The cry of Yook Woo-Dang, Catholic poet and Korean gay activist
Article by Melissa Feito* published on the website of the Catholic LGBT association New Ways Ministry (United States) on 27 May 2020, freely translated by Giacomo Tessaro
April 26, 2020 was the seventeenth anniversary of the death of South Korean gay activist Yook Woo-Dang, who committed suicide in protest against discrimination against LGBTQ people: he was 18 years old. Yook Woo-Dang was a fervent Catholic and is known for his poems about marginalization.
Born on August 7, 1984 with the name Yun Hyon-seok, he later chose the pseudonym Yook Woo-Dang, which means a person who only has six friends. Born into a Catholic family, he received the baptismal name of Antonio. About 11% of South Koreans are Catholic, a high percentage compared to neighboring countries.
His faith grew more and more, and his awareness of his sexual orientation also grew. He had to endure bullying from his classmates and rejection from his family, and seemed to find solace in faith and poetic creation. Witness this example:
Sodom and Gomorrah
a story that scares us
the shepherds, who carry that prestigious cross
they lead us to the edge of the abyss
we try hard not to fall
if we fall
Jesus will save us
because he showed love to prostitutes and the disabled
and he will show us his love too
warm like a soft cotton blanket
Yook Woo-Dang prayed like this: “Let there come a world where homosexuals are not looked down upon”. In 1999, four years before his death, he joined the activist group Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights in Korea (also known as DongInRyun).
In South Korea, as in many other countries, there was tension between LGBTQ groups and fundamentalist Christian churches. In 2003, the Korean National Commission for the Protection of Human Rights called for homosexuality to cease to be considered a “sexual perversion”, but the proposal was rejected by fundamentalist organizations. On that occasion, Yook Woo-Dang stated that LGBTQ people are sons and daughters of God, and that love, any form of love, is not a sin. While the controversy showed no signs of abating, Yook Woo-Dang felt increasingly disillusioned, but was still convinced of “not being able to live outside of Catholicism”.
Yook Woo-Dang died by suicide on April 26, 2003, leaving behind a stack of poems and a note: “If they send me to hell, Jesus will help me. How cruel and unbiblical it is to discriminate against sexual minorities. After I die I want to go to heaven, where I will be able to proudly say that I am gay, and I will no longer need to suffer or hide.".
His poems were published posthumously with the title My spirit will flow down like flower petals. His death shocked the nation and sparked many discussions about the suffering of LGBT youth.
On the tenth anniversary of his death Theodore Jennings, professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary, commented on his legacy: “On behalf of the LGBTQ Center of this university, I greet all my friends of DongInRyun on the tenth anniversary of the death of one of its precious members, Yook Woo-Dang. […] When we shake hands and unite our voices in defense of the rights of LGBT people we do not do so simply to change this or that law in favor of this or that group: it is a question of life and death. […] This is why today we unite our voices and our hearts: for those who have fallen, for all those who are silenced, for all the desperate. This love makes us strong, and we will not stop fighting until everyone is welcomed, all lives are precious, everyone lives in dignity.".
Yook Woo-Dang is but one of many LGBTQ youth who died too young and too soon.
* Melissa Feito is an audio producer and writer living in Florida, where she is studying journalism and communications. He previously lived in Washington, where he worked for Interfaith Voices, a popular radio program about religion. From churches to migrant assistance on the southern border, to the rise of neo-pagan communities, to the ways religious traditions are kept alive through food, Melissa has spoken on a wealth of topics and remains interested in how faiths , every form of faith, influences almost every aspect of our world. She graduated from Tufts University, where she is reported as leader of Catholic student ministry, and as a member of the Interfaith Student Council.
Original text: Yook Woo-Dang, Korean Gay Catholic Poet, Remembered on Anniversary of Suicide
