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    Posted June 15, 2012 by
    Christo101
    Location
    Seoul
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Impact Your World

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    Gay Pride March June 2, 2012

    By Christo101  |  Posted June 15, 2012  |  Seoul
     

    CNN PRODUCER NOTE     Christo101 says homosexuality is not necessarily spoken about openly in South Korea. 'The parade aimed at putting focus on the LGBT community in general, making it more acceptable in Korean society. The aim was to create solidarity for LGBT rights. Gay marriage was also the focus of one of exhibitions. In my opinion, the parade made the LGBT community more visible and it also showed the world that the LGBT community can operate freely in South Korea,' he says.

    I have been in Korea for more than five years. I see male intimacy everywhere, in ways I’d never seen in South Africa. These affections are not just inebriated affection, sober male students hug, feed each other, hold hands and sleep on each others’ shoulders in much the same way straight girls do. Sixteen-year-old boys napping on one another’s shoulders while holding hands would even in South Africa not go down well. Intimacy between same sex people is in comparison scary back in South Africa, especially amongst men. You hold hands with another man and suddenly you’ve invited ridicule into your life. One would think with this platonic affection on display, gay people in Korea would have a much easier time. But there is no such freedom for them. In fact if you ask most people whether or not they know any homosexuals they will say: "There are no gays people in Korea."

    Like so many things in Korean society

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