19th Seoul Queer Culture Festival kicks off this Friday
People parade through downtown celebrating the LGBTQ community. / Image by Jon Dunbar
By Celeste Kriel
Expat, foreign and Korean members of the LGBTQ community and their allies will come together for the biggest queer event of the year in Seoul, the 19th Seoul Queer Culture Festival, which kicks off this Friday with an art exhibition followed by the main Seoul Queer Parade (SQP) at Seoul Plaza on Saturday.
The event is an opportunity to participate in a positive demonstration of visibility in a country where homosexuality is not illegal but heavily socially sanctioned.
The theme for this year's festival is “Queeround,” which has a two-fold meaning, highlighting the growing visibility of queer people in society and the importance of representation, as well as celebrating this time as the “queer round.”
An art exhibition titled “Prism of Art: Bloom in human rights, culture and art” will start at 7 p.m. Friday at the Human Rights Center in downtown Seoul. The SQP event celebrations begin the following day at 11 a.m. with about 100 LGBTQ-themed booths and a welcome stage from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
As night approaches, there will be a few afterparties to choose from. Shade Seoul will be hosting their Shade x Femme Pride After Party at Cakeshop and Contra in Itaewon.
Celebrations round off with the 18th Korea Queer Film Festival (KQFF) next weekend at Daehan Cinema next to Chungmuro Station.
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