By Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) -&nbsp;Seoul's&nbsp;city&nbsp;government has effectively&nbsp;blocked&nbsp;South Korea&rsquo;s largest annual&nbsp;LGBT&nbsp;festival&nbsp;from taking place&nbsp;outside&nbsp;city&nbsp;hall&nbsp;this year after granting a permit for a&nbsp;Christian&nbsp;youth&nbsp;concert&nbsp;instead, the&nbsp;LGBT&nbsp;event&rsquo;s&nbsp;organisers&nbsp;said this week.
Clashes over the Seoul Queer Culture&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;have become a yearly symbol of the battle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights in a country where same-sex marriage is not recognised and efforts to pass anti-discrimination laws face strong resistance from conservative religious groups and others.
As in several past years, the&nbsp;festival's&nbsp;organisers&nbsp;jockeyed with religious groups in seeking permission to hold events in downtown Seoul on July 1. Since 2015, the event has been held in front of the&nbsp;city&nbsp;hall, except for 2020 and 2021 when pandemic rules prevented any gatherings.
Yang Sun-woo, chief organiser of the Seoul Queer Culture&nbsp;Festival, said the&nbsp;city's move is an act of discrimination.
"Each year, we struggle to secure a venue to hold the event,&rdquo; she told Reuters.
A&nbsp;concert&nbsp;for young people will take place&nbsp;outside&nbsp;the&nbsp;city&nbsp;hall&nbsp;on that day instead.
That event is being hosted by the CTS Cultural Foundation, an organisation linked to local&nbsp;Christian&nbsp;broadcaster CTS, which has vocally opposed homosexuality and the&nbsp;festival.
A representative for the CTS Cultural Foundation said that the timing was not aimed at blocking the&nbsp;LGBT&nbsp;festival.
The Seoul&nbsp;city&nbsp;government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The organising bodies for both events had requested to use the space on the same day. The decision was made by a citizen council, which includes some members of the&nbsp;city&nbsp;council.
Since 2015, the&nbsp;LGBT&nbsp;festival&nbsp;has drawn thousands of attendees each summer to downtown Seoul, supported by human rights groups, university clubs, and foreign embassies. It routinely draws protests, and the police presence is often heavy.
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(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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Seoul's LGBT festival blocked by Christian concert outside city hall, organisers say