If Asked Should You Tell Koreans You Are Gay?
Here is an interesting question I saw posted over on Reddit. If you are gay and on business trip to Korea is being gay something you should disclose if asked?:
- I’m a man, and I am married to another man. We’ve been together for three years. I wear a ring. I’d rather not remove it and risk losing it. It has emotional value to it.
- I am traveling to Busan on a business trip for two weeks. I’m visiting the South Korea location for my US-based company. I am a senior member of management. There are no client visits; all business will be with internal teams.
- The evenings and some weekend activities are being planned by our South Korean work hosts (dinner, activities, etc.).
- They will see my ring, and will ask about my family as a way to get to know me and my US-based team. I don’t plan to come right out of the gate and say “I’m gay” or “I’m married to a man” but the question will likely come up in conversation about my personal life.
- I have no issues with coworkers in the US regarding my marriage.
Should I lie and talk about my “wife” while I’m in South Korea, or should I be truthful? I am very proud of the accomplishments for equality in the United States; however, I realize that other cultures might not be ready. But what if it’s worse when they find out that I’m married to a guy (they will; we will be working closely for years to come) and they know that I lied? But then what if I explain and they understand my reason for lying because I was fearful of their reaction? [Reddit]
You can read the reactions to this posting at the link. Unfortunately I have no experience with this topic other than to say that older Korean males tend to be the less open minded about something like this. Are there any ROK Heads with insights to share on this topic?
