Queer Links from the Week: More News on the Human Rights Charter, the Coalition for Sexual Morality, Kim Seong-o thought Won Bin was gay, and more

While Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has apologized for the interfering with the human rights charter, the media is of course pounding on this issue.  Lawyer Jeong Jeong-hun writes in the Hankyoreh that Park Won-soon's non-answer to the demands of gay rights and the religious right has encouraged conflict rather than working as a mediator (Korean). Others write about how the citizen process of determining the contents of the human rights charter were discarded, and how LGBT citizens still must continue to fight for their dignity.  Kim Jho Gwang-su was interviewed by the awesome critic/historian Jeong Un-hyeon, where Kim talked about the present reality of the gay rights movement in Korea (Korean).

These stories were accompanied with many articles not really related to the Occupy City Hall Movement, such as pieces on the prevalence of similar sexual attractions in twins or the recent same-sex Kiss In in a Spanish Burger King.

The occupation has definitely resulted in conversation and perhaps opening people's eyes to what it is like to live in Korea as a LGBT individual (Korean). A Korean Gallup poll from last week shows that support for the legalization of same sex marriage is up to 33%.

Young people, of course, are the coolest when it comes to homosexuality. When put in a ridiculous situation, a Korean Student gives an excellent answer to the question ‘how should we punish gays?’.

In other news, the Coalition for Sexual Morality (CSM) protested SBS for an episode of "In Depth 60 Minutes" titled "Faceless People- The Tears of AIDS Patients". They argued that the the documentary brings up old accusations of poor treatment of AIDS patients by national hospitals and this broadcast can distort the truth.(Korean) The story is long and perhaps deserves a full translation... As you can see from the picture below, the CSM is not a progressive group.

Bottom-right sign: Give old age protection to patients 
who got AIDS through homosexual sex with tax-payer money?

In celebrity news, Kim Seong-o surprised viewers when he stated that he originally thought Won Bin was gay and that if Kim Seong-ho was a women he would want to marry him. I think we all wish Won Bin was gay...  Hong Seok-cheon spoke frankly about the difficulties he faced when coming out earlier this week in a broadcast on KBS 1TV.

Oh, and don't forget to check out LGBT Occupy Seoul City Hall's Thank You Video to all of their worldwide supporters!