When South Korea was run by a military-backed authoritarian government in the 1970s, a “coffee house” where lesbians secretly gathered was an easy target. The country has progressed from the days of police raids on gay spaces, with the top court ruling on Thursday that same-sex couples are just as eligible for state health insurance benefits as heterosexual common-law partners. LGBTQ activists like Yoon Kim Myung-woo, who runs one of the oldest lesbian bars in the country, recall the long struggle. “The police tactical team would show up and just arrest people, accusing the place of being an ‘obscene establishment’,” the 68-year-old told Agence France-Presse.