Youth Protection Law Targeting Homosexual Web Sites; Homosexuality is not Harmful
On January 4, 2004, the Youth Protection Committee announced a decision to remove homosexuality from the individual assessment list of harmful materials to youth. This list included materials describing bestiality, or other motivating socially unacceptable sexual activity including orgy, incest, homosexual love, masochism, sadism, and prostitution.
Source : Jinbo In Progress No. 10
On January 4, 2004, the Youth Protection Committee announced a decision to remove homosexuality from the individual assessment list of harmful materials to youth. This list included materials describing bestiality, or other motivating socially unacceptable sexual activity including orgy, incest, homosexual love, masochism, sadism, and prostitution.
As the law presently exists, any website specified as containing harmful content to minors is required to set up the internet rating tags using PICS(Platform for Internet Content Selection). This provides for a blocking software to automatically block the web site. In this way, many homosexual websites have previously been blocked from PC rooms, libraries and schools.
In response to this announcement, Free Exzone Alliance (www.free-exzone.or.kr) held a press conference February 23, 2004, urging the removal of homosexuality sections from the Youth Protection enforcement regulation. February 23rd was also the closing date of the Youth Protection Committee for receiving organizations!/ and the public!/s opinions on amendments to the enforcement regulation. Free Exzone Alliance has expressed a positive attitude towards this decision stating the implications have important meaning to society as a whole. Furthermore, this decision is the first step to both review and awaken continuing discrimination and violation of human rights imposed on homosexuals, including youth.
The Alliance also emphasized it would be closely observing how this decision would influence the Information and Communication Ethics Committee, Korean Publication Ethics Commission, and the Korea Media Rating Board, all of which have been assessing various media under the Youth Protection Law. In April 2004, the National Human Rights Commission had already recommended the commission on Youth Protection to exclude the homosexuality from its list in Article 7 of Youth Protection Law enforcement regulation since it would encroach upon homosexuals' right to pursue happiness and equality guaranteed by the Constitution. At the high court!/s decision of administration lawsuit regarding Exzone, which is an internet community website for homosexuals, this section had been pointed out as unconstitutional.
Jang Yeo-kyung (Della) of the Alliance Committee against Internet Censorship has stated many teenagers � who often have troubles with sexual identity -- have been isolated and lose opportunities to receive proper information or necessary consultations regarding their questions. She asserted that homosexual expression!/ should be removed from the list as often these problems are a result of youth unable to obtain access to websites with homosexuality-related materials. Lee Kyung, Executive Director of Lesbian & Gay Human Rights Federation (LGHRF), has also argued that due to the homosexuals discriminatory section, homosexuals are represented to youth as a harmful group or people who conduct socially unacceptable sexual behaviors. This, in turn, intrudes the right to know and the freedom of expression regarding homosexuality as well as depriving homosexuals, who may be active only on the Internet, of their life.
Finally, removal of the homosexuality discriminatory from the Youth Protection Law would also likely affect the internet homosexual community, Exzone. It was initially the decision of the High Court as the major reason behind this appointment was the homosexual discriminatory section on the Youth Protection Law which deemed the site as containing harmful material to youth.
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