Supporters of sexual minorities hold event in Seoul

Scores of activists for the rights of sexual minorities plan to go ahead with an annual festival here later Tuesday, organizers said, amid fierce outcry from South Korea's Christian groups.



The organizers had invited more than 500 sexual minorities from across the country to the opening ceremony of the Korea Queer Festival 2015, but they decided to admit 50 staff members only in a bid to prevent the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.



The virus has killed seven and infected nearly a hundred in South Korea. The rest have been urged to watch the opening show live from the video-sharing website YouTube.



"Our festival is where sexual minorities in South Korea get to communicate with and instill morale in each another," Kang Myeong-jin, who is gay and head of the organizing committee, said. "It's where we exhibit positive energy despite all the stigma we've faced."



Kang's comments illustrated challenges facing people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in a country where the Confucian tradition is deeply ingrained.



In 2013, two South Korean male filmmakers tied the knot, marking the first public wedding in the country for a gay couple. Still, the two have been seeking to get legal status as South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriages.



In South Korea, homosexuality is criminalized only among soldiers, not civilians.



Christian groups have been staging rallies at Seoul Plaza, the intended venue of the festival, as this year marks the first time the event takes place so close to the heart of the city. Previous festivals had all taken place in Shinchon, a college neighborhood in western Seoul.



"This festival has promoted indecent exposure and promiscuity in public for years," Kim Kwang-gyu, head of a coalition of Christian parents, said. "We sincerely hope it stops taking place in South Korea."



Police have also banned LGBT activists from parading around Seoul on June 28, the final day of the festival, much to the organizers' chagrin.



The Korea Queer Festival 2015 consists of four special events scattered throughout the next two weeks, a three-day film screening and culminates in a gay pride parade starting at Seoul Plaza.



South Korea, roughly a third of whose population is Christian, remains relatively closed off to sexual minorities.



In a Pew Research Center survey published in 2013, 39 percent of South Koreans said the society should accept LGBTs, compared with 59 percent of nay-sayers. (Yonhap)