Amnesty International Korea and Eunchobi: It’s No Use Hating Same-Sex Couples in 2023 Campaign

Last January, Park Cho-hyun (27) to pearl My hands were shaking inside the bus. I was on my way to formally greet the parents of my same-sex girlfriend Kim Eun-ha (33) on Lunar New Year’s Day. It was also the first time Kim met her parents after coming out. While riding the bus to Mr. Kim’s home, Mr. Park could not hide his nervousness. Kim was sick of what she ate. Worries were in vain. Kim’s parents greeted them by setting a table with various seafood and meat. The Park couple filmed this process on YouTube, which they run.EUN and CHO Eunchobiuploaded to ‘. It’s the ‘first meeting of parents after coming out as a lesbian couple’. In the video, Mr. Park said. “Because they love me and welcome me, I just feel so relieved… This life is successful.” A subscriber who appears to be Park’s parents’ generation left a comment on the video. He wrote, “It’s a culture that people in their 50s and 60s are not familiar with, but times have changed a lot, so it seems that a new culture has arrived that everyone should accept.” The ‘Eunchobi’ couple who met with Amnesty at a studio in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 5th said, “That comment stayed in my heart for a long time.” Subtitles translated into about 25 languages ​​are attached to the videos of the ‘Eunchobi’ channel, which is subscribed by about 50,000 people. It is to be with those who support the Eunchobi couple from all over the world. On the Eunchobi channel, comments are posted in the languages ​​of each country, including the United States, Spain, Japan, and the Philippines. Mr. Park said, “I look at all the cheering comments by turning the translator on.” The Eunchobi channel is a place of sympathy and comfort for LGBTQ people. “There are a lot of subscribers in their late teens and early twenties. ‘Is it strange that I like same sex?’ Someone comments, and someone else says, ‘It’s okay. Me too,” said Mr. Kim. Some subscribers give and receive encouragement by sharing their experiences of coming out to their friends or parents. Mr. Kim said, “I feel proud when people comment on our videos and say, ‘I want to tell my parents someday’.” Mr. Park said, “It would not have been easy to reveal that I am an LGBT person and do YouTube, but I liked the content of thanking you for showing me the life of a queer person.” He said he wished more same-sex couples could meet confidently. Kim never forgets the moment he came out to his parents. He said at first he just said, “I have someone to marry.” When her mother said, “When will you bring a boyfriend,” Kim said that she came out as “a girlfriend, not a boyfriend.” A moment of silence passed. However, Kim’s mother soon asked, “How did you two meet?” and “Do you like each other?” It was the moment when Mr. Kim’s tension melted away. “(On the day we officially greeted each other), my mother told Chohyun, ‘Seeing her face puts my mind at ease, thank you for meeting her daughter.’” Recalling that time, Mr. Kim’s eyes moistened. The two are currently living with Park’s mother. Mr. Park said that people around him easily accepted coming out. He introduced an interesting coming out experience. “I had a girlfriend and a boyfriend who went together as a trio. When I came out to my friends, my boyfriend actually confessed that he was gay. I even made fun of the rest of my heterosexual girlfriends, saying, ‘You’re a minority here.’” They are a so-called ‘God-Saeng’ (a compound word of ‘God’ meaning God and ‘Saeng’ meaning life, a newly coined word meaning a life that is diligent and sets an example for others) couple. Kim runs a shopping mall, and Park, a former girl group member, currently runs a YouTube channel and gives composition and vocal lessons. Except for a few videos related to coming out, their videos are mainly daily vlogs, no different from other couples. Cooking mukbang, picnics at amusement parks, camping, online housewarming, self-interiors, etc. These videos are said to be watched a lot by heterosexuals as well as queer (sexual minorities). Comments such as “I can feel that you are living hard and I can feel that you will succeed as a businessman later”, “It reminds me of the early days with my boyfriend, and it motivates us to live hard too” are often posted.

Kim Eun-ha (33) and Park Cho-hyeon (27), who run the couple YouTube ‘EUN and CHO Eunchobi’. Provided by Amnesty International Korea

The two believe that as content dealing with same-sex couples increases in various media, people’s perception of sexual minorities is changing. Last year, the video streaming service (OTT) Wave started with 〈Merry Queer〉, a program featuring people who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual, and broadcasted LGBTQ reality show 〈A stranger’s love〉. There was a scene in which female performer ‘Jasmine’ showed her liking for another female performer ‘Baek Jang-mi’ in video 'Self Interior Moving Vlog', "(Same-sex couples) don't have a fence of social protection. Married people have benefits from the newlyweds system, but we can't get anything, so we have to work hard." Mr. Park also said, “Since we are a same-sex couple, I have a thought that I want to show a better life. That’s why I think I live harder.” Mr. Kim said to those who are still awkward about same-sex couples. “Come and see our daily life. It is no different.” Park added. “It’s no use hating you. Because there are more people who love us.” Reporter Lee Ju-bin yes@hani.co.kr