Crusade on gay legislation
A gay rights advocate speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in this 2007 file photo. Influential protestant Christian groups are threatening to derail political efforts to introduce anti-discrimination legislation, claiming that criticizing a person for their sexual orientation should be considered a right. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Churches all-out to block debate on inequality by sexual preference
By Kim Tong-hyung
Korea finally has a homosexuality debate. But it’s more cringe-worthy than old tales about naked people, snakes and prohibited fruit.
Political efforts to introduce new anti-discrimination legislation appear to have hit a roadblock in the form of powerful church groups, who continue to claim that criticizing a person for their sexual orientation is a right.
That would be thought as a manifestation of ill-grace and stupidity by people who weren’t born yesterday. But the lawmakers who wrote the draft laws are already showing signs of cowering as they are reluctant to irritate the mighty protestant organizations considering their influence on voters, which was critical in Park Geun-hye’s election win in December.
The conservative Christian Council of Korea (CCK), the country’s biggest church lobby, has been shameless in its attempts to breathe fear into political minds.
Speaking to the local media, Rev. Hong Jae-chul, CCK’s chairman, has warned lawmakers of negative consequences should they attempt to push equality for gays and lesbians.
"If anything goes wrong about the bills, submitted by Democratic United Party (DUP) and Unified Progressive Party, we will launch an all-out Christianity movement against the anti-discrimination law. We will call for voters to not elect the lawmakers the next time. We will call for the political parties to be abolished,’’ he said in an interview with vernacular daily Hankyoreh.
"We are already doing a petition campaign that is expected to be signed by 10 million. From mid-April, the phones at lawmakers’ offices will be on fire. These anti-discrimination laws aren’t cohesive with the Korean sentiment and they have been conceived in a wrong way from the start.’’
Hong’s argument seems fitter for the Onion than serious news outlets. He accuses gay-rights sympathizers in politics and the civic community as ``leftists” because they weaken society by causing disorder and that all this would eventually benefit the North Koreans threatening the democratic South.
"The spread of homosexuality would bring chaos to society. Isn’t it obvious who would benefit from that? Any disruption in politics, society and culture will play to North Korea’s favor. The leftists have always been doing things like this and this is why the CCK exists: to stop them,’’ he said.
"As society’s ethical values continued to deteriorate in recent years, it was the Christians who had been calling for people to wake up and get their minds straight. However, we can’t educate people if the laws pass the National Assembly in their current form. We wouldn’t be able to say anything without being hit with a 30 million won fine.’’
Currently, three draft anti-discrimination laws have been submitted to the National Assembly, written by Democratic United Party (DUP) lawmakers Kim Han-gil and Choi Won-sik and Kim Jae-yeon of the leftist Unified Progressive Party.
All three bills seek to outlaw discrimination in employment and other social interactions on the grounds of age, gender, race, disability, faith and, yes, sexual orientation.
The DUP lawmakers said they will hold public hearings on their draft laws, which just passed their notification periods, before fine-tuning them and pushing them for approval. Both said they would not move on without the blessing of church groups.
A true, anti-discrimination law would have critical meaning in a country where women continue to deal with gender apartheid at home and work, people with disabilities deal with damaging prejudices and misunderstandings, and deeply-rooted racism complicates efforts to create a 21st century multiethnic, multicultural society.
However, the Christian council claims equality laws should only protect heterosexuals and other members of the politically convenient _ and the fact they are taken seriously shows how little Korea has matured in protecting civil liberties.
This is a country that is still more comfortable about having uniform, social standards ― and laws that are compatible with them ― rather than embracing a diverse set of values.
While the church groups have been passionate in displaying homophobia, they have been rather indifferent to other minority issues and the social problems created by discrimination and inequality.
It would be unlikely to see Hong, a man who talks about following the Bible letter for letter, attacking chaebol owners for forcing their non-regular employees to work on sacred Sundays.
"The claims that anti-discrimination legislation will spread homosexuality are ungrounded and only show that the speaker is blinded by hate. It’s anybody’s guess how they justify their imagination that protecting the rights of a certain group of minorities will infringe on the rights of the majority,’’ said Hahn Chae-yoon from the civic group Korean Sexual-Minority Culture and Rights Center.