I started regularly going into DDing Dong’s office in the beginning of 2024. Before that, I used to only visit once or twice a month to review the activities. Now I’m looking back on the past year, having begun my work with excitement and anticipation.
While listening to the stories of LGBTIQ youth visiting DDing Dong and exchanging friendly greetings, my heart ached at times as I felt their wounds from the experience of their identities being disrespected. At the same time, I felt reassured to see our activists working tirelessly to support them. Etched on the piled pages of counseling records were the lives of LGBTIQ youth who are keeping up their fights and finding growth. I felt proud whenever I saw them huddled together in our tiny space, laughing and chatting.
We recorded the highest number of support provisions and visits, with 4,733 KakaoTalk inquiries and responses, 537 consultations, 552 crisis support interventions, 305 Rainbow Kit distributions, and 411 visitors to the center. Since DDing Dong became established as an organization where transgender youth can obtain information on medical and legal support, as well as freely express their gender, it inevitably led to more support activities in 2024.
Meanwhile, the lives of LGBTIQ youth are only becoming harder, their journey to pride nothing but arduous. To “be themselves” is extremely difficult for LGBTIQ youth who are easily exposed to hate speech and are constantly dispossessed and discriminated in a society where rigid gender binary persists. We cannot simply be happy about the increasing number of consultations and support interventions. Knowing that consultation is just one, not all, of the approaches to solving the problem, we continue to contemplate what further role DDing Dong could play.
In 2024, our activities included meeting up with and persuading members of the National Assembly who had failed to explicitly include terms such as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the proposal for the Student Rights Bill, as well as demanding policy improvements to the government that has no measures in place to prevent LGBTIQ suicide. We also continued our campaigns for LGBTIQ inclusivity at schools, as well as activities advocating for legal gender change for transgenders who have not undergone surgery. Even while working diligently, at times we couldn’t help but feel like we were going in circles, and there were times we felt discouraged. Nevertheless, we thought about the LGBTIQ youth reaching out to DDing Dong, pulled ourselves together, and marched on.We learned that creating social change requires unceasing effort and patience.
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of DDing Dong. Having begun our consultation services in a humble space of about 60 square meters, DDing Dong has grown alongside wounded LGBTIQ youth, cultivating hope together with them. I believe that the records of over 6,000 counseling sessions and support services bear witness to DDing Dong’s value in this society. DDing Dong has continued our crisis support services solely through donations, unlike other youth organization, and I’d like to commend us for persevering. DDing Dong’s 10 years are what we’ve created together with our donors.
Going back to the starting line, I’m envisioning what DDing Dong will look like in 10 years. I’d like to create a society where everyone can have a warm and safe space for themselves without having to give up their dreams. I want us to continue tending to each other’s wound and grow together. Just like we did the last 10 years thanks to DDing Dong’s supportive donors, I’d like us to continue forging new paths together.
In 2025, we will do our best to keep the light of hope on. Thank you.
