Discriminated For Being Transgender — Korean YouTuber's Sour Experience While House-Hunting

Korean YouTube and streamer Poongja recently talked about the discrimination she faced for being transgender while searching for housing.

Poongja is one of the most famous transgender public figures in the country right now. She is currently a part of U+ Mobile TV‘s original variety program Nae Pyeon Haja (translation: “Take My Side”), where she and the rest of the MCs, as well as special guests, read out different stories submitted by viewers and empathize with them by talking about similar experiences in their lives. The show is about the hosts taking the viewers’ side and offering them comfort.

During episode 9 of the program, a viewer submitted a story about their landlord and his power trip. The topic immediately opened up frustration as the hosts started relating to the viewer’s experience.

YouTuber RalRal, who also appears on the show, shared that her landlord would text her asking if she was singing whenever he heard any noise. Despite her saying that she wasn’t singing, the landlord would keep pressing that he could hear sounds from her apartment.

RalRal talking about her conversation with her landlord

Owner: Ms. Yoora…Were you singing again at 3:30 in the morning? Please be reasonable~
RalRal: I didn’t sing TT TT
Owner: That’s strange~ There were music sounds coming from that house.
RalRal: I don’t sing at the house TT TT

Poongja then shared her housing horror story, revealing that her landlord once replaced the locks on her door because she was two days late to give her rent. Though she had already notified the landlord about her situation and promised to pay the rent after two days, she suddenly found out that her locks had been changed within those two days. The incident was so unpleasant for Poongja that she immediately paid the rent and vacated the apartment.

So after that, I paid that month’s rent and left.

— Poongja

Another time, she faced horrible discrimination while looking for houses. Poongja had already decided on an apartment and had signed the rental agreement, but suddenly she got a call from the owner who said they would terminate the contract for no good reason. Upon asking, the owner told her they couldn’t accept a transgender person living in their house.

We can’t accept a transgender person in our house.

— The house owner

Not only did the owner terminate the contract out of the blue, but they also violated the termination conditions. According to the agreement, the owner was supposed to pay back Poongja the deposit she had already made for the place. But they refused to do so.

I can’t give back the deposit.

— Poongja talking about the houseowner’s response

Being the iconic person she is, Poongja also didn’t back down without avenging this incident. She ended up buying the apartment next door, which was exactly the same as the previous one.