Gaymas! Seoul Pride! 퀴어!

Seth, Erica, Dirk and I headed straight (or should I say gay?) up to Seoul after work on Friday night.  Dropped Dirk off at the bf's on the way in, never to see the outside of a gimp cupboard again.  I wonder if he's still there, gag ball and all?  Probably not - ball gags and other such things are ridiculously difficult to purchase in Korea.  Which is where the 13th Annual Korean Queer Culture Festival comes in.  Without acceptance, there can be no stores :-p

Ring my bell

Me being a dick

LGBTQI (henceforth referred to as Gay or Queer, which ever I feel like to be honest) people are pretty much ignored in Korea.  It is generally assumed that Queer Koreans simply do not exist, or if they do it's due to being enticed and seduced by Queer 외국 (foreigners).  Along with any STDs, Gay is another transmittable disease coming into Korea with all these evil English teachers.  Oh, and AIDS, all foreigners have AIDS.  If such blatant racism is allowed here, it's not surprising that homophobia is prevalent.  On a lighter note, when trying to disguise peoples voices on the news here they often use this helium-like effect which reminds me of Alvin and the Chipmunks.  They also use giant, yellow, smiley faces when covering things that may be "naughty".

Anyway, enough Debby Downer, on with the parade!  Bring on the Gays!   The parade was on the new river between Euljiro and Jonggak stations (see the map).  The new river Cheonggyecheon 청계천 itself is really nice to wander through - it was a motorway until 2003 when then Seoul Mayor, current president 이명박 started an urban renewal project to restore the stream that had been buried under concrete for almost 50 years.

There were warnings on the sites not to take photos of anyone without their permission, and not to take photos of peoples faces.  People are concerned that they will get fired if their work finds out they're gay.  I don't know how much of this is paranoia - a gay Korean I know is out at work, and my Academy know about myself and my previous coteacher.  For the same reason Koreans (outside of Itaewon anyway) won't use Grindr as they think all straight Koreans know about this, so their boss and friends are lurking on Grindr to catch them out!  Honestly, if I saw my boss on Grindr it'd because he's there for the same reason!  Instead they use Jack'd which they think their boss doesn't know about.

Despite the "no-faces" warning there were plenty of people taking photos and videos, and I didn't see anyone annoyed.  There was a big fairy fair, lots of stalls and a big stage with performances.  Afterwards everybody watched/joined in a big parade.  The parade kept of starting and stopping though as they closed off intersections for floats and people to walk through.   Lots of pink and feathers.  Additionally, there was a nearby children's day event and families were standing by the side of the river watching the Queer Parade.

Saturday as on Friday ended up in Itaewon on Homo Hill.  It was pretty fun and busy.  After the Parade though we headed for a nap in our Itaewon Hostel.  Then it was on to Hongdae for the Drag King show.  This was kinda disappointing but the DJ there was pretty good (and Erica hooked up).  Played a really cool version of BYOB and the obligatory Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger but mixed with KPOP.  Late night on the Hill.


Sunday we were up really early, had to hunt down a place for breakfast - went to CopyCats again, the service was terrible as usual.  The bf paid for us to go to Healing Hands to get a couple massage.  Even had our feet covered in hot wax.  There was an amusing bit halfway in where the lady massaging me wanted me to sit up, so tried pulling my arm.  I, however, thought she was stretching my arm and just lay there until she nearly fell over!  Next weekend, Dans 다대포 beach party!