City gov't says no to use of Seoul Plaza for Queer Culture Festival

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Wed, September 27, 2023 | 21:49

Society

City gov't says no to use of Seoul Plaza for Queer Culture Festival

Posted : 2023-05-04 16:27

Updated : 2023-05-05 16:48

A giant rainbow flag is unfurled across Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall at the 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival, July 16, 2022. The event is held annually to celebrate the identity and diversity of sexual minorities, but has been met with protest from conservative Christian groups. Korea Times photo by Choi Joo-yeon

By Lee Hae-rin

Seoul Metropolitan Government disapproved the use of Seoul Plaza for the upcoming Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) scheduled for July, the festival organizers said, Thursday. It instead approved a youth concert organized by a Christian broadcaster.

According to the city government, Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) organizing committee and Christian Television System (CTS) Culture Foundation both applied to book Seoul Plaza for their respective events on April 3, 90 days before their events scheduled for July 1.

The city government consulted with the two parties on rearranging the dates last month, according to the regulations on the city square management, to which both sides refused.

In response, Seoul referred the agenda to the civic committee in charge of the management of Seoul Plaza, which consists of 10 civic experts from different fields, who then ruled in favor of the Christian group, Wednesday.

The decision was based on the city ordinance that children and youth-related events should be prioritized in winning approval in case more than one organization applies for the same date.

However, the LGBTQ festival organizer, who has faced opposition from conservative Christian groups every year in holding the event, insisted that the decision was made without due process of administration.

"In previous years, the city government held in-person meetings with all concerned parties to rearrange the dates if more than one group wanted to book Seoul Plaza, as stated in the regulations. But this year, the city government cut corners and tossed the issue to the civic committee on very short notice," SQCF organizing committee Chairperson Yang Sun-woo told The Korea Times, Thursday.

Yang added that the group became aware of the city's approval of the CTS event before the final decision was delivered on Wednesday, via a local media interview with Lee Sung-bae, a ruling People Power Party member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, as well as the CTS' concert promotion message on its website.

Yang said that, given the circumstances, the SQCF organizing committee "has no choice but to suspect that the Christian event was planned to oppose the queer culture festival."

Despite opposition and interference by conservative Christian groups, the SQCF took place in Seoul Plaza every year since 2015, except in 2020 and 2021 amid pandemic restrictions on gatherings.

Last year, the city government took months to approve the festival's use of the plaza and approved the event only under the condition that no "obscene objects" were displayed or sold, warning that any violations could lead to future disadvantages. Korea Times reporters visiting all booths on festival grounds last year reported seeing nothing that could be considered obscene.

Yang said the committee plans to push ahead with holding the festival on July 1 as planned, because other weekend dates during and around June, the internationally celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month, are equally booked by Christian groups.

lhr@koreatimes.co.kr