The Gay and Queer in Kpop Thread

[MlCKEY]

Has Chanhee from The Boyz been discussed here before? What is everyone's opinions on him here?

Deobi twitter has been blowing up today because Chanhee talked about wanting to buy a bible for his room because he reads it every night and now everyone is questioning his sexuality.

I know discussions on him being gay were sort of hit or miss on Onehallyu. He's very feminine so a lot of people think he's gay because of that, but I know it was reveled later on that apparently his mom really wanted a girl so when he turned out to be a boy his mom made him only dress as a girl for the beginning part of his life. If I recall the story correctly I think around the time he was hitting puberty he decided he really didn't vibe with it and identified as a boy and cut his hair and started dressing as a boy from then on? So that's why he tends to dress feminine.

He's also said before that he has no intention of getting married and a lot of people think that him not wanting to get married = he's gay?

I find this whole debate people are causing over it very ironic though because his groupmate Kevin is EXTREMELY religious (There's a ton of predebut pictures of him in churches doing church stuff, he has several religious tatoos including that huge one on his arm, he posts bible quotes and stuff a lot, he's sung a bunch of religious song covers, he reads a ton of religious books and posts about them online/in his bubble/ talks about them on his lives, and i could list more) yet no one's ever batted an eye at it?

Is there a source for the Chanhee dressing as a girl thing? I remember reading that on OH and trying to find a source but never finding anything. If so that's a crazy thing for his mother to have done. The Reimer twins experiment was really fucked up in multiple ways but regardless it clearly traumatized the poor kid.

I think there might be a bit of disconnect with the Christianity thing by virtue of it being western fans reacting. Kevin is obviously Canadian, grew up in Canada, is fluent etc. and I think in general in the English speaking country sphere there's been a large influx of gay-friendly churches, pastors, media, and such. I'm not really sure that exists to the same level in Korea especially since they aren't a "Christian nation" like the US and having a defined religion or at least background in it isn't considered the norm. Which may be why it feels like it's easier to reconcile Kevin's religion with the sexuality a lot of people put on him vs. Chanhee.

Might also just be because Kevin mostly does "cool" Christian things (ie tattoos) and has that sort of theology undergrad vibe with the sort of books he reads and recommends. Chanhee talking about keeping a Bible near his bed doesn't really read as cool-christianity lol

 

[Cosmic]

Is there a source for the Chanhee dressing as a girl thing? I remember reading that on OH and trying to find a source but never finding anything. If so that's a crazy thing for his mother to have done. The Reimer twins experiment was really fucked up in multiple ways but regardless it clearly traumatized the poor kid.

It seems the Twitter account that translated Chanhee talking about being raised as a girl got deleted which is why we no longer can find the source, but I found a screen shot and a picture of him as a kid where his mom was forcing him to have longer permed hair if it helps:

Instead of fans starting a riot because he’s religious, I feel like fans should more start a riot about his mom forcing him to dress as a girl because that’s messed up. I know in America depending on the extent of it then it could even be considered abuse

 

[MlCKEY]

It seems the Twitter account that translated Chanhee talking about being raised as a girl got deleted which is why we no longer can find the source, but I found a screen shot and a picture of him as a kid where his mom was forcing him to have longer permed hair if it helps:

Instead of fans starting a riot because he’s religious, I feel like fans should more start a riot about his mom forcing him to dress as a girl because that’s messed up. I know in America depending on the extent of it then it could even be considered abuse

Yeah its a really mentally damaging thing to do which is why I wanted to find the source. I worry that it might be a mistranslation telephone game where he may have been saying something more benign like "my mother dressed me girlishly/had me keep my hair longer" that has morphed into "my mother raised me as a girl" which aren't necessarily the same thing.

 

[gam3 bo1]

 

[MlCKEY]

Good for him! I followed treasure when they were rookies and liked him a lot though he never really pinged or anything. I like his voice a lot so I was disappointed he left. At the same time it's hard for any vocalist to shine in a group of Treasure's size. I'm glad he feels confident and comfortable posting this! I hope someday we might get him singing again too, I still think about his cover of half moon from Treasure Box, seriously pretty voice.

 

[i_am_knife]

I was on tiktok the other day and I came across several videos of people saying Riki from ZB1 and Niki Enhypen were dating. Lmao. I only knew who Niki was and didn't have a clue on who Riki was. Everyone kept mentioning Dispatch and I thought Riki was a girl and now it's going to be a big row on twitter then I did a little research and turns out Riki is a dude and it was all just a joke. sigh.

