The 3040+ Zoomma Queer truck participates in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival parade in central Seoul, Saturday. Courtesy of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee
Rainbow flags ripple through downtown Seoul every June, but this year, some of the loudest, sweatiest and most determined faces of Korea's LGBTQ community were not young, cosmopolitan gays. They were 30- and 40-something women.
At this year's Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF), a truck blasting remixed early-2000s K-pop rolled into the parade route, trailed by dancing marchers and a surprising number of parents. Banners displayed the logo of the 3040+ Jumma Queer group, a loose collective of lesbian, bisexual, queer and gender-nonconforming women in their 30s and 40s who came together last year.
Their message was pointed at their own community.
In lesbian circles, there is a persistent assumption that “everyone either leave the community for heterosexual marriage or disappear into domestic life by mid-30s.” The truck spoke to “break that script and invite lesbians pushing strollers, women who feel too old for bar meetups and self-desribed ajumma queers — to be visible, noisy and together in the streets.
