By Kang Aa-young
A group of Protestant church leaders urged the government to stop its attempts to implement policies in favor of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Staging a protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Wednesday, the leaders of 21 Protestant denominations demanded the government withdraw the National Action Plan for Human Rights which is expected to be approved at a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 7.
They said it has some “toxic elements,” citing the expression “gender equality” in the final draft as one of them.
“The government's gender equality policy must be removed from the action plan because it is seen to legalize same-sex marriage,” said the church alliance.
The group also called for the government to replace the term “gender equality” with “sexual equality” in the action plan.
They claimed the two words are not interchangeable, adding sex is a term based on physical differences between men and women and thus it does not include transgender. Meanwhile, they said, gender equality is based on economic, social and cultural attributes and thus allows for homosexuals and transgender people.
“We will keep protesting the government's misguided policy to keep Korean society socially, ethically and morally sound,” they said.
If their requests are not accepted, they said the government will lose confidence from Protestant churches.
Their protest comes months after Protestant churches accused the action plan for destabilizing social values and norms. If the action plan is adopted, they claim the lines between men and women will be blurred as the term gender equality embraces sexual minorities and social chaos will be inevitable.
It remains uncertain whether the national action plan is intended to embrace sexual minorities as the church group insists. But the plan draws the ire of both church groups as well as sexual minorities.
Earlier, LGBT groups expressed worries about the action plan for it removed the wording “sexual minorities.” LGBT groups alleged that the government is backpedaling and going against the global trend to protect sexual minorities.