(10 May 2012) 1. Wide of restaurant
2. Various of Hong Suk-chon, South Korea’s first openly gay actor and owner of restaurant, talking to customers
3. Mid of Hong being interviewed
4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Hong Suk-chon, South Korea’s first openly gay actor:
“Obama’s support for gay marriage is such a hopeful light for people like us. I am sure that he was aware of this fact. When a good leader comes along in South Korea who accepts the diversity and who has a warm interest to those who are different, maybe we can hear those similar words as well in the future.”
5. Various of Hong working in his restaurant
6. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Hong Suk-chon, South Korea’s first openly gay actor:
“There are lots of people who think gay people are weird, are taboo or even believe they are somewhat guilty. They are very scared to show interest or discuss it or even to approach gay people. We are not dangerous people. You can just look at us comfortably like family members, friends or co-workers. However, due to preconceived opinions, it is still very difficult to live as a gay in South Korea.”
7. Various of Hong talking in his restaurant
8. People walking on the street in Seoul
9. Close of screen on street, reading (Korean) “Obama supports legalisation of gay marriage, affecting public opinion ahead of the upcoming presidential election, public opinion splits”
10. People walking on the street
11. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Hun, 64-year-old businessman:
“South Korea is under the influence of Confucianism. It was just very recent that some South Korean celebrities have been talking about being gay. This does not go along with South Korean or Asian sentiment.”
12. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Yoon-sun, 23-year-old university student:
“People should be free to feel what they feel. They say people get married when they are in love, so if they like each other and this does not affect anybody around them, I think homosexual love is not something bad.”
13. Wide of people walking in the street
14. Wide of traffic
STORYLINE
Gay rights advocates across the world have cheered US President Barack Obama’s declaration of unequivocal support for gay marriage, an historic announcement that gave the polarising social issue a more prominent role in the 2012 race for the White House.
In South Korea, the county’s first openly gay actor Hong Suk-chon welcomed the president’s comments, saying his support for gay marriage was “a hopeful light for people like us”.
The 41-year-old actor and restaurant owner, whose revelation in 2000 caused a sensation in South Korea, said he hopes to see the same kind of approach to same-sex marriage from a future South Korean leader.
“When a good leader comes along in South Korea who accepts the diversity and who has a warm interest to those who are different, maybe we can hear those similar words as well in the future,” Hong said.
South Korea, is a deeply Confucian society with a strong Catholic church that in the past refused to acknowledge the existence of homosexuality, branding it as a Western malaise.
In recent years, however, South Korea has became more open to the issue.
“People should be free to feel what they feel. They say people get married when they are in love, so if they like each other and this does not affect anybody around them, I think homosexual love is not something bad,” Lee Yoon-sun, 23-year-old university student said.
South Korea does not outlaw homosexuality.
But the gay rights movement was nonexistent until the mid-1990s, when a few college students began coming out at campus and a small group of homosexuals began networking through Web sites.
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Post time: Jun-19-2017