Which male idols do you think are gay?

[Aisling]

I feel like it's pretty clear that idols go further with flirting and touching than average Korean male friends, but fanservice culture makes it ambiguous, which of course is how they get away with so much. Of course, even if something IS fanservice, it doesn't necessarily mean the people aren't gay/bi, since gay/bi performers could easily take advantage of that openness. I imagine in a country and industry where you have to hide your sexuality from the public, it could feel liberating (at least, to an extent) to flirt with someone of the same gender in a very public way.

 

Also, this topic reminds me of that interview with JYJ where Jaejoong was talking about taking pictures of them in the shower and feeling possessive over them (and I think the other two were sharing things they did too?), and the MCs were like, "Stop. We can't make this sound normal." 

[Aisling]

ooh receipts? haven't seen this sounds sus

 

I'm having trouble tracking it down, but I'll keep looking. Ughh I wish we could use the search function; I know it's been posted here.

 

Also, since we're on the subject of skinship and fanservice, does anyone else feel like there's actually less blatant fanservice than there used to be? For example, you have multiple members of Super Junior who made out. Then there's Shinhwa:

 

 

 

I feel like these days, more idols have genuine receipts, but they may not be going around kissing each other like some idols used to. Maybe it's a function of more people taking seriously the idea of a celebrity being gay/bi (I feel like some of the gay moments of years past were played more for laughs). ETA: A good example of that would be Korean SNL. Shinhwa did a sketch where they basically all implied/simulated anal sex, which was apparently fine as comedy, but when two members of Block B kissed, the censors sanctioned the show. 

Edited October 20, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

Just stopping by real quick:

 

 

Apparently their parents were in the crowd lol

[Aisling]

donghae and... i want to assume it's eunhyuk but really can't tell for sure, i don't know his ass as well as i should

lol! Sorry, yes, that's Eunhyuk's butt he's squeezing.

[Aisling]

Tae keeps stanning talent

 

Click here to view the Tweet

 

He was listening to a Troye song in his last vlive too, right? With that, talking about the song he wrote to sing with Jimin, and taking special notice of an LGBT sign at the concert, I feel like Tae's been more vocal than usual.

 

Also, to add onto my previous post just for fun, Eunhyuk was apparently trying to get some of Donghae's lemonade:

 

 

(x)

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

I just thought this was cute of Jungkook, no big deal:

 

[Aisling]

It’s from a schedule in 2015 during SMrookies days, not sure about the details and I don’t speak korean much. The person that tweeted it explained the context saying that during a show they did a brain map and they both had each other’s names in it. (Jaehyun And doyoung)

From what I understand in the audio clip, doyoung said a cheesy line and everyone started screaming, then taeil was like “ah it’s gay!†Then doyoung kept denying immediately by saying no a bunch of time and jaehyun was trynna say smth else but I didn’t understand what he said and everyone started screaming, he for sure said the word boyfriend though so if someone would translate it would be appreciated.

I guess they then said smth to each other that was probably questionable as well and taeil screamed again “no matter how you look at it, it’s gay!†I understood a few words from the last part but idk what to say abt it

 

If that's Taeil's standard, there's no way you can read his behavior toward Winwin as straight lol.

[Aisling]

^The above discussion is really interesting, and I definitely agree with a lot of your points. If I could play devil's advocate though, the one good thing about kpop (especially BTS, but now other groups as well) becoming more popular in western markets is that it lessens their dependence on just the Korean audience and those cultural norms. It's not that western fans are more mature or anything, but honestly the atmosphere is freer since we just don't have the same kinds of expectations of celebrities (and many celebrities are openly LGBT already, so fans are used to it). Having more international fans will enable them to weather more potential scandals in Korea, so it could give them the security to feel comfortable pushing the envelope. I mean, look at Holland. He's done great so far as an independent artist mostly because of international fans. As global markets become more and more open to Korean music, I think more and more Korean artists (and maybe even their companies) will feel like they can take risks to do something different.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

Speaking of Holland it's amazing that his fandom donated more than 100k dollars for his mini album in a short amount of time.

Yeah, he raised over twice his goal!

[Aisling]

idk if it was posted before but I haven't been keeping up that much with fandom for some months and I am LOVING the Shirota Yuu and Jaejoong content 

 

Is Jaejoong back to his confident gay days 

 

I've missed Jaejoong's gay antics with a passion, so thank you for posting! And if there's any more content, please share. 

