South Korean activists are urging the government to include LGBT+ content in the sex education curriculum at schools, according to the Korea Herald.
The government has excluded any mention of diverse sexualities from sex education in a policy that was rolled out in 2015 and has been widely labelled as discriminatory.
“The Education Ministry should discard the sex education guidelines which only promote discrimination and prejudice against sexual minorities and should opt to give LGBT-inclusive education,” say activist groups.
Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to the South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister at the time, saying the policy discriminates against “LGBT youth and violates their right to education, information, and health.”
“We believe that it also violates South Korea’s international human rights commitments, and could be harmful to young people and negatively affect public health,” the statement read.
Park Hyun-yi, an activist at Seoul Youth Sex Culture Centre, says the sex education guidelines are a “regression” and are “solidifying gender roles”.
“The guidelines that do not even mention ‘masturbation’ or ‘sexual minority’ are stifling sex education,” says Hyun-yi.
The Education Ministry says the guidelines are designed to help the teachers and that they are allowed to educate students about homosexuality at their discretion.
