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South Korea’s first LGBTQ reality shows “Merry Queer” and “His Man” premiered on streaming platform Wavve this summer — and the people behind the shows hope they’ll help promote the country’s long fight for LGBTQ rights. South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage and does not offer legal protection to its LGBTQ citizens. “Merry Queer” host Hong Seok-jeon — one of South Korea’s most famous openly gay celebrities — spoke to TIME along with the show’s producer Lim Chang-hyuk and “His Man” cast member Lee Jong-ho about what these shows mean is weird performance. “In the future, I hope that ‘Merry Queer,’ ‘His Man,’ and other cultural content will open up more opportunities to raise awareness of issues that need to be resolved or discussed,” Hong said.