The K-pop star who came out to the world on stage

Bain was midway via 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 Okay-pop star instructed hundreds of followers: “Earlier than I begin the following tune – I wish 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 group erupted in applause and screams as Bain broke into Girl Gaga’s delight anthem: “Simply put your paws up, ‘Trigger you have been born this manner, 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 – somewhat, he had been attempting to “sound cool”.

A handful of Okay-pop artists have come out as homosexual lately – 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 unimaginable requirements. Admitting to even a heterosexual relationship is scandalous.

“There have been some individuals 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 achieve greater than I would lose.”

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

Bain, whose actual identify is Tune Byeonghee, says he was in secondary college, about 12 years previous, when he realised he was homosexual.

Shortly afterwards, he determined to turn into a Okay-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 may simply fake and hold going.”

Rich, fashionable South Korea continues to be conventional in some ways. Highly effective but conservative church buildings usually see homosexuality as a incapacity or sin. And same-sex marriage just isn’t 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 via 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 am unable to be an idol in any respect. I felt I would 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 girls.’ That is when she knew.”

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

Then his staff 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 come back out on stage.

Since then, the band has been thrust into the highlight – with Bain giving numerous interviews as he rapidly grew to become 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. After I meet somebody new, I present who I’m instantly,” he says. “However I additionally really feel unhappy that my identification is such a giant deal now.”

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

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

He was the primary Korean movie star to open up about his sexuality – and it got here at a value. 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 grew to become the nation’s first brazenly homosexual Okay-pop artist and, in 2020, Jiae, a former member of woman group Wassup, got here out as bisexual. Each have mentioned they discovered it laborious to signal with a file label in consequence.

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

“When somebody like an idol comes out, it offers individuals like me a way that we aren’t alone,” says a 26-year-old Korean transgender lady, who doesn’t wish to be named.

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

On-line too, a majority of the feedback have been constructive. 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 because of 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 Okay-pop fan from the US who identifies as lesbian.

“Realizing that Korea nonetheless has some repression towards LGBTQ individuals, 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 Okay-pop business.

However that can 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, usually 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 standard household values, encouraging younger individuals to marry and have kids to allow them to enhance start charges, at the moment the bottom on this planet.

Given all that, it will not be a shock that homosexuality continues to be a taboo, even in a world business like Okay-pop.

It is a world the place even straight {couples} do not discuss their personal lives, says critic Lim Hee-yun.

“Okay-pop has spent almost 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 method. I consider it marks a serious second”.

However he believes followers might have reacted very in a different way – “it might need been explosive” – if a member of a world 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 gradual course of however we’re seeing extra public figures talking up or content material being created round these LGBTQ points.”

However any quick change in Okay-pop or the leisure business is unlikely, in response to him.

“It isn’t only a social concern – it is a market concern. Male idols normally have a a lot bigger feminine fanbase… [and] should you discover out your favorite male idol is homosexual, that may shatter the phantasm that you can someday 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 could be price it if even “one particular person in Okay-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 secure to take action too.”

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

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