Korea takes first step to protect sexual minorities' rights
Korea is a backward country at least in terms of human rights. Almost all "-isms" are rampant in this country, such as racism, sexism, and ageism, showing how severely it discriminates against socially weak and alienated people. The most glaring of them all is the blatant hatred of sexual minorities.
Thankfully, the nation has just taken a small but significant step toward rectifying this shameful practice.
On Tuesday, an appellate court ruled in favor of a same-sex couple demanding the same spousal coverage from the state health insurance program as heterosexual couples.
It was the first time a Korean court recognized the legal rights of same-sex couples. "Everyone may be a minority person in a sense … Belonging to a minority group means being different from the majority, but not anything incorrect or wrong in itself," the Seoul High Court was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
We can hardly agree more.
However, the court also made it clear that the decision did not mean recognizing the "same-sex union" as common-law marriage as defined by the legal system. That shows how long the country has to go before protecting the rights of sexual minorities. A bill that aims to ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people has been gathering dust at the National Assembly for years.
After all, Korea is a country that prohibited sex between gay people within the military until recently. Only last year, the Supreme Court acquitted two officers who had been convicted in lower courts for "having sex voluntarily in private space." It took them five years to get the not-guilty verdict. At a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting last month, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico recommended Korea abolish Provision 6 of Article 92 of the Military Criminal Code that punishes sexual intercourse between soldiers.
The situation is even worse at schools.
A group of Christian parents is pushing to strike down ordinances that protect the rights of sexual minority students in the classroom. The Ministry of Education is positively responding to the move, removing the words "sexual minorities" and "reproductive rights" from school textbooks and teaching materials published from next year. The conservatives' attempt will likely succeed in Seoul ahead of other cities and provinces, as the ruling People Power Party takes a comfortable majority in the City Council.
All this shows why Korea is a human rights laggard even by Asian standards. Taiwan is the Asian frontrunner, legally recognizing same-sex marriages in 2019. Thailand will likely follow soon. Japan is the only Group of Seven country that has yet to legalize same-sex marriage. However, a recent poll shows 70 percent of Japanese people favor moving in that direction. Japan's right-wing political leaders are reportedly against legalizing same-sex marriage, unable to keep up with voters' sentiments.
In Korea, where 23 percent of people profess themselves as Christians, the approval rate of same-sex marriage is lower than 50 percent among the public and below 20 percent among Christians. Is all this because Koreans are so "religious"? Why are they more Christian than Americans or Britons and more Confucian than Chinese ― when it comes to these religions' less desirable aspects?
According to a survey in the U.S., there are about 1,000 rights won by same-sex couples if their marriages are approved. In reverse, the figure shows how severely they are now discriminated against. In Korea, they are excluded from any benefits provided for couples or families, such as health insurance, property inheritance, pension, and surgery consent.
What would happen if Korea legalized same-sex marriage?
Asked the same question in Japan recently, Jessica Stern, the U.S. special envoy on the human rights of LGBTQ people, said, "Don't worry. We have data. In other G7 countries, its only effects were more love, respect, and economic prosperity."
Most LGBTQ people are born, not made. It is inhumane and uncivilized to discriminate against people for reasons they cannot control.
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