Foreign diplomats in Korea hold a large rainbow banner on the stage of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, Saturday, as each of them gave a speech advocating for LGBTQ rights and equality. Korea Times photo by Choi Ju-yeon

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Small and large rainbow flags waved in Seoul Plaza, Saturday, as the Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) returned after taking two years off during the pandemic, with ever stronger support from a handful of foreign envoys in Korea.

This year, 15 diplomatic missions in Korea operated booths to promote diversity and inclusion, and ambassadors also took the stage to give speeches in support of the LGBTQ community in Korea.

As part of the official program, envoys from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, European Union, Sweden, Ireland, the U.K., Canada, Finland, Australia and the U.S. went on the stage with a large rainbow banner and each gave a speech promoting the rights of sexual minorities and diversity.

New U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg made his first public appearance at the SQCF, showing the U.S.' strong commitment to ending discrimination.

The German, Italian, Czech and Bulgarian ambassadors took the stage with EU Ambassador to Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez.

"I am happy to be here today with many of my colleagues from the European Union," she said. "We stand with you. And it is much more timely and important today as human rights in the world are even given. Discrimination, prejudice and hate against individuals based on sexual orientation or gender are very prevalent these days... We want to tell you that pride is at the heart of European values."

U.K. Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks delivers a speech during the Seoul Queer Culture Festival at Seoul Plaza, Saturday. Yonhap

Some ambassadors gave parts of their speech in Korean, but U.K. Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks delivered his whole speech in Korean and received a great round of applause from the participants.

"We believe that everyone in society is equal. Discrimination against sexual orientation or sexual identity should not exist in the 21st century. We all have the right to live free from discrimination and violence," Crooks said.

"The U.K. shows that the best way to protect this right is to have the legal system... Hate should fail. Love will always win."

Crooks told The Korea Times that the diplomats were there to "show solidarity with minority communities in Korea."

"Because their rights are underpinned by values which all of us share ― the values of freedom, of human rights and of democracy. In a society like this, we believe in those values and the rights of minorities," he said.

New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner, left, takes a selfie with his spouse Hiroshi Ikeda while on the stage of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, Saturday. Captured from Twitter