Campus Wallpapers against Moon’s discriminatory remarks. Provided by the West Gate Facebook page.

By Lee Arim (alimlee96@korea.ac.kr)

The discriminatory remarks of a presidential candidate Moon Jae-in against homosexuality on April 25 provoked a fierce backlash around the student community of Korea University (KU). Numerous Campus wallpapers (daejabos) have been posted on the West Gate, and several posts have been uploaded on Facebook KU Bamboo page, to speak out for the rights of sexual minorities.

The controversy was sparked at the presidential debate hosted by Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Corporation (JTBC) on April 25, when another presidential candidate, Hong Jun-pyo, asked Moon’s opinion regarding homosexuality in the military. Moon revealed that he opposes legalization of homosexuality and dislikes homosexuality.

In response to this, many anonymous students, including some homosexual students, expressed discomfort and anger through the campus wallpapers. One of them, titled “I am not a person,” mentioned that the very existence of homosexuals has been denied while people held a pro=con debate on their existence, and they came to be erroneous beings when they simply desired to love another person of the same sex. Small Liberty, the Social Science Society of College of Liberal Arts, also posted a campus wallpaper asking for the apologies from presidential candidates, who have remained silent to the discriminations against sexual minorities.

In addition to the students’ writings, one of the campus wallpapers included a mid-term exam question from a course called Gender and Society. The question was, “A presidential candidate stated that he is ‘against homosexuality and same sex marriage, but also against discrimination toward them.’ In what sense is this contradictory?” The publisher attached the statements of another presidential candidate who claimed, “I believe homosexuality is not a matter of for or against. Anti-Discrimination Act has been claimed since the Roh Moo-hyun administration, and it is very unfortunate that presidential candidates have undermined it.”

출처 : 고려대학교 고파스 2024-04-28 14:29:01: