South Korea: 70% of young gay men not out to their parents

Nov 13 2014
Written by Aaron Day

A study has found that as many as seven out of 10 gay Koreans hide their sexual orientations from their parents.

Seoul National University human ecology major Jo Nam-seok surveyed 103 gay men in their 20s.

The findings, presented on Tuesday, reported that 68.9% had not come out to their parents.

Additionally, only 1% of respondents said their father knew they were gay, compared with 19.4% who had come out to their mother.

Of those who had come out, 75% said they told their parents while 25% said their parents had learned from others.

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.

Efforts to include protection of sexual orientation in the Anti-Discrimination Act are opposed by religious groups and have been thus far unsuccessful.

Last month, Seoul mayor Park Won-soon was quoted as saying he hoped Korea would be the first Asian nation to allow equal marriage, although later claimed his statement was mistranslated.