRAVEL GUI
• THE BEST SEOUL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SEOUL
• GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA

THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL

Andrew Ahn’s father once told him that there were “no gay people Korea. In a culturally nservative muny, where gog to church and buildg a fay were heavily emphasized, Ahn felt his gay inty kept him “om beg able to participate Korean culture.

” Then, he started equentg GAMeBoi, a weekly Asian Amerin gay party at Wt Hollywood’s Rage Nightclub.

He learned to embrace beg both Korean and gay, so much so that he directed “Fire Island, ” a groundbreakg queer Asian Amerin rom- released last year. Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor.

GAY BARS SOUTH KOREA YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

“Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead. ” (Michael Owen Baker / For The Tim) Even historilly gay neighborhoods like Wt Hollywood or San Francis’s Castro district, Asian Amerins have long been ignored or fetishized, seen as feme and weak.

In 2019, then-Wt Hollywood Mayor John Duran argued that he did not appropriately touch a member of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel bee “he’s a skny Korean kid wh pimpl on his cheek. ” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian. ” said Crisman, a 36-year-old gay Korean Amerin rearcher and artist.

On this night, he had brought some female high school iends who wanted to experience the gay clubbg scene. Most of the remendatns will be around Itaewon as is well-known as the party’s hub Seoul, and the gay bars n be found there “Homo Hill” district.

SEOUL’S 12 BT GAY BARS JONGNO

Bottoms up is a gay bar that n be found the bar and has a panoramic wdow that provis a great view of ‘Homo Hill’, the bar is open Tuday through Saturday. Why Not is one of the olst bars this area which is lled the "Homo Hill" known for s iendly staff, nice ambience, and fun K-pop on the weekend. Thankfully, you rarely hear the old mantra, “There are no gay Koreans” anymore, thanks to Korea’s hard-workg LGBT activists.

Sce the 1990s, the natn’s iban (“이반” or Korean for “queer”) muny has nonted a society nstraed by iologil barriers old and new—Confucian prcipl and anti-gay Christian activists.

GAY SOUTH KOREA TRAVEL GUI

And while Seoul still isn’t Asia’s queer paradise, there are over 100 lbian and (mostly) gay bars Korea’s pal, not to mentn one of the ntent’s longt-nng LGBT paras and film ftivals. Jongno’s Nagwon-dong (낙원동) and Donui-dong (돈의동) neighborhoods are Seoul’s olst gay neighborhoods.

THE BEST SEOUL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SEOUL

For s, closeted gay men have ngregated sr of timate “member club” bars tucked along narrow alleys. Outsi, sr of gay men gather at a le of food tents outsi Jongno 3(sam)-ga Statn (exs 3 and 6). To see for yourself, what follows are Seoul’s 12 bt gay bars  Jongno.

Quick tip: Try to get your hands on a py of iShap’s gui to lol gay bars. Opened by two iends, both born 1979 (hence the name), this sual gay soju bar is popular wh ctomers their 30s. Loted the shadow of the Nagwon Ar, this charmg spot b the bt of Seoul’s petg gay bar cultur—the timacy and iendls of the typil Jongno hnt wh stylish dér and eedom to chew expensive anju snacks.

GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA

A fortable atmosphere to drk a beer or cktail alone or wh iends, seats up to 45 (large by Jongno standards) and is one of the few gay bars outsi of Itaewon where you’ll ocsnally see non-Koreans. Opened 2005, Bar was the first of Jongno’s gay “one-shot bars” where ctomers uld orr beer, we or cktails whout payg an obligatory W20, 000 for a u plate or grilled squid. The unpretent place tailored to gay men their 30s is staffed by an affable (and trilgual) owner and bartenr.

Plastered red rose wallpaper (at least last I checked), the attractive gay cktail bar is ually packed on weekends and is one of the neighborhood’s most nsistently good statns. Jt off the ma drag the heart of gay Seoul’s Nagwon-dong neighborhood, GQ is one of a fair number of bars that ter (often exclively) to bears, the hky middle-aged gay man wh as much body hair as Korean gen will allow.

There ya go… my humble list of Jongno’s 12 bt gay bars Seoul. Seoul’s gay bars tend to experience heavy turnover, so before you go, always pays to ll or rearch ahead.

Sometim Jongno’s gay bars n feel a ltle prickly to non-Koreans and even gyopos who don’t speak Korean. Text 'GAYTRAVEL' to 1-800-GAY-TRAVEL (1-800-429-8728).