Korean Americans, the Protestant Christian Church, and the Future of Asian American LGBTQ Rights

Authors

Josiah Pak

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Korean American Protestant Christian church and their past, present, and future support for LGBTQ rights. It explores both first-generation Korean American immigrants and their children, native-born second-generation Korean Americans. Specifically, it recounts the process of emigration for many first-generation Korean American immigrants and how it carried over the conservative, traditionalist, and religious frameworks that contribute to stonewalling future LGBTQ equality rights. Additionally, this paper addresses second- generation Korean Americans swinging between ideologies and social underpinnings of the older generation and a new “American” identity. By recounting Korean immigration to the United States, the role of the Protestant Christian church to these newly immigrated Koreans, and the influence of the Korean American Protestant Christian church in previous LGBTQ-related battles, this paper seeks to understand Korean Americans Protestant Christian attitudes regarding future LGBTQ issues.

Recommended Citation

Josiah Pak, Korean Americans, the Protestant Christian Church, and the Future of Asian American LGBTQ Rights, 17 Hastings Race & Poverty L.J. 576 (2020).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_race_poverty_law_journal/vol17/iss2/10