 

[Cosmic]

I know Ten drew this picture I think 2 years ago? And it was concept for if he ever had a solo. It was a hot topic because a lot of fans interpreted it as two guys kissing. Someone on twitter pointed out the comparison of this picture and what I’m assuming is a picture preview from his upcoming solo and I thought i’d drop it here:

 

[EphemeralGayz]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Kim Minseok of Melomance?

I need someone to check my gaydar for me. Lol.

 

[MlCKEY]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Kim Minseok of Melomance?

I need someone to check my gaydar for me. Lol.

I remember getting a vibe from him around 2022 award season when he had two hit songs and was performing a lot but I cannot recall for the life of me what it was that was making me think that. Best I've got is that there's a definite association between drunken confessions and gay men confessing their love to their friends in Korea for whatever reason. You see it a lot on comedy variety shows where they'll insinuate that [male cast member] will talk lovey dovey or confess things to [other male cast member] and the implied joke is [male cast member] is gay. Obviously that song was a mega hit though so straight people clearly related to the lyrics I'm not gonna argue that it's a clearly implied-queer song lol

 

[EphemeralGayz]

I remember getting a vibe from him around 2022 award season when he had two hit songs and was performing a lot but I cannot recall for the life of me what it was that was making me think that. Best I've got is that there's a definite association between drunken confessions and gay men confessing their love to their friends in Korea for whatever reason. You see it a lot on comedy variety shows where they'll insinuate that [male cast member] will talk lovey dovey or confess things to [other male cast member] and the implied joke is [male cast member] is gay. Obviously that song was a mega hit though so straight people clearly related to the lyrics I'm not gonna argue that it's a clearly implied-queer song lol

Ooo. I love that. I need to look up the lyrics.

This challenge video is something I remembered that made him ping for me. They act like gay/straight-girl besties at the end and I wasn't prepared going into it. Lol

 

[Cosmic]

I know Ten drew this picture I think 2 years ago? And it was concept for if he ever had a solo. It was a hot topic because a lot of fans interpreted it as two guys kissing. Someone on twitter pointed out the comparison of this picture and what I’m assuming is a picture preview from his upcoming solo and I thought i’d drop it here:

I just wanted to update everyone that it turns out this picture the internet was blowing up over was actually him drinking out of a water bottle:

Anyway, here is how wayzennie twitter is right now:

 

[MlCKEY]

I just wanted to update everyone that it turns out this picture the internet was blowing up over was actually him drinking out of a water bottle:

Anyway, here is how wayzennie twitter is right now:

lmao Bottle-nim x Ten soft launch

 

[sooat]

there is this girl who lives in korea and said that once she met a man with the same mannerisms as Key and she thought he was gay but he was straight
then she met this man at the club (very manly) and she thought he was straight but he was gay and his boyfriend was there with him
so she said for people not to be stuck in stereotypes

 

[Sergel]

there is this girl who lives in korea and said that once she met a man with the same mannerisms as Key and she thought he was gay but he was straight
then she met this man at the club (very manly) and she thought he was straight but he was gay and his boyfriend was there with him
so she said for people not to be stuck in stereotypes

This is true I’m a general sense as well globally. Even then, sometimes gay culture differs abut by country.

That said….
There is merit to the idea that we use certain cues and mannerisms to communicate with each other, and there are some cultural trends within the gay community you can see in men around the world.

End of the day, it’s hard to truly know if someone is gay unless they tell you. Outside of that is more specific things they say and things they do.

 

[MlCKEY]

there is this girl who lives in korea and said that once she met a man with the same mannerisms as Key and she thought he was gay but he was straight
then she met this man at the club (very manly) and she thought he was straight but he was gay and his boyfriend was there with him
so she said for people not to be stuck in stereotypes

It's important to remember that stereotypes mostly don't come out of nothing, though. Sometimes things get caricatured and evolve, but many stereotypes are still built on truths that the community themselves conform to by choice.

There are always going to be outliers who don't conform at all, but ignoring the fact that people intentionally present in a certain way in order to clue others in on the non-visible communities they're apart of is also very much a thing.

 

[seokqlr]

just saw this & what do u guys think?

 

[sooat]

 

[MlCKEY]

just saw this & what do u guys think?

He is the one spouting gay Twitter memes lol
I've never felt like I had a good read on him but if he's not gay, he's definitely an ally.

 

[MlCKEY]

Love these two. Crazy how strong their relationship ended up despite the show only being a week. I think they moved in together shortly after though and that probably helped.

 

[Sergel]

just saw this & what do u guys think?

Since the original tweet doesn’t state it, is this Beomgyu?