Gay sex korea
It is Friday nighttime. Down one passage of a engaged shopping and amusement district of Seoul, young men travel through what arrive to be closed doors of a dilapidated building. A slow trickle of customers — some dressed in suits, others as hipsters — enter the inconspicuous establishment, pursuing to unwind after the weekly grind. Welcome to one of Seoul’s many gay saunas.
The traditional sauna is everywhere in South Korea. They are very much part of the modern South Korean landscape. Parents take their children to bathhouses to get a nice scrub and soak. And the arid area is where families can unwind, gather, and socialise while sipping a refreshingly cold and sweet beverage, acknowledged as sikhye.
But saunas are sometimes more than just places to rest. There one can literally strip down, discarding one’s name, status, and social markers, freeing oneself from people’s gazes or judgement, and becoming just a naked, anonymous body. Whatever strains or pressures life may bring, the sauna can be a place of autonomy, as I discovered in one such for gay men.
In Seoul alone, there are approximately twenty such establishments, with others scattered nationwide. Many
South Korea court recognises same-sex couple rights for first time
BBC News
A South Korean court has for the first time recognised the rights of a same-sex couple in the territory.
In a landmark ruling, the Seoul High Court establish a government health insurer did owe coverage to the spouse of a customer after the firm withdrew it when it start out the pair were gay.
The men had held a wedding ceremony in 2019, but gay marriage is not recognised in South Korea.
Activists say the ruling is a leap forward for LGBT rights in the country.
However, the case will be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The plaintiff, So Seong-wook said he welcomed the ruling and "recognition of a very obvious right that has not been given".
In 2021, he sued the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) after being denied coverage on his loved one Kim Yongmin's plan.
The couple had been granted coverage at first, but this was then revoked as the NHIS said they had made a mistake in granting it to the queer couple.
Celebrating the decree, Mr So celebrated the court for seeing "the law of equal
Gay in South Korea: 'She said I don't require a son like you'
In South Korea, being LGBTQ is often seen as a disability or a mental illness, or by powerful conservative churches as a sin. There are no anti-discrimination laws in the country and, as the BBC's Laura Bicker reports from Seoul, campaigners believe the abuse is costing young lives.
It was a company dinner that changed Kim Wook-suk's life as he knew it.
A co-worker got drunk, slammed the table to get everyone's attention and outed 20-year-old Kim.
"It felt like the sky was falling down," Kim told me. "I was so scared and shocked. No-one expected it."
Kim (not his real name) was fired immediately, and the restaurant owner, a Christian Protestant, ordered him to leave.
"He said homosexuality is a sin and it was the generate of Aids. He told me that he didn't want me to spread homosexuality to the other workers," says Kim.
But worse was to appear. The restaurant owner's son visited Kim's mother to give her the news her son was same-sex attracted.
"At that moment, she told me to depart the house and said I don't need a so
South Korean court upholds exclude on gay sex within armed forces
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's constitutional court on Thursday narrowly upheld a law banning same-sex relations within the armed forces, citing a possible peril to the military's combat readiness in a ruling criticised by activists as a setback for gay rights.
Under the country's military criminal act, members of the armed forces face up to two years in prison for same-sex relationships. The law has been referred to the court and upheld by it four times since 2002.
In Thursday's five-to-four ruling, the court said allowing same-sex relations could undermine discipline within the military and impair its combat capabilities.
Rights groups have been urging the court to scrap what they termed an "outdated and bad" commandment, after the Supreme Court last year overturned a military court's conviction of two soldiers sentenced to suspended prison terms for a consensual same-sex relationship.
Activists said the law fuels violence and discrimination against and stigmatization of gay soldiers.
"This continued endorsement for the criminalization of consensual lgbtq+ acts within the Korean military is