We are stronger when we are connected: Queer counterpublics and the Korean Queer Culture Festival

This paper examines the emergence of queer counterpublics in South Korea through a case study on the opening ceremony of the Korean Queer Culture Festival (KQCF) in 2015. Due to an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the organizers live-streamed the event via YouTube instead of inviting the participants to the Seoul City Plaza, where they set up the stage. During the opening ceremony, social media platforms momentarily became alternative spaces for queers to interact with each other on a real-time basis. In analyzing a series of concerted actions, such as lining up in front of a police station for a permit, setting up a stage, writing a statement, shooting a video for broadcast, watching the event on YouTube, posting messages and pictures on social media, and exchanging messages with friends, I discuss how queer counterpublics emerge, contesting the heteronormative and heteropatriarchal public sphere in South Korea.