State agency to remove anti-LGBTQ+ bias in Korean Sign Language

Woo Ji-yang extends his right fist from his chest with his thumb up to sign “gay,” while Kim Bo-seok does the same with his little finger raised to sign “lesbian,” following the group’s alternative sign language expressions, during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul Sept. 19, 2022. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The National Institute of Korean Language is set to expand its upcoming Korean Sign Language (KSL) dictionary by incorporating LGBTQ+-related expressions. The government-affiliated institution also plans to review existing KSL terms to identify and address any content that may be discriminatory or hateful toward sexual minorities.

The decision follows years of criticism that KSL — which has held equal legal status to spoken Korean since 2016 — contains overly sexualized and degrading portrayals of sexual minorities.

“The institute will conduct a study on hateful and discriminatory KSL expressions and enlist expressions related to the LGBTQ+ community in the KSL dictionary in 2027,” the institute said Thursday.

Launched in February, the KSL dictionary was designed to reflect the visual and linguistic characteristics of the sign language as actually used by deaf Koreans and to improve its accessibility. The online dictionary includes videos and explanations for over 1,000 terms.

However, it faced criticism for omitting terms related to the LGBTQ+ community, such as “gay” and “lesbian.” In response, the advocacy group Korean Deaf LGBT launched a social media campaign urging their inclusion — a movement that quickly gained support from deaf LGBTQ+ activists abroad.

This screenshot image from Thursday of the KSL dictionary launched by the National Institute of Korean Langauge shows no expression is found when searching for the Korean term for "sexual minority." Screenshot from online KSL dictionary

The group also stressed that these expressions should be different from the existing homophobic KSL terms authorized by the institute.

For instance, the manual sign for “gay” in Korean Sign Language has been criticized for depicting a sexual act between two men. Similarly, the sign for “lesbian” visualizes a specific sex act involving two women, reinforcing overly explicit and reductive portrayals of LGBTQ+ individuals.

In contrast, American Sign Language (ASL) signs “gay” through fingerspelling to maintain neutrality, while “lesbian” is signed by bringing the “L” handshape to the chin. In Japan, the sign for “gay” involves holding a thumb up and touching it to the chest to symbolize attraction to men, while “lesbian” is signed by raising the pinky finger and placing it on the chest to represent attraction to women. These signs reflect years of activism in each country aimed at eliminating prejudiced terms from their respective sign languages.

These KSL expressions are not only prejudiced but are also frequently accompanied by disapproving facial expressions from sign translators, even though the signs themselves do not require negative facial cues. Most importantly, the Korean Deaf LGBT group describes them as “offensive and misleading terms that can provoke self-contempt from an LGBT signer’s perspective.”

Founded in December 2019, the deaf advocacy group has created 37 alternative signs meant to evoke pride and respect. Since 2022, the group has repeatedly filed complaints with the National Institute of Korean Language, urging the removal of existing prejudiced sign expressions from the KSL dictionary — requests that were initially rejected.

The group also pointed out that these discriminatory signs are widely used by interpreters. They were even used during Coldplay’s recent concerts in Seoul, which featured sign language interpretation for deaf inclusion.

The group noted that when Chris Martin said on stage, “Thank you for being together peacefully and singing together and just hanging out together even though you’re tall, short, rich, not rich, straight, gay, everything,” the interpreter conveyed his message using homophobic expressions in KSL.

Following a recent personnel change, including a new staff member overseeing the KSL dictionary, the National Institute of Korean Language finally met with the advocacy group last month to hear their concerns and explore alternatives.

Next year, the institute plans to establish an advisory board including deaf LGBTQ+ individuals and human rights activists to develop alternative sign expressions free from discrimination and hate toward sexual minorities. These will be included in the new edition of the sign language dictionary, scheduled for release in 2027.

The activists welcomed the institute’s promise to take meaningful action.

“It is regrettable that it is difficult to immediately improve the problem. However, it is a small yet meaningful step forward that the institute, which had silenced our requests, opened the door for communication,” the group said.

“We will continue to monitor the progress of the National Institute of Korean Language and continue acting to ensure that alternative expressions are established as official terms and widely used among deaf people.”