[Aisling]

Since we're all depressed about the military issue (understandably), I'm here to post a few positive things we can think about. For example:

 

Loving married couple and dog dads Tony and Jaeduck became close in the military (literally from arch rivals to falling in love...where do I watch this romantic comedy?)

 

 

 

Youtuber Kim Cheolsoo and his boyfriend Jangho met in the military (At least, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong. He mentions here that they were both in the Marines)

 

 

 

Lastly, soldiers fanboying over Jaejoong as he deserves:

 

 

 

Obviously conscription sucks, but it's nice to know good things *can* come out of it every once in a while. 

Edited October 25, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

So I was looking for more Jaejoong content, and I found this, which is more about Seonho and Youngmin, but yeah lol:

 

(x)

 

Bonus:

[Aisling]

Unfortunately, this. The reason there isn't as much violence towards lgbt people in east asia is probably due to how weak the fight is for them. Asia has a different culture from America ofc but sometimes I wonder if they'd become just as feral and in the way as right wing Americans get when their society shifts further away from them and closer to embracing minorities.

 

 

I do see your point, and I think it's safe to say that a stronger pro-LGBT fight means stronger push-back. However, I actually don't think it will necessarily become as violent as it's been in America. This reminded me of a video I watched by an international gay couple (one guy from Japan and one guy from America). They met and lived in Japan before coming to the US to get married, and they talked about how they never really got homophobic reactions in Japan, but they have experienced it the US (though, I think they lived in Tennessee at the time, so, yeah). They said that in Japan, if they told people they were a couple, they would just be a little surprised or curious, but not actively hostile, as they sometimes were in the US.

 

That's not at all to say that that's a universal experience, and of course there are huge differences in different East Asian countries (and between cities and rural areas within countries, etc.). Still, I think in some places, the problem is more sheer lack of awareness and familiarity (and things like pressure from parents to get married and have babies), rather than active hatred, since fewer people are being raised in conservative religions to be rabid homophobes. 

Edited October 25, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

From what I read in interviews he TRIED to go to an agency in order to train and stuff but the agencies did not want him to come out. Like someone before me said his goal is to be someone of comfort for lgbt youth, especially koreans.He's doing well considering he's doing everything by himself.and if he's his own agent, might as well come out since the beginning than getting well known to later get horrible backlash. Also this way he knows he has the right fans instead of homophobic fans dropping him.

 

It kind of reminds of when that Korean-Japanese model couple, Noah and Taiki, came out and it was reported on a Korean site. All of the comments were basically either "They're so cute~" or "Why am I single? TT^TT" The thing is, like Holland, they didn't really have a pre-existing fanbase that was drawn in by a promise of "having a chance with them." Fans who have their dreams dashed are no joke, but at least it showed that the Korean public (or at least young people) can react positively to public figures coming out. 

 

Also, I've said this before, but I really think it would be smart for someone to come out as a couple. Fangirls love cute boy couples, and because of that, I think even the Korean media would be more likely to cover them positively. When people come out as gay/bi individually, I feel like it's seen as more of an "issue," and we know how Korean companies feel about controversy.

 

A lot of people have been looking at what happened to Hyuna and E'Dawn and saying, "They're a hetero couple, so imagine how it would be for a gay couple." The thing is, I really wonder if it would *all* be worse? I've seen so many female fans say that they prefer the idea of their favorite male idol dating a guy because it would "hurt less" than them dating a girl. I don't really understand why, other than maybe they wouldn't compare themselves to the guy like they would a girl? 

 

Anyway, we have no way of knowing how people would react unless it happens, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Aisling]

I'm like really late to the party. Can someone catch me up...? So who's gay in BTS? Is it confirmed or just theories? I wanna know! Because as a gay man, I wanna be with V but my chances were slim with him being straight. This forum gives me hope. Lol kidding, but I'm curious to see how the LGBT community grows in SK. Count me in on this discussion!

Welcome to the thread! 

No one is confirmed not-hetero in BTS (Holland is the only idol who's actually come out). Most of us here think Taehyung is gay or bi though, so you're not alone there. 

[Aisling]

People who wonder if it's realistic to think an entire group could be non-straight are forgetting IMFACT. 

