Churchgoers hold signs at the rally against LGBTQ+ at Seoul Plaza on Sunday. (Choi Si-young/The Korea Herald)

It was almost 2 p.m., churchgoers descended on Seoul Plaza and the crowds were growing by the minute.

A buoyant mood took over as a pastor announced the start of the Sunday service in the plaza, part of planned worship gatherings spanning from Gwanghwamun Square to Seoul Station, as well as around Yeouido Park.

The rallies across the capital were organized by conservative Protestant groups led by the Communion of Churches in Korea, one of Korea’s four biggest ecumenical Protestant groups.

The rallies -- attended by people the police and organizers say numbered between 232,500 and 1.1 million -- called for a united front in rejecting same-sex marriage and antidiscrimination legislation that could write LGBTQ+ rights into law.

“The country is now facing a choice,” said Kim Kyung-mi, 61, a deacon who traveled from Yeongdeok-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, to take part in the plaza gathering.

Kim, who said she didn’t mind the five-hour drive, maintained that inaction could lead to “families collapsing and public health jeopardized,” repeating the refrain of conservative churchgoers opposing same-sex marriage.

The rationale, often involving arguments for procreation and against the spread of AIDS, was communicated as rallygoers brandished posters condemning a population decline and fearing an AIDS “outbreak.”

“The kind of values that tell us what is right and wrong will get eroded if we don’t act in light of what’s happened,” Kim said, referring to a July ruling by the Supreme Court that sparked one of the largest mass Christian rallies in years.

In the decision, the top court said that same-sex couples also should be covered by the state insurance program just like opposite-sex couples, and failure to do so is discrimination. Conservative Christian groups, alarmed by the ruling, have since stepped up calls for bigger action, contending it’s only a matter of time before the National Assembly approves same-sex marriage. Momentum for such legislation is weak for now.

“The purpose of marriage is not happiness,” said the Rev. Kim Yang-jae, one of the pastors who delivered a sermon on Sunday. “It’s about being holy and if we do that, happiness would naturally follow.”

“The wife’s obedience and the husband’s love” make up an ideal marriage, Kim argued, describing such an arrangement as the hallmark of a “healthy family.”

Lee Jeong-bin, 20, said she felt the urge to join at Seoul Plaza to add her voice to those against same-sex marriage.

“Same-sex couples are increasingly making TV appearances and that’s becoming like a norm. That shouldn’t be,” Lee said. A Sunday school teacher, Lee was joined by her mother, a 46-year-old churchgoer who said she hoped to see the divisive issue resolved “in accordance with the Bible.” The two were from Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.

Sunday’s rallies weren’t without dissenting voices within the Christian community.

“So to sum up, same-sex marriage isn’t natural or shouldn’t be legal because the Bible says so?” questioned one rally participant who asked to be identified by his surname Park only.

Park, a 30-something Christian, noted non-Christians would have a hard time understanding why Christians stick to “some of the rules supposedly written in the Bible” as hard as possible while dismissing others.

“The argument that same-sex marriage doesn’t have a place in our society because of procreation and the AIDS epidemic is shaky at best,” Park said.

Lee Dong-hwan, a former Methodist pastor who was excommunicated in March for blessing same-sex couples at the Queer Culture Festival in 2019 and 2020 in Korea, warned that some are demonizing LGBTQ+ people.

Rallies like Sunday’s encourage more hate speech, he explained, adding dangerous leaps in logic are shaping public discourse over same-sex couples.