Queer Existence in the K-Idol Space
On April 22, 2025, Bain of JUST B spontaneously came out of the closet at the final stop of their Just Odd tour in Los Angeles. “I’m f***ing proud to be part of the LGBT community,” he told the crowd, revealing that he’s gay. With this proclamation, Bain became the first K-pop idol in an active group to come out—sort of.
Lara of KATSEYE came out as bisexual a month before, and later in June, fellow member Megan also confirmed her bisexuality. In December, XG’s Cocona came out as transgender—specifically transmasculine non-binary.
KATSEYE and XG’s place in the K-pop world is debated, but what is not is that before 2025 there was only one idol who was openly LGBT. Holland, a solo artist, came out in 2018 right as he started his career, when the idea of an openly gay K-pop idol was still unheard of. The music video for his debut single Neverland was given a 19+ rating—an adult rating—for showing him and another man kissing.
Entertainment is no stranger to utilizing what is socially relevant as a means to further financial gains. This naturally entails queer characters and stories being used to attract queer audiences and the money they bring but leaving that same audience unfulfilled in seeing their stories and experiences reflected in good faith.
With fan service also being a staple in idol culture, any attempts at genuine LGBTQ+ representation are haunted by the looming baggage of the term “queerbaiting” (something that, by definition, real-life people cannot do). Flinging this term around discredits the good examples of queer representation in music videos, such as OnlyOneOf depicting various gay relationships in their undergrOund idOl music videos or the video for Chuu’s “Heart Attack” unambiguously portraying a sapphic crush.
Still, I would assert that 2025 was a historical year for queer visibility in the K-pop industry. When the average amount of idols coming out in a year is none, having even one person live their truth openly is a huge achievement.
The biggest worry I carry is fans taking these events and using them as permission to further fuel sexuality and gender speculation of their favorites, but that is unavoidable. Instead, I focus on this positive change and can only hope that in the coming years the Korean idol industry becomes more open to letting a diverse rainbow of people boldly exist as themselves.
