K-Pop Star exits the stage world

Bain was in the middle of his bandel concert concert on his band in Crisp April at night to stop music.

In an overdone fur and black sunglasses, the 24-year-old K-pop star tells thousands of fans: “Before I start next song – I want people to share with you.”

A short stop and then: “I (expletive) be proud to be part of the LGBTQ community!”

The crowd explodes applause and shouting that Bain left the Lady Gaga warning: “Just put your paws, ’cause you were born into it, baby”.

At that time, when he got out of the world, he wasn’t nervous, he told the BBC in an interview with his studio studio -, he was trying “good cool”.

A handful of K-Pop artists came out as gay in recent years – but no public as public.

Even in 2025, that is a bold action in South Korea’s entertainment industry, where the stars are made of impossible standards. Claiming even a heterosexual relationship is shocking.

“There are some people in the industry known (I think to go out) and warn me against it, saying it is a danger,” says Bainain. “And of course I think about danger – to lose fans.

“But I remember, society changes … I can get more than I’ll get lost.”

That’s the big question: did he open the door to change an industrial turning global but remains rooted in a conservative South Korea?

Bain, whose real name is the song Byeonghee, saying he is in secondary school, about 12, when he knew he was gay.

Shortly thereafter, he decided to become a K-Pop trainee but he kept his sexuality a secret – he felt that Gay was not “allowed”.

“It’s not something I questioned … I just thought I had no choice,” he said. “Nothing else (around me gay). I think I can pretend and move on.”

The rich, modern South Korea is still traditional in many ways. Strong but conservative churches often see homosexuality as a disability or sin. And marriage of the same sex is not legally recognized.

In 2021, Bain made his debut as part of a six member Father, just B. They released many albums and got a dedicated audience.

But through it all, the years to hide one side of himself had a toll of Bain.

“I’m getting annoyed, I thought I might not be an idol. I felt I was hiding. I decided to talk to Mom.”

That’s about three years ago. Her mother is her first person to know: “we talked for an hour, and i finally say, ‘i want men more than women.’ That’s if he knows. “

His reaction was difficult for him. “Honestly, he didn’t want it – not at first. He said he thought I could overcome it, I was facing bad reactions. I was depressed, but he was deeply thankful that he loved me.”

Then his team members and firms began to encourage him to take the jump – and tell the world.

Last year the band began a tour of the world, and finally stopping their tour of the US, Baines decided to go out on stage.

Since then, the band was set to the room – with Bain giving many interviews as he quickly became a new face in Korea Lgbtq.

“I felt changed my changed since going out. As I assured a new one, I showed who I was,” he said. “But I’m so sad that my identity is a big deal now.”

Over time, he hopes, people stop saying “Oh, gay, but, oh, that’s it”.

In the South Korean actor Hong Seok-Cheon as Gay in 2000, the LGBTQ representation actually entered the mainstream of the country.

He was the first Korean offer to open about his sexuality – and it had a cost. He fell from TV films and advertisements.

Characteristics are definitely changed since then. A pew survey from 2019 shows that the number of people who accept homosexuality risen by 44% from 25% in 2002.

And however, only a few of the other offers to go out. In 2018, Holland became the first open gay K-Pop artist and, in 2020, Jiae, a member of the Girl Group Wassup, came out as bisexual. The two say they find it difficult to sign a record record as a result.

However, the announcement of Baines, celebrated by the LGBTQ community of fans and South Korea.

“If someone like an idol goes out, it gives a feeling that we are not alone,” says a 26-year-old Korean transgender woman, who doesn’t want to be called.

“It gives comfort … thinking of me, I’m probably OK in my situation.”

Online too, most comments are positive. A gay fan of a YouTube comment writes if Bain urges him, then feel “great hopes” of hateful comments “and discrimination.

“But thanks to the Bain, I find the courage to continue.”

The international fans are more likely to make him happy:

“It is known that Korea also has criticism against people of LGBTQ, the courage and courage he shows by exit … (

South Korea’s cultural footprints around the world, and that brings fans from anywhere, with their own views and beliefs. They can reshape the K-Pop industry.

But that’s time to spend time. And that appears in different comments in response to Bain’s announcement – disapproval.

For the USA, the country sees an increase in the right wing, always provides anti-feminist beliefs to young men, as opposed to any challenge of traditional gender roles.

And that roles remained strong in South Korea. The government and the Church Champional qualities of the family, who encouraged young people to marry and have children so that they can increase childbirth rates, now the inferior world.

Allowed to all, unlikely a surprise that homosexuality is still a taboo, even in a global industry like K-pop.

It’s a world where even straight couples don’t talk about their private life, says the critic lim hee-yun.

“K-pop spent almost 25 years of avoidance of sexual subject (even with heterosexual relations kept to protect fan fantasies.”

Bain, he added, has provoked silence in a symbolic way. I believe that it marks a significant time “.

But he believes fans can be different from race – “It can be loud” – if a member of a gay girl went out as gay.

“The case of Bain was important, but his group was not as famous (so) it did not cause many trouble in the room,” said Mr. Lim.

Bain certainly helped raise awareness, he agreed. “It’s a slow process but we see a lot of public figures speaking or in the room made around LGBTQ issues.”

But any immediate changes in K-pop or the entertainment industry is not likely, according to him.

“It’s not just a social issue – this is a market issue. Male idols usually have a more smaller female dog, which you can be a day to her day,” he said.

“So if they do (go out) they are dangerous to shake the foundation established their fandom.”

However, Baines said his decision would be worth whether “a man in K-pop gained strength or interest” from it.

“I spent a long hypocrisy … I realized that because I came out, some feel safe to do.”

On the day he came out, he remembered, many fans came to him, saying that they were gay or lesbian, talking about their own identity.

“They appreciate me and I think of myself ‘I should have it easy’.”