'Gay witch-hunt': South Korea's top court upholds ban on same-sex relations in country's military

On Thursday, South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld a law banning same-sex relations in the military. In the 5-4 ruling the Constitutional Court stated that same-sex relations pose a threat to combat readiness in a crisis situation, CNN reported. Following the judgement, the court called the whole thing a “disappointing setback” for the LGBTQ community. In the past, the Asian nation has received significant setbacks for its conservative outlook towards same-sex relations.

In the Thursday ruling, the court upheld the clause in the Military Criminal Act that bans “anal intercourse” or “any other indecent act” during service. While the law does not explicitly refer to same-sex relationships, the Act has long been opposed by LGBTQ activists who see it as discriminatory. If a person is found guilty under the stringent act they may face up to two years in prison. Many activists have called the legislation a “gay witch-hunt” and in the past, the law has been used to arrest dozens of people in the country.

Same-sex relations jeopardise army’s discipline: Court

In the controversial judgement, the South Korean court said that allowing same-sex relations between soldiers would jeopardise the army’s discipline and has the potential to upend the military’s hierarchy. “Even if sexual acts are consensual they risk causing serious harm to preserving the fighting power of the nation’s armed forces if committed (while on duty),” the court said in its judgement. However, the judges presiding over the case note that the language of the highly contentious article is “abstract and ambiguous”. Three of them cautioned against limiting an individual’s sexual orientation in the name of “military discipline.”

Meanwhile, the controversial judgement received significant backlash from the LGBTQ community. An activist group named Rainbow Action Against Sexual-Minority Discrimination called the ruling disappointing and criticized the court for failing to protect the rights of the minority. However, the group lauded the viewpoints of judges who dissented from the judgement. “This is clearly highlighting the indecent act provision of the Military Criminal Act as discriminatory against sexual minorities,” the group asserted, as per the report by CNN. South Korea has one of the world’s largest active armies with a mandatory military service imposed on almost all able-bodied men between the age of 18 and 28. Hence the activists are calling the recent judgement “extremely regressive”.