The Ok-pop star who got here out to the world on stage

Bain was midway by way of his band’s Los Angeles live performance on a crisp April night time when the music stopped.

In an outsized fur coat and black sun shades, the 24-year-old Ok-pop star informed hundreds of followers: “Earlier than I begin the following music – I need to share one thing with you guys.”

A short pause after which: “I am [expletive] proud to be a part of the LGBTQ neighborhood!”

The gang erupted in applause and screams as Bain broke into Girl Gaga’s satisfaction anthem: “Simply put your paws up, ‘Trigger you had been born this fashion, child”.

In that second, as he got here out to the world, he was not nervous, he tells the BBC in an interview at his studio in Seoul – quite, he had been making an attempt to “sound cool”.

A handful of Ok-pop artists have come out as homosexual in recent times – however none as publicly as Bain.

Even in 2025, that could be a daring transfer in South Korea’s leisure business, the place stars are held to not possible requirements. Admitting to even a heterosexual relationship is scandalous.

“There have been some folks within the business who knew [I was thinking of coming out] and warned me towards it, saying it will be a threat,” Bain says. “And naturally I assumed concerning the threat – that we would lose followers.

“However then I assumed, society is altering… I would acquire greater than I would lose.”

That is the large query: has he thrown open the door to alter in an business that has develop into international however stays deeply rooted in a conservative South Korea?

Bain, whose actual title is Music Byeonghee, says he was in secondary faculty, about 12 years previous, when he realised he was homosexual.

Shortly afterwards, he determined to develop into a Ok-pop trainee however he saved his sexuality a secret – he felt like being homosexual was “not allowed”.

“It wasn’t one thing I questioned… I simply thought I had no alternative,” he says. “There was no-one else [around me that was gay]. I assumed I might simply fake and maintain going.”

Rich, trendy South Korea continues to be conventional in some ways. Highly effective but conservative church buildings typically see homosexuality as a incapacity or sin. And same-sex marriage will not be legally recognised.

In 2021, Bain made his debut as a part of a six-member boyband, Simply B. They’ve launched a number of albums and have taken half in actuality reveals, incomes a devoted viewers.

However by way of all of it, the years of hiding part of himself took a toll on Bain.

“I used to be so overwhelmed, I assumed possibly I can not be an idol in any respect. I felt I might been hiding a lot. I made a decision to speak to Mother.”

That was about three years in the past. His mom was the primary particular person in his household to search out out: “We talked for an hour, and I lastly mentioned, ‘I like males greater than ladies.’ That is when she knew.”

Her response was troublesome for him. “Actually, she did not prefer it – not at first. She mentioned she thought I might overcome it, that possibly I might sometime like ladies. She felt unhappy… that I might now face unhealthy reactions from others. However [she] mentioned, ‘You are my son, so I really like you, I assist you, I really like you.’ It was combined. I used to be unhappy, however in the long run grateful she mentioned she loves me.”

Then his workforce members and firm started encouraging him to take the leap – and inform the world.

Earlier this yr the band started a world tour, and on the final cease of their US tour, Bain determined to return out on stage.

Since then, the band has been thrust into the highlight – with Bain giving numerous interviews as he rapidly turned the brand new face of the Korean LGBTQ neighborhood.

“I really feel like I’ve modified so much since popping out. I really feel extra assured. Once I meet somebody new, I present who I’m instantly,” he says. “However I additionally really feel unhappy that my identification is such an enormous deal now.”

Over time, he hopes, folks will cease saying “oh, he is homosexual, however quite, oh, that is simply who he’s”.

When South Korean actor Hong Seok-Cheon got here out as homosexual in 2000, LGBTQ illustration really entered the nation’s mainstream.

He was the primary Korean celeb to open up about his sexuality – and it got here at a price. He was dropped from TV reveals and ads.

Attitudes have definitely modified since then. A Pew survey from 2019 confirmed that the quantity of people that accepted homosexuality has risen to 44% from 25% in 2002.

And but, solely a handful of different celebrities have come out. In 2018, Holland turned the nation’s first brazenly homosexual Ok-pop artist and, in 2020, Jiae, a former member of lady group Wassup, got here out as bisexual. Each have mentioned they discovered it exhausting to signal with a document label because of this.

Bain’s announcement, nevertheless, has been celebrated by each followers and South Korea’s LGBTQ neighborhood.

“When somebody like an idol comes out, it provides folks like me a way that we’re not alone,” says a 26-year-old Korean transgender girl, who doesn’t need to be named.

“It brings consolation…makes me assume, possibly I am okay the way in which I’m.”

On-line too, a majority of the feedback have been optimistic. One homosexual fan in a YouTube remark wrote how he was inspired by Bain, after feeling “a lot despair” over “the hateful feedback” and discrimination.

“However due to Bain, I’ve discovered the braveness to maintain going.”

Worldwide followers have particularly cheered him on: “After the preliminary shock, I began to cry,” mentioned Lia, a Ok-pop fan from the US who identifies as lesbian.

“Understanding that Korea nonetheless has some repression towards LGBTQ folks, the bravery and braveness he displayed by popping out…[was] admirable.”

South Korea’s cultural footprint has been rising globally, and that has introduced followers from in all places, with their very own views and beliefs. They might properly reshape the Ok-pop business.

However that may take time. And that’s evident within the vary of feedback in response to Bain’s announcement – disapproval to apathy.

For one, the nation has seen an increase in right-wing, typically avowed anti-feminist beliefs in younger males, who appear to oppose any problem to conventional gender roles.

And people roles stay robust in South Korea. The federal government and the church champion typical household values, encouraging younger folks to marry and have kids to allow them to enhance start charges, presently the bottom on this planet.

Given all that, it is probably not a shock that homosexuality continues to be a taboo, even in a worldwide business like Ok-pop.

This can be a world the place even straight {couples} do not speak about their personal lives, says critic Lim Hee-yun.

“Ok-pop has spent practically 25 years avoiding the subject of sexuality [altogether]. Even heterosexual relationships are hidden to guard fan fantasies.”

Bain, he provides, has “challenged that silence in a symbolic and highly effective approach. I consider it marks a significant second”.

However he believes followers could have reacted very in a different way – “it may need been explosive” – if a member of a worldwide boyband had come out as homosexual.

“Bain’s case was important, however his group is not as well-known [so] it did not trigger as a lot stir domestically,” Mr Lim says.

Bain has definitely helped elevate consciousness, he agrees. “It is a sluggish course of however we’re seeing extra public figures talking up or content material being created round these LGBTQ points.”

However any instant change in Ok-pop or the leisure business is unlikely, in line with him.

“It is not only a social situation – it is a market situation. Male idols often have a a lot bigger feminine fanbase… [and] for those who discover out your favorite male idol is homosexual, that may shatter the phantasm that you might at some point be the article of his affection,” he says.

“So in the event that they do [come out] they threat shaking the muse their fandom is constructed on.”

Bain, nevertheless, says his resolution can be value it if even “one particular person in Ok-pop positive factors energy or curiosity” from it.

“I’ve spent so lengthy pretending… I realised that as a result of I got here out, others felt protected to take action too.”

The day he got here out, he remembers, a number of followers approached him, saying they had been homosexual or lesbian, speaking about their very own identification.

“They thanked me and I assumed to myself ‘I ought to have finished this sooner’.”