In a society that demands silence, Queer Culture Festivals are an integral outlet for queer citizens to express themselves in their truest, fullest form. Participants can glean happiness simply from participating in activities at booths run by sexual minority and ally groups, and from joining the parade, the festivals’ highlight. And yet, it seems as though this is not the case for all participants.

 

▲ The booth operated by LGBTQ Youth Crisis Support Center Dding Dong at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival

 

The teens who were shunned for going to Pride

 

Following the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, LGBTQ Youth Crisis Support Center Dding Dong (hereafter, “Dding Dong”) conducted therapy sessions with teenagers suffering from its aftereffects. The pride these youth had felt about participating in the festival was shattered when their parents found out about their attendance, and it has come to light that some teens were even physically assaulted in consequence. Recognizing the gravity of this problem, DDing Dong launched the “Queer Culture Festival Participation Crisis Survey”. The ten-day survey was conducted from July 22nd to 31st, 2017 and solicited responses from queer youth who experienced backlash related to the Queer Culture Festival.

 

Despite the short duration of the survey, 275 teenagers participated. The average age of the participants was 18. Out of the 217 survey participants (84.4%) who attended the Seoul or Daegu Queer Culture Festival, 45.5% (101 people) responded that their participation had been outed to their parents or guardians, and 36.3% (37) reported that they had been treated unfairly because of it.

 

“They said no one else in our family is like this… they asked what had gone wrong to make me like this.”

“They told me not to even think about coming out, that it would crush my parents… to never even consider going near other queer people.”

“‘Don’t live like that. It’s a sin…’”

“I was told not to be ‘obvious,’ that it was too embarrassing for them to walk around the neighborhood.”

 -Excerpts of responses to the “LGBTQ Youth Queer Culture Festival Participation Crisis Survey” (2017)

 

Among cases such as these that involved parents or guardians, verbal abuse and threatening (24 respondents) was the most common offense, with phone confiscations (15 respondents) and groundings (15 respondents) following close behind. Some respondents also noted the confiscation of festival merchandise (9 respondents) and even physical assault (4 respondents), as exemplified in the excerpt below.

 

“Around 1 am, my parents found my Queer Festival merchandise. After they found the pictures on my phone, too, they burned all the merchandise and broke my phone. I paid to fix it on my own. They took a curtain pole and beat my thighs until I was bloody and bruised, and threw a kitchen knife at me, grazing my arm.”

 

Despite the fun they must have had at the festival, the reality of these teen’s post-festival experiences are cold and unforgiving. One problem lies in the fact that many parents do not fully understand the festival. Queer Culture Festivals are often viewed as a gathering place of “dirty”, “immoral”, and “unnatural” people. Such misconceptions are perpetrated by many parties, especially homophobic conservative churches and media outlets. Perhaps if these parents knew that this year’s festival program included a “Queer Parents’ Group” giving out free hugs, they would not be so averse.

 

Towards a society free of oppression

 

As these teenagers faced oppression from their parents after their attendance, so too did the youth who were not allowed to attend in the first place. According to our survey, 40 respondents (15.6%) were not allowed to participate in the festival for the following reasons:

 

“My family is homophobic. I was too scared to even bring up attending the festival for fear of the consequences.”

“I wanted to go but was too scared of others’ gazes or that I would meet someone I knew there.”

“I thought maybe I would have to face some conservative Christian group.”

“My parents were against it, asking why I wanted to go since I wasn’t gay, asking isn’t that where gays go to make out.”

“My mom once told me she would kill me if I came out. If I went [to the festival] and bought something, she would’ve found out, and then she would’ve really been pissed off.”

 -Excerpts from responses to the “LGBTQ Youth Queer Culture Festival Participation Crisis Survey” (2017)

 

The majority of reasons behind these teen’s absence from this year’s festival include parental opposition, concern about judgement from extended  family, and fears of being outed. The actions of homophobic forces have inflamed the fears of queer youth, and the casual homophobia and microaggressions of family members have cautioned teenagers against participating in festivals.

 

The results of the survey lengthened Ding Dong’s list of worries. The survey was a testament to the existence of teens who could not attend a festival celebrating pride and free expression out of sheer fear, and a voice for those who had attended just to be accosted and assaulted. Out of the 37 respondents who reported mistreatment, seven teens requested a group therapy session with Ding Dong. Despite the grievous results, perhaps it is a relief that such a survey is paving the way for teenagers to speak about their experiences in a safe space. Looking forward, Ding Dong is using the results of this survey to develop a “Self Protection Manual” (projected to be published this year) that will aid LGBTQ youth in enjoying a safer Queer Culture Festival.

 

※ Author Jeong Yul is the head of operations at LGBTQ Youth Crisis Support Center Dding Dong.  Special thanks to the teenagers who participated in the “LGBTQ Youth Queer Culture Festival Participation Crisis Survey”. This article would not have been possible had they not had the courage to tell their stories.

 

Published Sept, 21, 2017

Translated by Susan Lee

*Original article: https://ildaro.com/8001

 

◆ To see more English-language articles from Ilda, visit our English blog(https://ildaro.blogspot.com).

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