Marriage Equality in South Korea

¶ … Supreme Court of United States recently ruled that any state-level laws that ban same-sax marriage violate the rights of citizens under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. As a global leader and trendsetter regarding social and cultural norms as well as public policy, The United States may have taken a great step towards global rights and freedoms. The American ruling obviously helps minimize discrimination domestically, but also has the potential to inspire other countries to examine their own laws related to marriage equality. Because of widespread discrimination against same-sex couples and indeed against all non-traditional social contracts, it becomes important that democratic societies entrench anti-discrimination clauses into their laws.

However, outmoded norms related to gender and sexuality continue to permeate the consciousness and culture of traditional societies. Even societies that are advanced in terms of economic and political development may continue to reveal overt and covert elements of homophobia and outright discrimination. The societies of East Asia, for example, tend to emphasize heteronormativity as a cultural trait. Korea, the focus of this research, is a traditional society with advanced economic and political institutions, but which does not yet recognize the efficacy of same-sex marriage or marriage equality. Unlike the United States, which emphasizes progress as well as plurality, Korea is a society that stresses conservatism and collectivism. The society and its institutions, from marriage to education and the economy, remain staunchly patriarchal to a greater degree than which is evident in the United States.

There is some reason to believe that exposure to Western cultures and values are causing deep changes in Korean society. Many young Koreans study abroad in the United States and Canada, bringing back with them to Korea the desire and impetus to create social change through the promotion of social justice and civil rights. Same-sex marriage is one of the main areas in which young Koreans may be especially interested, whereas their older counterparts likely continue to cling to old norms related to patriarchal marriages. Furthermore, Korean society exhibits a blend between Confucian ideals for social structure and conservative Christian values. The combination of Confucianism and Christianity leads to Korea being one of the modern and wealthy countries slowest to embrace the idea of marriage equality.

In this research, it is hypothesized that opinions of older Koreans (40 years of age and up) will differ from those of younger Koreans (cohorts between 30 and 40 years, and between 20 and 30 years of age. Specifically, it is hypothesized that explicit support for marriage equality is more prevalent among Koreans from the youngest age cohort than any other, and that explicit prejudice against same-sex marriage will be most prevalent among the oldest age cohorts. The methods used in this research include a review of literature, a review of Korean cultural elements, and a set of structured interviews with individuals from each of the aforementioned age cohorts.

Review of Literature

The recent literature and surveys show that Korean society may already be shifting regarding attitudes towards same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general. Yoon found that 39% of South Koreans believed that homosexuality "should be accepted by society," up from just 18% six years ago (1). Still, 39% is "a far lower number than in most developed nations," (Yoon 1). Another survey shows that as many as 57% of all Koreans find homosexuality "unacceptable," (Novak). Wee found that the attitudes toward same-sex marriage in Korea differ depending on gender, with "nearly 70% of female respondents" accepting marriage equality compared with just over 50% for males (1).

Although homosexuality is not technically illegal in Korean society, there are also no laws that protect gays and lesbians from workplace and other types of discrimination. Moreover, marriage equality and homosexuality in general are not widely accepted and in most cases, members of the LGBTQ community are actually shunned and can be scorned without repercussion due to the entrenchment of anti-gay social norms. In other words, there is far more stigma against being gay than for persecuting gays. For example, the first high-profile celebrity to come out of the closet in Korea, actor Hong Seok-chun, "lost all his TV, film, and radio contracts," (Borowiec 1). These types of stories have become relatively common because as an increasing number of Koreans push for social justice, their cases of workplace discrimination or social isolation are being reported in the media. Instances of workplace discrimination are relatively common in Korea, with fears of losing job or being isolated from friends and family cited as the primary reasons why many Koreans choose to remain in the closet. Novak profiles a gay couple which although married in the United States have not yet told their friends and family back in Korea. Another said, "I went into the closet again because of work. Because my superiors are all (in their) 40s and 50s and they don't really know what gay is, and I was afraid I might lose my job," (cited by Novak 1). The organizer of the Korea Queer Culture Festival in South Korea points out the particular problems with coming out in Korea: "The worst thing is the rejection and isolation from belonging to a group, such as family, workplace, neighborhood, society and the country," in a country that so strongly stresses the importance of social cohesion (Novak 1).

Support for same-sex marriage is growing in South Korea, but slowly. The reasons for the United States Supreme Court decision related to same-sex marriage is linked to the right to privacy and the right to equal protection under the law. In Korea, a similar set of values underlies the progressive push towards marriage equality even if those values are less vocally expressed. The majority (67.5%) of Koreans surveyed believed that marriage should be about "personal choice," but with only12% believing that marriage equality is necessary to promote human rights and only 13.6% of Koreans believed that sexual orientation is "determined by nature," (Wee 1). About a third of Koreans claimed that they would "treat the same as before" relatives who came out as gay, whereas the majority of men struggled with this notion (Wee 1). Wee also points out that one of the reasons why "men were less supportive of marriage equality" could be related to the fact that "only 12.8% of male respondents said that they had met an openly gay person, compared to 48.3% of women" (1).

Methods: Participants

Participants will include both men and women working for a large multi-national corporation based in South Korea. Participants will be selected at random within three different age cohorts: 20-30; 30-40; and 40 and older. After sending out requests to participate in the research, which was billed as being for an anthropology course, a total of 15 people agreed to participate. Of those 15, 4 were aged 40 and older (2F, 2M); 5 were between 30 and 40 (3F, 2M); and 6 were between ages 20 and 30 (2F, 4M). Privacy and anonymity were assured via a signed informed consent form. Participants were asked to provide additional demographic information including information related to educational level and religion but these were not considered core research variables.

Methods: Interview

The interviews were conducted digitally via email, and this method was chosen for several reasons. First, a digital interview allows the participant greater leeway in terms of time. Allowing the participants to choose their own time to answer the questions ensured maximum number of participants because of fewer barriers to completing the questions. The participants would be able to spend more time on some questions than others, or to structure the interview over the course of several days rather than to sit with an interviewer in one session. Second, email interviews were less intimidating than in-person interviews, and encouraged the participants to remain anonymous while also giving a good degree of thought to each question. The disadvantages of using the email method of interviewing include lack of access to the nuances of body language. However, the email interviews do make it possible for the interviewer to present follow-up questions.

The interview questions were developed based on the review of literature and the issues that South Koreans seem most concerned about related to same-sex marriage including religious and traditional values and beliefs and fears about discrimination. All questions were designed to be as open-ended as possible, and participants were encouraged to take their time and answer thoughtfully. No compensation was offered for participation.

The interview included the following core questions.

1? What is the status of same-sex marriage recognition in South Korea? In other words, to what degree you suppose your peers hold either positive or negative opinion toward same-sex relationships? Do you believe that people of your generation support legalized same-sex marriage equality? Please explain.

2? It is widely known that the majority of South Koreans are against same-sex marriage, unlike trends in other developed countries. Views are changing, but slowly. Do you believe that it would be possible for peoples' opinions to change, if the issue is framed in terms of legal rights and social justice?

3? Do you believe that there are differences in opinion between older and younger generations toward same-sex marriage, and if so, what trends can you predict? Are your predictions based on your personal experiences?

4? Do you think the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ensures the rights of gays and lesbians to marry will significantly influence both the public opinion and legal procedures in South Korea? Why?

5? Personally, what attitude do you hold to the same-sex marriage? Why? Towards homosexuality in general? Why?

6? Have you witnessed discrimination toward gays and lesbians in Korea? Do you know someone who has experienced discrimination? Please give few examples.

7? Do you know someone who is gay or lesbian but who remains "in the closet" due to fears about discrimination? Please explain.

Results

Because South Korean society preserves traditional Confucian moral standards in their culture and daily life, and have more recently begun to fuse Confucianism with conservative Christianity, same-sex marriage is generally viewed as being subversive and therefore deviant. It has been hypothesized that interview subjects from Korea will differ in their attitudes towards marriage equality depending on their age cohort. Specifically, it was predicted that younger generations would be more supportive overall of same-sex marriage. Part of the reasoning behind this hypothesis was that South Korean culture is becoming globalized and under the influence of American culture more and more. Especially as Korean students travel to the United States, Canada, or Western Europe, they are exposed to the norms of those societies. At the same time, a large number of young South Koreans identify as being Christian. The question of whether Christianity mitigates attitudes toward same-sex marriage is one that would be ideal to explore in future research.

Responses to the interview questions did support the hypothesis that the older generations would reveal less support for same-sex marriage (Question 5). Of the fifteen participants, 9 supported marriage equality and of those 9, only 2 were from the oldest age cohort and only 2 more were from the middle age cohort. Regarding Question 1, the older participants almost universally believed that same-sex marriage was unlikely to receive widespread support any time soon in South Korea. On the other hand, all but one (a total of 5) participants from the youngest age cohort believed that marriage equality would be immanent in Korea and 3 of the 5 from the middle age group 20-30 thought that the status quo would change in the near future. Question 3 also related to age, and all of the participants agreed that age had a strong bearing on values and attitudes toward homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

When answering Question 2 related to framing the issue as a matter of civil rights, the majority (10 out of 15) participants did believe that it would help change the minds of Koreans to do so, but the five that claimed this was not an issue mentioned the importance of religion and Christianity in their responses, as well as the term "tradition." Question 4 about the impact of the American Supreme Court ruling shows that there are mixed views toward how relevant the United States is on Korean society. About half (8 out of 15) of the participants believed that the Supreme Court ruling would impact laws in Korean society, and those attitudes were about evenly distributed across the age spectrum.