[KS] homosexuality in South Korea & Lou Harrison

[Kevin P. Parks Adv97]

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Lou Harrison who is (and has been almost right from the get go) and
openly gay
american composer who visisted Korea twice in the early 1960s. I have
often
heard that he liked to tour the gay underground every where he went and
would
give others "the tour" in the SF bay area when they visisted. It would
be
interesting to know what kind of gay world he discovered in Seoul then
and if he
met with any problems because of his orientation. Of course, even back
then he
was a pretty well-known and respected composer/musician so probably
nothing was
done to insult him, however... If i speak to him again i will be sure to
ask.


Meanwhile i happened to be called "oppa" once by some boys in the train
station
and was surprised at how brash they were considering how massive the
homopobia
is here.  The folks i was with asked if i thought it was "creepy" and
when i
said that while i wasn't gay i was flattered that they found me
appealing enough
to heckle they looked at me funny. I told then that i had a lot of gay
and
lesbian friends back home and oddly, they launched into the "there is no
gay" in
Korea speech, dispite the previous encounter. Da Nile ain't just a river
in
Egypt!


-kp--


Seoul Institute of the Arts

kevin at raven.dartmouth.edu