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www.groovekorea.com / January 2014 86 Edited by Elaine Ramirez (elaine@groovekorea.com) COMMUNITY For the repressed, a new reFu Ge Safe Space opens arms to queer Korean teens A ccording to a 2012 survey of students in Seoul who identify as sexual minorities, more than half of LGBTQ teens (54 percent) say they have experienced bullying at school. Not in- cidentally, 76.6 percent of those surveyed have contemplated suicide, while 58.5 percent claim to have actually attempted it. This data, which was compiled by a national research institute and Seoul-based think tank, sheds light on the issue of teen suicide in relation to the pressures of identifying as LGBTQ in Korean society. Many teen suicides in Korea are somehow connected to either bullying or family problems; two issues that have a significant impact on one’s sense of self-worth. When only 28.8 percent of the country’s youth are willing to befriend sexual minorities and only 15.1 percent of parents would accept their queer children, it’s safe to assume that youths who identify as either sexual mi- norities or gender queer have experienced their fair share of both issues. As an openly gay pastor who ministers to many queer people at an affirming church (a church that fully embraces LGBTQ mem- bers) in Seoul, I have heard many queer Korean y ouths discuss their experiences with bullying. Though each person’s story is unique, nearly all make reference to the excruciating pain caused when friends and family reject them because of their gender iden- tity or sexual orientation. I once ministered at 3 a.m. to a Korean teen who had slit his wrists because of the hatred he experienced at church as a result of being gay. The pain and suffering these youths experience is real — and entirely unnecessary. Many queer Koreans feel that it is impossible to come out to their friends or family for fear of the rejection they will almost certainly endure. In a country rooted in Confucian ideas of familial organization and influenced by fundamentalist, Western-import- ed Christianity, who can blame them? Nearly all the youths I’ve spoken to prefer to stay in the closet, safe and sound, though the darkness and pressures of that closet are sometimes just as dangerous as what lingers outside. I asked a gay Korean teenager in my congregation the follow- ing three questions, and these were his answers. He has re- mained anonymous at his own request. Interview by Rev. Daniel Payne / Illustration by Sacha Treager