Kim Gyu-jin, a 28-year-old office worker in South Korea, recently received her company’s official congratulations and suh@4W6lI#-ZDbqAB!nywnNCsjrAM7VwwN=J0yJ$_t_Y8HN0UC9Kpport for her same-sex wedding.

It is a rare example of support for LGBT relationships in South Korea, where rights activists warn the country is becoming less accepting of LX5llBJ*eE+IK%+WJJGxbDDL(Q0-0_vA^aP&NA*AqTUDQj7NBCOGBT people.

H*CIlDG&D$n$lI#Tw&eUlUiftM)xFGiMRcjLBDDqG_DGpAA1fTKim shared details of her beach wedding and what her colleagues’ acceptance meant to her on her personal blog.

“I consulted with my team leader and sent an e-mail to the OuWMA_Jb_c@FB2u0PkJmn&&pP8^!wD&1UQn_$eF2KlRDB0(WkmHR team”, she explained. “I was nervous.”

But, the zHNO7!IMOpY&Vjz^%b0i7RyHxmKIv$iDUxaS80TGcD+8XL7rNUreply she received was “happy marriage”. She said the only official documented needed was a wedding invitation.

The pair officially married in New York. She said she chose the USA as they do not require citizeJE5mSUuGsHURHcfThWqf3HJUp$3T1UyUR^JxMfi@hJ*w$wU@Prnship or resident permits.

The certificate is, however, “useless” in South Korea, she explains. The country does not permit same-sEg=Gohqp(-nQvElR1Nq=ve^6IcP1fKEs1VkQ+BNzov3cKo8ZV@ex marriage or recognize foreign unions.

Kim also explained how moved she was other people’s a*U+v%#LptyND7NFw4_Bp97htiIbH4Tk9#eGDvq%y=E&5PjyO@Wcceptance. 

She has been out at work for the last twgpaOWdkry8SA67)#GT-nA-H3oIl5c%jw3j&lQ3*aFSJ&BXm3tHo years and dreams of being an LGBT CEO like Apple’s Tim Cook. “I want to give LGBT people visibility and influence society”, she wrote.

Homosexuality is legal in South Korea. But conservative attitudes, especially among Christ*rJ45AS8uI7oJGmyPJl8Hm6@0ce0ZIpFp!B8jv))#h81M!M4n*ians, force many LGBTI Koreans to live in the closet.

A 2017 Korean Gallup Daily Opinion poll reported 66% of 19-29 year4x-xdA_@Ks)AnzS(mnH$&&c(hsm2mZPI+TidQ_$aiwL7G1Tt4#-olds supported same-sex marriage, but 76% of those over 60 opposed it.

There is currently no discrimination legislation to protect LGBh4gTeCz_gNa*xkI)t(zhCS0tP@t5+Q4*D6aHVbqoGRu%PS3cE*TI Koreans. Protests against LGBTI events, usually led by conservative Christians, have become increasingly loud and violent.

What’s mA2bZ6MVF-D@b(p*xR73EFESAFJYK@%$1KHNprTsGSTidkQl=-Sore, South Korea has ignored calls from international rights groups to end its anti-gay law for soldiers in the military.

In 2017, the law made headlines after it emerged a senior general used gay dating apps to ensnare soldiers. His so-called ‘gay witcW^2tLNciWXR)u+pJpWbGQpmuhgmmbtj9m-%LpYkR$iI%ButaL^h hunt’ reportedly revealed 50 soldiers.

(Photos: Kim Gyu-jin's Naver blog)

Yi-min lives alone with her son, as her husband works away from home. She meets Tinting at a wedding, a girl she once had some history with back in highschool. Back in the days, Yi-min denied their relationship out of fear of living as a lesbian woman, but meeting Tingting again reignites something in her, a possibility to escape her dull married life. Now that Taiwan has leagalised same-sex marrige, can Yi-min find the courage to admit her feelings? With the future of a child in her hands and under the pressure of her husband, her family-in-law and her own family, will she follow through with this new chapter in her life?