K-pop: Why 's hard for stars to be gay South Korea | CNN

Contents:

• IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY
• JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• PEACHY KEENAN: EVERYONE IS GAY, N YOU BLAME THEM?
• THE PROBLEM WH BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA
• GAY AND TRANS SOLDIERS SAY THEY WERE ABED SOUTH KOREAN ARY

IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY

What is like to be gay South Korea? Homophobia is still rife South Korea, where very few mastream mic stars have e out as gay. There, homosexual sex is not banned, but is illegal the ary, where almost all men mt plete a stt of pulsory nscriptn.

“It’s kd of sad, ” said Jungm Kwon, an amic who wrote a book lled “Straight Korean Female Fans and Their Gay Fantasi. “On the one hand looks like the dtry is very open md to shippg culture, ” she told CNN, referrg to the culture among fans of imagg relatnships between their favore stars – cludg gay relatnships. Acrdg to Kwon, fans were spired by “yaoi” – a kd of Japane manga that featur gay relatnships between male upl – and began makg up stori about their favore stars.

Even now, K-pop labels sometim cultivate idols’ homoerotic appeal the hop that mak them more popular fanfictn, where Kwon timat 80% of stori volve gay story l.

JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU

South Korea’s rerd labels are happy to let fans fantasize about idols beg gay. But they don’t want gay idols be open about their sexualy. But when me time to but, the label was agast him butg as a gay idol.

“It’s a shame that’s the lim they n go when to showg homosexual teractn – n only be portrayed as funny. After Hong me out publicly as gay 2000, he was fired om his hostg job and lost other work – and thor Kwon believ that harsh rponse has disuraged others om followg su. Holland thks thgs are changg: more artists appear to be ditg that they are alli of the gay muny.

In the absence of nfirmatn, mentators have ed small, clive clu to speculate on their stance, for example, the time the band’s lear RM tweeted Macklemore’s song “Same Love, ” which promot equal rights for gay people. But ultimately, experts believe a time when gay stars are accepted mastream K-pop uld still be some way off.

PEACHY KEENAN: EVERYONE IS GAY, N YOU BLAME THEM?

-based profsnal league to e out as gay. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St.

In Team Ameri, the 2004 puppet edy om the creators of South Park, there’s a scene that satiriz the prevalence of gay-themed stage plays of that era (Angels Ameri, Rent, etc. The gay or lbian populatn has creased by 26% and the percentage of stunts intifyg as bisexual has creased by 232%. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a woman.He said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough".He said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'".When Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3,000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance blossomed.Three years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos".He relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife."Danny Beard on Same Sex Love and MarriageDanny explor same-sex weddgs, fdg out why upl chose to get married, the challeng unrpng this cisn and what mak the wedd relatnships work.The uple said they now wanted to help people who were not as ee and strive for "equaly for everyone"."Now I'm here a safe place I want to fight for others to be able to marry who they want," Adam said."I'm so lucky but I want everyone else Sdi to marry the one they love whout facg discrimatn and persecutn." Image source, Fay photographImage ptn, Peter McGrah and David Cabreza say they are "very proud" to have been the first same-sex uple married EnglandMore than 40,000 same-sex marriag took place between 2014 and 2020, acrdg to the Office for Natnal StatisticsPeter McGrah and David Cabreza, origally om Stland and the US, ma history when they beme the first same-sex uple to marry England on 29 March 2014.The trailblazers married jt after midnight at Islgton Town Hall.

THE PROBLEM WH BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage"."It was so sweet seeg him so happy," Mr Cabreza said.

GAY AND TRANS SOLDIERS SAY THEY WERE ABED SOUTH KOREAN ARY

Origatg 1960s Japan, where  was known as “yaoi, ” BL typilly picts two men a homoerotic relatnship. Some LGBTQ activists have acced BL stori of fetishizg and appropriatg gay culture. Wily regnized as South Korea’s first openly gay K-pop artist, the sger and actor Go Tae-seob, who the stage name Holland, starred a BL drama last year and believ that the growg visibily of BL books, TV seri and movi is a posive step.

Bdette, who also intifi as gay and is a longstandg BL fan, said the genre will shake up nservative views on genr and sexualy South Korea. “Whether you are a heterosexual woman tryg to ject your sexual tonomy to the world, or you are a gay man who wants to see posive reprentatns of male-male romance, BL n be ed, ” he said.

He says attus his native South Korea mean homosexualy is treated as a "foreign" issue. A Pew study found 57% of people surveyed South Korea fd homosexualy unacceptable. Bee my superrs are all ( their) 40s and 50s and they don’t really know what gay is, and I was aaid I might lose my job.