South Korea bar district offers a safe haven for gay servicemembers

[Christa]

By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, March 14, 2010
Ashley Rowland / Stripes

Customers mingle outside the bars of Homo Hill, a popular gay district near U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan in Itaewon frequented by gay U.S. troops. The district is also popular with straight customers. A rainbow sticker hangs in the window of a lounge in Seoul's gay-friendly Homo Hill district, which attracts both gay and straight customers, including U.S. troops.

SEOUL - It’s a Saturday night, and cheers erupt from the all-male crowd as a slender South Korean man wearing a sparkling silver dress and matching headpiece walks through the door of a standing room-only bar.

The din grows louder when the bartender passes out free shots and playfully shouts, “Drink up, bitches!”

Outside, it feels more like a street festival than a bar district, as customers — both South Koreans and foreigners, but mostly young, male and gay — mingle with drinks in hand, flirting and occasionally kissing on the narrow road known locally among gays and straights alike as “Homo Hill.”

Among them are U.S. soldiers, who on recent visits by a reporter to the area made up a noticeable number of the Hill’s clientele despite the threat they face of being discharged from the military for having homosexual relationships.

This cluster of trendy bars, with names like “Queen” and “Always Homme,” is a 10-minute walk from Yongsan Garrison, the U.S. military’s flagship base in South Korea. The Hill is one of the few places gay and lesbian U.S. servicemembers can be somewhat open about their sexuality while stationed in the
country.

full article:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68652

[xchrom]

1. Recommend. Fascinating description. Nt