A Major K-Pop Star Comes Out

PeterRS · Sunday at 12:52 AM

The K-Pop industry is so isolated and very much a closed community. In the last couple of years it has been known, very sadly, for the suicides of a few top young stars. Most suspect that a few or more of the boys in the boy bands must be gay, but maybe that was just a fantasy.

Now one of its stars has openly come out as gay. Halfway through his band's last concert in Los Angeles in April, the end of a major world tour, 24-year old singer Bain of the group Just B told thousands of fans, "Before I start the next song, I want to share something with you guys. I'm proud to be part of the LGBTQ community." It was the most public outing of any K-Pop star.

He told the BBC that he was not nervous. He had known since the age of 12 that he was gay. When he joined the K-Pop trainee studio, he thought none of the others were gay. As he reached his 20s, he felt so conflicted about his sexuality. The one person he told was, rather surprisngly given the conservative nature of Korean society, his mother. She was initially sad but promised to support his choice, as did his fellow band members who had come to know.

Since the announcement, Bain has become the new face of the Korean LGBTQ community.