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www.groovekorea.com / June 2014 4 T en years ago, when I was in the process of coming out, I grilled my friends about Pride. I stated that if being queer meant I had to wear a rainbow, drink watered-down beer and march in a parade, then I’d just rather be straight. I had this misconception that being queer meant being someone totally opposite of who I am. I thought that coming out meant I had to do A-B-C. I felt this invisible, overwhelming pres- sure to conform to some kind of stereotype of what it meant to be out. It took me a while to grasp that Pride is not about having to do things that are opposite to my personality. It is the very opposite; it’s about having the courage to be yourself. It is rooted in a very real struggle and fight for equality and represents freedom from shame. Coming out is not limited to having to make a statement to family or friends. It is different for everyone and for me, quite simply, it has been about living without being ashamed of who I am. The first Pride parade, held on June 28, 1970, to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York, was an act of “outright resistance” that has since become a weekend celebrated worldwide as a day of being “out and proud.” In the past 45 years, the U.S. and many other countries have seen great changes to- ward LGBTQ equality. It took decades of struggle and resistance for these countries to just decriminalize same-sex relationships, much less allow same-sex marriage. In fact, it was not until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association first declassified homo- sexuality as a mental disorder and it took another 17 years for the World Health Organization to declassify it in 1990. All of these recent and rapid changes for the LGB TQ commu- nities in the West are based and rooted in decades, even centu- ries, of people fighting against discrimination. So when looking at the queer Korean community, it might be easy for an outsider to make blanket statements about how they should go about bring- ing about change in their society or how to approach being out. However, it is important to remember just how far the queer Korean community has come in the past few years. Up until 2011, very few, if any, events for the LGBTQ/allied communities were held regularly, and now they are being organized on a consist- ent basis. An increasing number of Koreans are not only openly out at these events, but are also spearheading and organizing them. Things are shifting from Westerners being the face of these events to Korean citizens determining what these events look like. Something even as seemingly small as that should be celebrat- ed as a huge step for the queer Korean community toward chang- ing how Korean society perceives and treats them and, perhaps more importantly, how queer Koreans view themselves. On June 7, the festivities for the 15th annual Seoul Queer Cul- ture Festival will commence under the theme of “Love Conquers Hate.” For a Korean citizen to attend Seoul Pride is as much of an act of outright resistance as it was 44 years ago at the first Pride parade at Stonewall. It is an act of courage that should be applauded. Whether or not the community here has yet to fully out itself to family and friends should not be the main point. I believe, instead, we as a community of queers and allies should examine how we can more effectively support our fellow queer and trans- gender Korean brothers and sisters in their march toward equality. Food Easy cheesy It’s common knowledge to those with foreign palates that good cheese is hard to come by in Korea. While many expats pine for the supermarkets and specialty stores back home where cheese was plentiful and crackers always had the luxury of being adorned with a tasty accoutrement, we have sadly grown accustomed to our current cheese-less lifestyle. Gone are the days where we could frolic amongst the Brie, Parmesan or Gouda as freely as we pleased. In these dark times, many of us have given up hope. But one expat, particularly outraged and utterly disheartened by this non- sense, has decided to take matters into his own hands. Doug Huffer is an American living in the countryside in Gyeongju, and he has his very own goat cheese farm. Story by Shireen Tofg Read it online in June or in print in July Music & Arts Puchon International Fantastic Film Fest gives marginalized genres the spotlight Film fests and foreigners on the peninsula (okay, my friends and I) have a tenuous relationship. One attempt at the Jeonju International Film Festival resulted in spending the better part of a long weekend sitting in DVD- bangs due to every ticket being gobbled up far in advance via foreigner-in- accessible websites. That could actually be considered a rousing success compared to a Busan International Film Festival trip in 2009 when we arrived to the southern beach city to not only find all showings sold out, but proved incapable of even finding a hotel room, leaving us drunk and lying on the beach, cursing the gods for our plight. But for the last two weeks of July, the city of Bucheon, not far west of Seoul, transforms into what is arguably the most dynamic and creative film event in the country. More importantly, it’s totally accessible to foreigners. Story by Ian Henderson Read it online in June or in print in July Hot on: www.groovEkorEa.com To comment, email editor@groovekorea.com EDITORIAL PrIdE and ProgrEss By Kim Thompson, Meet Market cofounder EditoriAl Freedom from shame and discrimination is the frst step toward LGBTQ equality The Meet Market will serve as an unoffcial after-party for Seoul Pride on June 7 at Club Myoung Wol Gwan in Hongdae. -Ed.