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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Park Joo-min: Removing LGBTQ References Means the Education Ministry Has Chosen Not to Protect Students

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Lawmakers and civil society groups criticized the Education Ministry after it removed LGBTQ-related content from a nationwide guidebook on responding to hate and discriminatory language in schools.
  • Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min said the deletion amounted to a declaration that the ministry would not protect LGBTQ students, citing survey findings about students hearing hateful language from teachers and peers.
  • The guidebook followed a controversy over students mocking the May 18 Democratization Movement, and 132 rights and civic groups demanded that the deleted content be restored.

The Education Ministry removed references to sexual orientation and gender identity from a guidebook designed to help schools respond to hate and discriminatory language. The decision has drawn criticism from lawmakers and human rights groups.

Education that allows hate is no longer education.

— Park Joo-minThe Democratic Party lawmaker criticized the Education Ministry’s removal of LGBTQ-related content.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min called the deletion irresponsible. “Education that allows hate is no longer education,” he wrote on Facebook, expressing regret over the ministry’s decision. Park said six of the seven experts who reviewed the guidebook objected and withdrew their names from the review committee, but the decision remained unchanged.

Park argued that the guidebook had been created to protect children from hatred. “Removing these children from the document is no different from declaring that they will not be protected,” he said. He cited a survey by the youth LGBTQ support center Ttangdong, in which 76 of 158 young respondents said they had heard hateful language from teachers and 151 said they had heard it from peers. One student reportedly heard in a moral education class that gay and transgender people should not come outside, while 129 respondents said they endured such remarks without speaking.

Removing these children from the document is no different from declaring that they will not be protected.

— Park Joo-minHe argued that deleting the references undermined the guidebook’s purpose.

Progressive Party lawmaker Son Sol also criticized the ministry, saying responses to discrimination and hatred could not be selective. She called the ministry’s explanation that complaints from people opposed to LGBTQ rights had prompted the deletion especially troubling, and argued that a comprehensive anti-discrimination law was needed for government agencies to respond consistently.

We are not asking for much. Please just respect us.

— LGBTQ student, quoted by Park Joo-minPark used the student’s words to describe what LGBTQ youths wanted from adults.

The ministry developed the nationwide guidebook after an incident involving students at Baejae High School mocking the May 18 Democratization Movement. It revised a draft from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, removing all references to LGBTQ concepts. On Sept. 1, 132 rights and civic groups, including the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and Ttangdong, held a news conference at Gwanghwamun Square and demanded the content’s restoration.

Responses to discrimination and hatred cannot be selective.

— Son SolThe Progressive Party lawmaker criticized the omission of LGBTQ-related material.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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