7. The band was sadly not promoted enough and didn’t gain enough recognition as it should have given the band’s uniqueness and had to disband soon.
10. LADY
LADY was the first-ever K-Pop band of transgender members who took inspiration from Harisu.
Holland
Holland is known to be the first gay K-Pop idol. She has previously released songs as singles like “Don’t Stop” and “Let’s Party.”
9.
To celebrate “Pride Month,” the LGBTQ+ community has voted for their favorite South Korean male celebrities on social media platform X.
The list has surprised many netizens with actor Son Seok Koo topping the rankings, followed closely by Jung Hae In.
Actors such as Lee Joon Hyuk, Wi Ha Jun, and Nam Joo Hyuk dominate the rankings. This makes me wonder if any fangirls pretended to be gay to vote.”
Related Articles
Article: Top 10 Korean Celebrities Who Are Proud LGBTQ Members
Even if we might think it’s a safer place for people to be who they are, Korea is a place where homosexuality is not openly talked about and remains a social stigma and a taboo to talk about in public.
Soobin (TXT)
Soobin (TXT) is the highest-ranking idol on this list.
6. Dohoon & Shinyu (TWS), Husky (Produce Pandas)
The newcomers Dohoon & Shinyu (TWS) and Husky (Produce Pandas) share the ninth spot.
10.
She had debuted back in 2007 under the entertainment company Jerry Entertainment. She came out as a lesbian who had a girlfriend.
3. Jung Hae In
Jung Hae In ranks second, just behind Son Seok Koo.
3. Nam Joo Hyuk
Nam Joo Hyuk’s strong, rugged beauty is highly favored by the gay community.
5.
**Mingyu (SEVENTEEN)
Mingyu is becoming a “national husband,” loved by everyone regardless of gender and sexual orientation.
8. Cha Eun Woo
Closing the top 10 is Cha Eun Woo, with many surprised by his relatively low ranking.
This list was later reposted on the Korean forum Pann, sparking numerous comments and discussions:
– “Fangirls, stay strong, now you have to compete with the LGBTQ+ community too.”
– “It’s interesting that gay men like puppy-like male celebrities while lesbians prefer cat-like ones.”
– “Son Seok Koo has very ambiguous eyes, and his facial features aren’t that striking.
He could not handle the issues that came as the aftermath of coming out, and he faced many problems like canceling his appearances on shows until he couldn’t take it anymore and killed himself at the age of twenty-three.
7. Choi Han-Bit
More popularly known as “Han-Bit,” is a transgender entertainer who turned from a model to an actor who was initially a model for the channel SBS (sponsorship).
He shared after coming out that he came out to inspire courage in his queer fans.
Former Wassup Member Jiae
Wassup unfortunately disbanded recently but since this happened one of the former member Jiae has come out as bisexual on a vlog as well as posting pictures with her girlfriend.
**Lee Je Hoon**
Despite reaching his 40s, Lee Je Hoon remains youthful and widely adored.
9. Son Seok Koo
Son Seok Koo, born in 1983, gained fame through series such as “My Liberation Notes,” “D.P.,” and “Jirisan.” However, his top position on this list has surprised many.
2.
Marshall Bang
Known as MRSHLL, he is an R&B singer who was not raised in Korea but Los Angeles but was accepted well in Korea when he came out publically. In K-Pop, there’s not a lot to talk about when it comes to Pride months because of the taboo and that the big companies make the artists sign rosters for the same.
1.
Among idols, the highest position belongs to Soobin (TXT), who surpassed prominent seniors Mingyu (SEVENTEEN) and Cha Eun Woo (ASTRO).
Here are the top 10 South Korean male celebrities most loved by the LGBTQ+ community:
1. The issue has become more and more accepted in very recent years with many public figures becoming advocates for the cause, however it is still a massive debate with generally a few more people against than for.
There are moves being made, there is now even a show called ‘Marry Queer’ which will feature queer couples and discuss their relationships with some openly gay hosts and the relationships being looked at with a sympathetic lens on a major network.
However, this makes the few instances of the publicly gay celebrities in South Korea even braver for being openly themselves and facing the issues which come with being openly gay in this country.
The visibility these celebrities give towards being gay is what makes them so appreciated by LGBT+ citizens in Korea as well as international fans of Korean culture.
This list will list 9 of the most prominent openly gay celebrities in South Korea since there are unfortunately very few examples of celebrities who have been open about this element of their life.
However, to make up for this we have also included 6 celebrities in South Korea who have openly shown their support for the LGBT+ community and are strong allies because of this.
We have had more choice with this with more and more Korean celebrities voicing their support every year in spite of the backlash even doing this can cause.
Korean society is incredibly critical of its celebrities with it being very easy for the public to make their concerns with celebrities public.
With this being known, these are the most prominent gay Korean celebrities and those who openly support them!
Openly LGBT+ Korean Celebrities
These are the incredibly brave celebrities who are celebrities in Korean, or Korean in origin who openly identify as LGBT+.
Hong Seok- Cheon
When talking about gay figures in Korean entertainment, it is hard to overlook Hong Seok Cheon who is an incredibly famous TV personality in Korea who is very open about his sexuality in the public sphere.
He came out 22 years ago at the age of 30 in 2000 when the attitude towards LGBT+ individuals was even worse than it is now.
He has openly spoken about how bad the initial response to his sexuality was with him getting fired from most of his work incredibly quickly as well as receiving death threats and even thinking about suicide.
It took him 3 years after coming out to even be able to consider coming into the public sphere again, but since then he has been able to regain his popularity and has been able to hold down many jobs on TV for his lovable personality.
He is one of the MCs of the aforementioned Marry Queer reality show mentioned alongside K-pop star Hani from EXID and is shown talking to this idol about his experiences and being able to openly discuss and educate on TV in Korea which would have been unthinkable in the past.
Holland
A very different example from the previous Holland made a solo debut in 2018 but not before having to go independent since his label refused to debut a gay idol even this recently.
He was open about this struggle and helped him gain an audience and has been able to maintain a strong fanbase in Korea as well as worldwide which would not have been possible if he remained repressed at his label.
He has been able to portray his sexuality in his music videos and has spoken about how this has been able to empower him, while also understanding how this restricts his career in Korea.
MRSHLL (Marshall Bang)
Marshall Bang is a Korean American singer who came out in an interview with Time Out in 2015 where he then became one of K-pop’s first openly gay artists.
MRSHLL has been able to maintain a career in both Korea and America and his skills as a singer and producer have been able to speak for themselves and lead him to success.
He has been open about the lack of acceptance he got from his parents, but has also shared that his brothers as well as chosen family were supportive of him.
KilliAN (Lin Jia Le)
KilliAN is a former trainee of one of the biggest Kpop companies being JYP entertainment and joined the company at the young age of just 14.
During his time at the company JYP was preparing to debut the now incredibly popular groups 2PM as well as 2AM, and it is widely accepted that he was planned to be one of the members of these boy groups.
However, he was not able to do so and flourish as he was kicked out of the label after he was discovered to be in a gay relationship with another male trainee at the company.
KilliAN has continued in his path to success but the story of him being kicked out of JYP is particularly tragic knowing the success of the 2 groups he could have been in.
Aquinas (Kang Min Soo)
This contestant on competition show High School Rapper competed in 2019 and ended up coming in an impressive 2nd place and was already known for his appearance on Show Me The Money in 2016 as well.
The rapper came out on Instagram in 2021 as bisexual and this got a mostly positive response.
There has been a lot of drama surrounding her ever since she came out publicly, and as a result of the unexpected move was even kicked out of her company, showing us the struggles and hard conditions for an artist to survive.
