Seoul Court grants Ugandan lesbian refugee status after family killed due to her sexuality

[palebluedot09.livejournal.com]

A 27-year-old Ugandan woman has become the first person to be granted refugee status in South Korea due to their sexuality.

The woman, who can not be named for legal reasons told a court that she feared for her life after her family members were killed by neighbours because she is a lesbian.

The Korean government initially rejected her application for refugee status. Yesterday, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in her favour stating that it was highly likely that she would face persecution if she was repatriated.

It is legal to be gay in South Korea. However, the country does not offer same-sex marriage or civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Gay couples can not adopt and there is no anti-discrimination legislation to help protect LGBT people.

Uganda has an appalling record on gay rights. Same-sex relationships are illegal and there have been frequent attempts to introduce the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’.

Source: Pink News

A little bit of good news after this and this.

Comments

[tryxkittie.livejournal.com]

God how horrifying. My heart goes out to this woman and RIP her family. Just...WHAT THE FUCK WORLD.

I wonder why she sought out the Korean government of all governments.

But yeah this makes the Stop Kony thing feel that much more disgusting when you realize that Invisible Children also had an Evangelizing mission that would have encouraged homophobic discrimination.

I hope she's okay, but I'm also scared because I know she'll be treated like shit as a black African there. But it's better than getting killed.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing, I hope she gets support to learn korean, assimilate etc.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there is a Ugandan community in South Korea

[myzarie.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a specific Ugandan community, but many people from Africa seek refuge in South Korea. There's an awesome documentary show on KBS called Screening Humanity, and one of the stories recently focused on a family who escaped from Congo to live in South Korea. It's really interesting to watch, the son they mainly focused on is pretty adorable :). Here's a clip (though I don't know if you understand Korean haha)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gafjP0Nwhk

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

Well I have 2 friends here from Uganda who are uni students. I'm sure there's more in this city, and probably a fair amount in Seoul.

[45s.livejournal.com]

Brutal truth but agreed. I've been reading many books on pre colonial perceptions of gender and sexuality and it's amazing but depressing to see how other cultures were far more um progressive before all this.

A lot of evangelicals had a part in making Uganda this way and it's so sad.

[bolingi-aii.livejournal.com]

so sad how colonization literally ripped Africa from the inside out.

[theharleyquinn.livejournal.com]

This. It's literally the most horrible thing to look at maps of Africa and see how European nations essentially hacked it up like a slice of pizza. Colonization is just an awful shadow on history.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

That poor woman, I cant imagine what she's going through. I hope she can get access to therapy, and that she gets support to live there

[xerophine.livejournal.com]

Oh, could you share what exactly she's doing? Is she a part of some organization or? It must be really hard to fight with such a law.

[yukahoo.livejournal.com]

My heart goes out to the woman and everyone else like her who face persecution and violence like that. I tried to follow the story but it got too convoluted from my distant perspective. I rarely hear about Uganda's efforts to make homosexuality a capital offense anymore. I feel so bad for having forgotten.

In any case, best of luck to her. I sincerely hope she can attain a semblance of normalcy after everything she's lost...

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

It's hearing things like this that cause me to check my western privilege. Knowing you could be killed for being who you are must be terrifying.

[jia-zhang.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting and strange that the place she picks to seek refuge status is an ironically very homophobic country, whereas she had other choices in Canada, the USA, France, the UK, Belgium, Holland, Australia, etc. that are more open minded, tolerant, and have anti-discriminatory policies.

[pentrue.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I thought too... What made her choose Korea? On the other hand, I'm glad they let her seek refuge there, but assimilation is going to be difficult :(

[45s.livejournal.com]

Tbh those countries you list are hard to get in as a refugee. Esp the US. The US turns down mexicans, guatemalan and haitians on the reg

I can understand going to s korea as many ppl from parts of africa continue their studies there or go there for work.

I know there is a growing kenyan diaspora in s korea and angolan community in parts of china. Russia too gets a lot of students and workers from Nigeria, Kenya and s africa

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

honestly, I feel like any country that won't kill her for her sexuality is less homophobic than the country she's escaping from.

And it's a tricky situation with homophobia in korea. the younger generation is much more accepting of it, and the much of disadvantage comes from dealing with the older generation or getting a high-level job in companies (whose executives are also fairly old). I don't think she's gonna have too much problem settling in because she's a lesbian.

[staaan.livejournal.com]

It is legal to be gay in South Korea

i get what they mean but it's kinda sad that this had to be elaborated in the first place

[lobotronic.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she's safe from being killed in her home country, and I'm happy that she was given refugee status here in Korea.......but Korea's treatment of African or African-american people AND its LGBT citizens is just appalling... this country is NOT in the best place for her. I wish she could have gone to Canada :/ she would have an easier time...but maybe she'll make it work!

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

I guess maybe it was easier for her to get refugee status in SK.

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

I just hope she doesn't go through more hardships given SK's history with homophobia and racism as well.
I really hope the best for her and RIP her family.

[aleash1989.livejournal.com]

It's good they granted her refuge status. All I can say for LGBT rights in Korea is even after all these decades, Confucian values are hard to change.

[falling-empress.livejournal.com]

Korea fucks up in so many ways, but thank god they at least offered this woman safety.

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she's safe and I hope she continues to be so.

RIP for her family :(