After a three-year pause, the Gwangju Queer Culture Festival returned to the city’s iconic Geumnam-ro in Dong-gu, South Jeolla Province, on Saturday, drawing about 2,000 participants under the theme “Mudeung: Rainbow-colored absolute equality.”
According to the festival’s organizing committee, this year’s event saw the participation of LGBTQ individuals and allied civil society groups from across the country. The crowd gathered not only to celebrate queer culture but also to advocate for the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation in Korea.
Participants took to the streets with a vibrant parade and various citizen-led cultural programs, calling attention to the need for legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
This marks the first in-person queer festival in Gwangju since 2019. Annual events were suspended beginning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the festival was reimagined in the form of a film screening series but lacked the communal gathering that had previously defined the event.
The return of the festival to Gwangju -- a city long recognized for its history of civil rights activism -- underscores ongoing tensions surrounding LGBTQ rights in Korea, where calls for inclusivity and equality continue to meet resistance from some segments of society.
Meanwhile, a counter-demonstration organized by conservative and religious groups was held nearby, with an estimated turnout of around 500 people. Police maintained a strong presence at the scene to prevent clashes between the two groups and the event proceeded largely without incident.
yeeun@heraldcorp.com
