2023-06-24 17:09:10
On June 17, 2023, an unprecedented situation unfolded in which the police and public officials confronted each other over the holding of the Queer Culture Festival in the Daegu Jung-gu public transportation district. yunhap news
On June 17, 2023, around 5 o’clock in the dark, I got on the train to Daegu. It was to participate in the 15th Daegu Queer Culture Festival held at Daegu Jungang-ro Public Transportation Zone.
Since the first Queer Culture Festival was held in Daehangno, Seoul in 2000, it has been held every year in each region and has established itself as a representative civic festival that supports sexual minorities and their human rights. Nevertheless, some people are surprised to hear that a queer culture festival will be held in Daegu, the so-called ‘conservative holy land’, for the 15th year. The Daegu Queer Culture Festival was first held in Dongseong-ro, Daegu in 2009, and has been held in the transit zone for the past few years. It was also the only festival held outside of Seoul until the 2017 Queer Culture Festival was held in Busan and Jeju.
nice court ruling
In fact, on this day, I was scheduled to ride the ‘Queer Bus’ prepared by the ‘Rainbow Action Against Sexual Minority Discrimination’ (Rainbow Action). Queer Bus was organized in Seoul to solidarity with queer people in Daegu, and departed at 8:00 am on June 17 with regarding 40 people. The reason I had to take the train alone earlier than that was because Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo’s absurd disruption of the assembly.
Every year, when queer culture festivals are held in Daegu and other regions, far-right Protestant groups and anti-LGBT groups often interfere with the holding and incite hatred. This year, their attacks were even fiercer. They accused Bae Jin-gyo, the head of the organizing committee of the Daegu Queer Culture Festival, and even applied to the court for a provisional injunction to ban the festival from being held.
But is it a blessing in disguise? The court responded to this injunction with a wonderful ruling. “In the case of an assembly like the Daegu Queer Culture Festival, the assembly can be the only venue for expressing the opinions of the politically underprivileged or minority.” “Since freedom of expression is a core fundamental right that is the basis of democracy, it is necessary to be cautious in limiting the exercise of this freedom of expression.” The court’s decision to dismiss the provisional injunction were words that pierced the point of why the festival should be held.
In this way, there was someone who ignited the controversy that ended through the court. This is Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo. Mayor Hong said, “The rights and interests of the majority of the sexes are also important,” and said that he supported the previous injunction application, but when the injunction was rejected, he said that the Daegu Queer Culture Festival would interfere with the festival, saying it was “illegal road occupation.” On June 16, the day before the festival, he personally came to the site and instructed officials to stop occupying the road. Thus, Daegu City and Daegu Jung-gu Office announced an administrative execution by mobilizing regarding 450 public officials. The police took the position that freedom of assembly should be guaranteed, but it was unknown what would happen. That’s why I went down to the site first thing in the morning.
The power of solidarity that created rainbow waves
At 8 a.m. on June 17, there was a sense of tension in the Daegu transit mall. Among the civil servants in yellow and green civil defense uniforms and the police in fluorescent vests, there were the Daegu Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee and regarding 30 citizens, including me, who ran to solidarity. Political parties, labor unions, civil rights activists and local residents were diverse, but they all had the same spirit of solidarity for a fun and safe festival.
The time we rode the queer parade truck passing by Daegu’s Dongseong-ro and shouted “same-sex marriage legislation/marriage equality” together made me forget the fatigue of running since dawn. Courtesy of Park Han-hee
At 9:30 a.m., as vehicles to set up the festival stage and booths approached the site with citizens, officials blocked their way. Officials’ attempts to violate freedom of assembly were soon stopped by the police. An unprecedented situation unfolded in which the police and government officials confronted each other. It was somewhat complicated to watch the public officials who shouted illegal road occupation and the police who said freedom of assembly should be guaranteed. This is because the police, who are shouting for freedom of assembly, are interfering with the freedom of assembly by blocking the nighttime sit-in of the union somewhere and blocking the march of the disabled.
It is difficult to say that the festival was held despite groundless interference from public officials on that day thanks to the police who kept their principles. It is a change made by the organizing committee, which has held the Queer Culture Festival for 15 years, revealing the existence of LGBTQ people in Daegu and creating solidarity, and those who have supported the human rights of LGBTQ people and advocated solidarity and the right to gather and speak together. Because of the history created in this way, the principle of freedom of assembly might be maintained even if the police ran into the head of the local government.
At 10:30 a.m., the 15th Daegu Queer Culture Festival, ‘We Are Already’, began in earnest in a peaceful atmosphere where neither the police nor public officials resigned. As a joke, it was a more exciting festival than usual due to Mayor Hong’s madness. Various citizens of regarding 40 booths and regarding 4,000 people ‘occupied’ the transit mall with their own rainbows. And finally, the highlight of the festival, the Queer Parade, was held. Neither the sweltering heat nor the few hateful forces might stop the rainbow wave. The time we rode the queer parade truck passing by Dongseong-ro and shouted ‘same-sex marriage legalization/marriage equality’ together made me forget the fatigue of running since dawn.
Queer, let’s reveal more and gather
At 7:30 in the evening, I looked back on the experience of the day on the Queer Bus to Seoul. Although it is only one day out of the year, the experience of solidarity with citizens who identify and support LGBTQ people through the Queer Culture Festival is also a source of strength for living following that. On the other hand, the festival is also a cry for a society that does not realize that many LGBTQ people live in this society as fellow citizens. That’s why the Queer Culture Festival is a festival for everyone, not just sexual minorities.
For that reason, even now, words like ‘Don’t assemble on main roads’ that Mayor Hong is talking regarding are absurd. This is because the exposure of sexual minorities through marches in major cities is the essence of queer parades and pride marches. Like the achievements of the Daegu Queer Culture Festival, which has continued for 15 years once morest the hatred and stigma of ‘don’t show’ and ‘don’t be seen’, the rainbow waves covering the roads and squares will and should continue.
Park Han-hee, executive committee member of the Rainbow Action Against Discrimination once morest LGBTQ people
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