Homosexual festival held online with COVID-19 Crossfire exercise also online

The queer festival for homosexuals will be held differently this year in the face of the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19). Film festivals, booth events and even the most popular fashion shows are connected. However, the campaign against the queer festival also caught fire on the internet.

Seoul Queer Culture Festival. [유튜브 캡쳐]

According to the Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee on the 19th, the ‘Seoul Queer Culture Festival’ held in the Seoul Plaza area will be held online from the 18th to the 29th of this year. The Queer Culture Festival was originally scheduled for May, but was postponed twice to June and September in the wake of Corona 19.

There was also a lot of noise in the process of deciding on the queer festival method. Last July, in the Blue House National Petition, “The Seoul Queer Culture Festival will be held for 12 days starting on September 18 in a situation where all meetings are canceled due to Corona 19. Please cancel, ”and 235,000 people agreed. In response, the Blue House said on the 18th: “The organizing committee will reorganize in a new and safe way according to the guidelines of the quarantine authorities and will celebrate this year’s queer festival online.”

The presentation of ‘Rainbow Live Anywhere’ that took place on YouTube in the corner of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival was mainly done on a talk show that tells the story behind the scenes without the audience. Kuciia Diamant, who attended the presentation, said: “Unlike before, this time I performed in front of a virtual audience and tried to adjust my condition by paying attention to that part.”

The 21st Seoul Queer Culture Festival. [유튜브 캡쳐]

The ‘March of Pride’ parade, a program of the Seoul Queer Festival, was also held online. Unlike the traditional method where participants gathered in the plaza and marched, the parade was held in a format in which participants shared photos and comments through a live broadcast. Abroad, LGBTI groups around the world have organized ‘Global Pride 2020’, in which videos are posted on YouTube and shared.

The meeting against the Seoul Queer Festival has been in conflict with the Seoul Queer Festival since 2015 over Seoul Plaza. In 2018, eight people involved in an anti-homosexual assembly fought and were arrested by the police. Last year, the estimated number of participants for the Seoul Queer Festival and the National Festival Against Queer reached 40,000, including 30,000 and 10,000, respectively.

As the meeting place moved to the online space, the physical conflict between the two parties lessened, but elements of the conflict still remain. Some groups that oppose homosexuality are in a position to hold demonstrations in the online space. On the 19th, the National Congress Against the Queer Homosexual Festival announced on the 19th: “We have decided to open a YouTube channel to carry out opposition activities online.”

Reporter Park Hyun-joo [email protected]