“Web Sites on Homosexuality Are Not Harmful to Minors”(04-02-2003)
NHRC recommends the Commission on Youth Protection delete ‘homosexuality’ from standard of harm
The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) concluded that discriminating against homosexuals by listing it in a law is a violation of Article 10 (right to pursue happiness), Article 11 (right to equality) and Article 21 (freedom of expression) of the Constitution, and recommended to the chairperson of the Commission on Youth Protection that "homosexuality" be deleted from Article 7 of the Enforcement Decree of the Juvenile Protection Act, which is stipulates standards of deliberation of harm. In October and December 2002, Korean Women Sexual Minority Rights Organization Kirikiri President Kim and Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Federation President Chung filed two petitions against the chairperson of the Commission on Youth Protection claiming, "listing "homosexuality" as the standard of harm for youth in the Enforcement Decree of the Juvenile Protection Act is a violation of human rights due to sexual orientation."
The results of the NHRC investigation showed that the standard of harm on Article 7 of the Enforcement Decree of the Juvenile Protection Act (hereafter JPA) is defined as "things promoting perverted sexual acts such as bestiality, group sex, incest, homosexuality, sado-masochism; prostitution; and sexual relations not approved by commonly accepted social standards."
Filtering software that blocks sexually explicit material is currently being installed in every PC room as mandated by the Sound Records, Video Products and Game Software Act. The results of the NHRC investigation into four companies that produce such filtering software showed two types of software blocked access to "web sites on homosexuality such as Kirikiri because they provide harmful information to youth" based on the standard of harm as stipulated in the JPA, and the list of websites blocked by the remaining two could not be confirmed due to the architecture of the filtering software.
In the course of the NHRC investigation, the chairperson of the Commission on Youth Protection maintained that not all homosexuality-related materials were included in the standard of harm; the standards deliberation committee, made up of media experts, carefully judges the standards; and they were also taking into consideration the artistic qualities and characteristics of the material.
The NHRC took into consideration the fact that youth access to sites on sexual orientation was being blocked based on Article 7 of the JPA. Also, the standard of harm defines homosexuality as a deviant sexual desire such as "bestiality" or a "perverted sexual act," and the filtering software using the standard blocks youth access to web sites on sexual orientation. The NHRC concluded that discriminatory definitions of homosexuality and blocking youth access violates Article 10 (right to pursue happiness), Article 11 (right to equality) and Article 21 (freedom of expression) of the Constitution.
Furthermore, the American Psychiatric Association deleted "homosexuality" from its list of mental illnesses in its 1974 publication of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the World Health Organization (WHO) stated, “sexual orientation has no relation to mental disorder,” in their ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases), published in 1993.
In South Korea, there is a growing awareness of the need to regard homosexuality as normal sexual orientation and protect the human rights of gays and lesbians. In addition, the "Korean Standard Disease Classification" announced by the National Statistical Office asserts, “sexual orientation itself cannot be related to mental disorders,” and "Sex Education Guidebook for Teachers" published by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development states, “homosexuality also is a human way of life as well as a form of affection”(for middle school), and “homosexuality is no longer classified as sexual perversion”(for high school).
