Embassies show solidarity at Seoul Queer Culture Festival

Foreign diplomats in Korea hold a large rainbow banner on the stage of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, Saturday, as each of them gave a speech advocating for LGBTQ rights and equality. Korea Times photo by Choi Ju-yeon

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Small and large rainbow flags waved in Seoul Plaza, Saturday, as the Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) returned after taking two years off during the pandemic, with ever stronger support from a handful of foreign envoys in Korea.

This year, 15 diplomatic missions in Korea operated booths to promote diversity and inclusion, and ambassadors also took the stage to give speeches in support of the LGBTQ community in Korea.

As part of the official program, envoys from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, European Union, Sweden, Ireland, the U.K., Canada, Finland, Australia and the U.S. went on the stage with a large rainbow banner and each gave a speech promoting the rights of sexual minorities and diversity.

New U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg made his first public appearance at the SQCF, showing the U.S.' strong commitment to ending discrimination.

The German, Italian, Czech and Bulgarian ambassadors took the stage with EU Ambassador to Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez.

"I am happy to be here today with many of my colleagues from the European Union," she said. "We stand with you. And it is much more timely and important today as human rights in the world are even given. Discrimination, prejudice and hate against individuals based on sexual orientation or gender are very prevalent these days... We want to tell you that pride is at the heart of European values."

U.K. Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks delivers a speech during the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, Saturday. Yonhap

Some ambassadors gave parts of their speech in Korean, but U.K. Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks delivered his whole speech in Korean and received a great round of applause from the participants.

"We believe that everyone in society is equal. Discrimination against sexual orientation or sexual identity should not exist in the 21st century. We all have the right to live free from discrimination and violence," Crooks said.

"The U.K. shows that the best way to protect this right is to have the legal system... Hate should fail. Love will always win."

Crooks told The Korea Times that the diplomats were there to "show solidarity with minority communities in Korea."

"Because their rights are underpinned by values which all of us share ― the values of freedom, of human rights and of democracy. In a society like this, we believe in those values and the rights of minorities," he said.

New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner, left, takes a selfie with his spouse Hiroshi Ikeda while on the stage of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, Saturday. Captured from Twitter

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The booth jointly operated by the Embassy of Australia and the Embassy of New Zealand was very popular, as visitors queued up to receive rainbow-themed bags and cups as souvenirs.

New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner attended the festival with his same-sex spouse Hiroshi Ikeda for the third time.

"It is fantastic to be able to participate (in the SQCF) again. It's really important to have these opportunities, especially for young people, (as) so many happy young people coming out and enjoying themselves in a safe space," Turner said.

"The New Zealand government believes that everybody should be able to live their life with freedom and pride; that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This is part of our values as people in New Zealand."

Booths of foreign embassies are lined up at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival in Seoul Plaza, Saturday, while Christians rally across the street in protest against the event. Fifteen foreign missions in Korea took part in Seoul's pride event to show solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Yonhap

The Embassy of Canada had an independent booth, while the U.S. Embassy joined hands with the British Embassy. The Netherlands, Spain and Ireland had a joint booth, while the European Union, Germany and France operated another joint booth.

The embassy booths were located across the road from where far-right and Christian groups were positioned, so it was difficult for festivalgoers to hear each other over the hate speech from protesters amplified over loudspeakers.

Outgoing Irish Ambassador Julian Clare noted that his country was the first in the world to vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Ireland held a referendum in 2015 to amend its Constitution to include marriage equality.

"In my country, we have traveled the journey from out there to in here, so we know that marriage equality and equality in society is possible. Never ever give up the hope that it can happen," Clare said referring to the hate groups outside the plaza.

Rouslan Kats, charge d'affaires at the Canadian Embassy, emphasized the values of democracy.

"There is no place for discrimination and violence in a democratic society. We live in a democratic society and we all deserve to be respected and to be treated fairly," he said.

Kats added that equal rights for sexual minorities are not a "zero-sum game" and that the existence of those rights does not impinge on the freedoms of others but rather expands freedom for all members of society.

A joint booth of four Nordic countries ― Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland ― is set up for the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, Saturday. Courtesy of Danish Embassy in Korea

Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland ran a joint booth with the slogan "Nordics4Equality" and displayed a poster outlining history of LGBTQ rights in the four respective Nordic countries.

Norwegian Ambassador to Korea Frode Solberg said there is a longstanding cooperation among the Nordic countries in all areas, including human rights.

"The Nordic cooperation is probably one of the strongest regional operations that exist. Common history, common traditions and basically the same idea in most of the multilateral questions. So it's natural to work together and especially on an important area like this. Diversity, human rights and LGBTQI+ rights are very important for all of us," Solberg told The Korea Times.

"An embassy represents our society and I think human rights, diversity, inclusion are very central parts of all our societies. That's why our embassies try to at least share our experiences and who we Nordic countries are."