Raising Queer Workers' Rights in South Korea

Through the campaign building program with volunteer members, we produced, printed, and distributed the Trans-Friendly Etiquette poster. This guideline contains practical steps for making a transgender-friendly community and organization. The posters were distributed at pride parades and the events around the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), and also made available at our office so that visitors could take them and post them in their own offices and places. Many individuals put them up in their offices and shared them as rules to be observed in spaces where they work alongside transgender colleagues. In addition, copies were mailed to labor unions, workers’ organizations, and civil society groups so they could be displayed in their offices.

The Labor Party, a political party committed to workers’ rights, also posted the guidelines and expressed solidarity, emphasizing their commitment to creating safe spaces and welcoming communities for transgender people.

While the Trans-Friendly Etiquette has already helped many communities become more inclusive of transgender people, some feedback noted that because it used queer terms, written in Korean by sounding out the English words, the words and content can be difficult for those less familiar with transgender issues.

In response, we are now creating a second version of the poster with simpler language and illustrations instead of long text, making it easier for a wider audience to understand. We are also planning a booklet with more detailed explanations to help people gain a deeper understanding of transgender people's lives. These new materials will be distributed and displayed in various workplaces.

We ask for your continued support so that more transgender-friendly workplaces, communities, and organizations can emerge in Korea.

May 1st is International Labor Day. On this day, workers from all over the world gather in the square to demand their labor rights. The Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea(HaengSeongIn) demands the rights of LGBTQ people in the workplace at every Labor Day. This year, we also ran a campaign to create an environment where we can work together without discrimination and inequality.

We ran a campaign booth on this May Day. We created a quiz based on the contents of the “Guidebook for LGBTQ+ Inclusive Workplace”. We made it an easy quiz about information about LGBTQ+ people and the rights of LGBTQ+ workers that are easily considered difficult. We gave out prizes with a message of solidarity with LGBTQ+ people to those who participated in the quiz.

We also distributed wet wipes printed with QR code of the Guidebook file at the booth. We increased accessibility by making it possible to carry it with you at all times and access the guidebook at any time.

The campaign was able to distribute guidebooks to more citizens. Through friendly programs, thousands of citizens visited and showed higher interest and participation than before. We plan to continue developing programs to broaden understanding about working and living together as colleagues of LGBTQ+ people.