quote:

---

A coalition of civic groups has denounced the treatment of gays in the Korean military. ...[O]ne of the groups, on Wednesday told reporters of the case of one private who asked to speak to his superiors about his homosexuality and was asked to bring photographic evidence showing him having sex with another man. “He was in effect the victim of sexual harassment,” the [group] leader said.

The Human Rights Network called on the government to resolve the issue, saying the incident was “a clear example that the military is in a blind spot in terms of human rights abuses, and demonstrates just how serious human rights abuses of homosexual soldiers have become.”

---

quote:

---

A coalition of civic groups has denounced the treatment of gays in the Korean military. ...[O]ne of the groups, on Wednesday told reporters of the case of one private who asked to speak to his superiors about his homosexuality and was asked to bring photographic evidence showing him having sex with another man. “He was in effect the victim of sexual harassment,” the [group] leader said.

---

This article is a little lacking in detail. If the soldier simply wanted to shoot the breeze with his superiors about being a homosexual, why would they ask for photographic evidence? If a volunteer American soldier walked into his superiors' office and said "I'm gay", I don't think they'd require any photographic evidence before taking whatever action they thought was required.

It's just a guess, but I suspect that the superiors thought the soldier was pretending to be a homosexual in order to have his mandatory military service terminated, and that asking him for photographs would deter him from pursuing that course any further.

Not that that would make it any less of an abusive situation, since if the soldier really was gay and did sincerely want to discuss that with his superiors, the request for photographs would seem very bizarre and intrusive, to say the least.

[ 17 February 2006: Message edited by: voice of the damned ]