[Aisling]

Just my opinion: posting sus/cute moments between group members here is fine, but arguing about which ship is more real is probably straying off topic? 

[Aisling]

 

181026 TAKE.1 ARE YOU THERE? FANSIGN

 

Q: The savior who came to ruin Minhyuk’s life is?
MINHYUK: Shownu’s outfit [pic]

 

(trans ©: chocohyoo, note ©: 92_0618)

 

 

 

P.S. Isn't OP's question from a line in The Handmaiden, or is that a Korean saying?

[Aisling]

its because its 13 vs 5 members  no need to be mean

Oh I wasn't directing it at you or anyone else. The question of "could a group have all non-straight members?" is just something a lot of people wonder about. My post was only meant light-heartedly though; I'm sorry if it came off as critical. 

[Aisling]

Even Holland mentioned that no celeb came to show their support (I think Jonghyun-ah would've tbh).

 

On the other hand, some MIGHT have shown their support but he didn't want to disclose it or the supporters would risk getting fucked off.

 

So I think, kpop companies keep the shipping business just for profit until homophobia ends. Even bighit prevented a seemingly gay Christmas song to be released because 'it wasn't meant for 2 men to sing'.

 

And I wanna know the stance of managers on this since they live 24 ×7, they probably know more?

 

Sent from my iPhone X using OneHallyu mobile app

 

Holland actually said that several people in the industry had contacted him privately to show support. It's just that they didn't talk about him publicly. I remember there was one male idol (he was from one of the new groups, but I can't remember which one) who either played one of his songs or mentioned him during a Vlive. Does anyone remember that?

[Aisling]

Can I just say how frustrating it is when people accuse homophobes of being closet cases? I see that argument every time someone displays homophobic behavior, that they're overcompensating because they're "secretly gay" and don't want others to find out. That narrative is SO DAMAGING to the LGBT community because it absolves straight people from their homophobia and basically blames LGBT people for oppressing ourselves. People always do this whenever homophobic politicians come into the public eye. They did it with Trump and I'm seeing a lot of people accuse the Brazilian president of being the same.

 

I'm sure there are LGBT people who are self-hating enough to go around spewing hatred on our community but those people are a very small minority.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Aisling]

(I'll preface this by saying I don't ship anyone in BTS)

 

If commenting on another guy's handsomeness disproves a ship, then that disproves all BTS ships, because they've all done that. 

 

Though, I think in discussing ships, we could remember that there's a huge difference between thinking one person likes another (or they both like each other) and thinking they're legit dating and in a committed relationship. The latter seems like it would be rare (not non-existent, but rare, since they would know it's risky), but I'm sure the former happens fairly often. In that case where one or both have a crush but they're not acting on it, and maybe know they shouldn't, it wouldn't be surprising that they would flirt with someone else. For example, I remember Taeil kind of flirting with some male interviewer in the US. He's been pretty upfront about his crush on Winwin (and so have his members lol), but Winwin keeps rejecting him, so why not flirt with someone else a little? 

 

This is just to say that, even if anyone in BTS has feelings for anyone else, because they probably know they can't or shouldn't act on it, it's to be expected that they'll flirt with other people from time to time--as they ALL have. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Aisling

[Aisling]

Allow me to interrupt all the debate with a purely cute, fluffy moment to warm our hearts:

 

[Aisling]

He's crying because he lost his grandfather few days ago. He joined the program two days later. It's normal for him to be so emotional, he came there from the funeral. Taehyung was doing his best to look good. Besides, I personally feel extremely disturbed by the fact that this emotional moment is taken by the cameras. We didn't have to see him cry. :/

 

I hope it was his choice to join them so soon after, because damn. :(

[Aisling]

I was going to post nearly this exact same thing. I feel like many posts recently have just been people arguing their points about different pairings over and over just from opposite sides and I didn't think that is what this thread was for?

 

This was my point when the jikook vs. vkook conversation started. I know the line of what's on-topic and what's not can be blurry, but with ships, I think it comes down to: if you're posting sus moments between members to make a point about one or both of their sexualities, that's fine. Sometimes a person only indicates their sexuality in their interactions with other people, and we mostly see idols interacting with their members. If, however, you agree that all members involved are likely not-straight, and you're just arguing about which ship is more real, that's really more of a discussion for the shipping threads. It's not that's it's a bad thing to discuss; it's just not what this thread is for.