Oh Tae-yang was spurred to run for mayor by the deaths of high-profile LGBT figures, and has upset some in conservative South Korea Steven Borowiec in Seoul Mon 5 Apr 2021 19.52 EDT 72 One morning in late March, Oh Tae-yang awoke to news that his campaign banners, which feature rainbow flags and pledges to work toward same-sex marriage, had been vandalised, torn down and strewn across the ground. After he got over the initial surprise, he noticed a particular detail in the destruction. “The banners had been ripped horizontally just below my neck, as if the person who did it was thinking of cutting my head off,” Oh said. Oh is a fringe candidate in Wednesday’s Seoul mayoral byelection, and the only one whose platform is built on advocacy for the LGBTQ community and other vulnerable groups. “Sexual minorities are often invisible people in our society. The person who ripped down the banners must have felt they had a right to live without being reminded of such people’s existence,” Oh, 45, told the Guardian at his office in Seoul.