As pride month approaches, LGBTQ rights have been exceptionally focused on the past decade. Many nations have finally legalized gay marriage and allowed the change in gender on legal documents accordingly to what each individual prefers. Albeit the rise in acceptance for LGBTQ rights, some nations still made minimal changes and applied rights that protect the members of this community.
South Korea, an example of one of these passive/anti-LGBTQ countries discriminated against these individuals on both a legal and social spectrum. Although gay courtship is not “acknowledged”, gay marriage is yet to be legal: legally, men cannot marry men, women cannot marry women. A transgender individual would not be able to change their gender. Even Tokyo has acknowledged gay marriage, yet Korea still does not acknowledge these couples.
The Netherlands, the first nation to fully legalize gay marriage, is still open to a lot of LGBTQ couples. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to create the possibility for two men or two women to marry. Since the legalization, over 15,000 homosexual couples have married. Today, same-sex marriage is legal in nine other countries besides the Netherlands.
As pride month approaches, many legislations are constantly being made to this day. Moreover, it is crucial that we realize the problems that exist within our society. Gay marriage around the world, with different opinions on certain opinions, is one of the subjects that should be more open for discussion and consideration.
By. Kaiden Shin
Works Cited
“Same Sex Marriage”, Government of The Netherlands, https://www.government.nl/topics/marriage-cohabitation-agreement-registered-partnership/marriage-registered-partnership-and-cohabitation-agreements/same-sex-marriage ( Accessed May 30th, 2022)
Choo, Sungsub. “Queer South Koreans Hope for an Anti-Discrimination Law to End Decades of Discrimination”, TIME, TIME, September 13th, 2022, https://time.com/6094503/south-korea-lgbtq-discrimination/ ( Accessed May 31st, 2022 )
Thoreson, Ryan. “South Korean Court Declines to Recognize Same-Sex Partners”, HRW, Human rights watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/10/south-korean-court-declines-recognize-same-sex-partners ( Accessed May 31st, 2022 )