Charging Mayor Park with violating the constitution, gay pride will start in Seoul plaza, and 64.8% of Korean queers have thought about committing suicide

Constitutional Complaint News Conference (Source)
An LGBT organization is filling a constitutional appeal against Seoul city, arguing that dismissing the human rights charter and not using part of Seoul's budget in support of the Rainbow Youth Support Center in Seongbuk are violations of the constitution. In an opinion piece over at the Kyunghang Shinmun, Law School Professor Park Kyung-Sin agrees, writing in an elegant piece that the two decisions are discriminatory toward sexual minorities and against the separation of church and state. Agreed.

Last week one of the main news stories was about how there was to be no pride in Seoul Plaza. Great news this week, however. Although the parade's location is still undecided, the opening ceremony of this year's pride, Queer Revolution, will take place in Seoul Plaza on the 9th of June! Mark your calenders. Of course, the religious right is not happy. An article in the Kukmin Ilbo had a nice click bait headline: Appearance of a naked body parade in Seoul Plaza? ... Reverberations of Seoul allowing the Queer Culture Festival in June. Picketers from the Jesus Foundation (really?) had signs ordering Mayor Park Won-soon to cancel the event and saying they will continue to protest until he does. 



The English news story of the week is how a gay expat was booted from bar after kiss. A bartender at Zen bar in Hongdae apparently kicked him out after he got a peck on the neck from a same-sex friend. Ridiculousness.
JTBC's Seonam Girls High School Investigators continues to be the center of controversy. Media US had an article titled acknowledge that you have the right to hate same sex love, but... pointing out how the protests against the scene were probably a lot more harmful to youth then the scene ever could be. An article in the Kyunghyan Shinmun looks at some of the main portrayals of gay characters in Korean dramas, including Life is Beautiful and the first television drama to deeply explore a romantic interest between men: Sad Temptation

The Daejon Ilbo had a column piece titled In order to beat Sillcon Valley, Dae Deok Valley needs lots of gas. The crux of the article was that Dae Deok Valley needed to encourage artists, foreigners, and gays to move in, based on Richard Florida's somewhat controversial 'Bohemian Index'. The ex-gay forum released a statement of protest against the column arguing that it was supporting of homosexuality.

The LGBT forum for human rights, much more legit than the aforementioned forum, held a conference over the weekend. They brought to attention how while 6.8% of the Korean population has been captured with the thought of wanting to commit suicide, 64.8% of Korean homosexuals and bisexuals have thought about committing suicide.

In pop news, United N-Generation singer Choi Jung-won admitted that people once thought he was gay. Netizens were excited to see his face again. (Is it just me or do netizens always say such boring things?)

A main character in tvN's Fool's Love comes out as gay and it looks like they are treating the story pretty well, including an emotional story line when he comes out to his father