29/100 Days Of Park Jimin | Prince Of Busan

⁂ 29/100 days of park jimin | Prince of Busan

this one's for all the "but you can be openly gay in the west" anons...

spoiler alert! → → → nope, not exactly.

no, but for real: what is this queer utopian "West" y'all speak of?

'cause where i'm at, i still can't hold hands with my wife in public without being approached or harassed, especially by cishet men, so...

like, please.

*sighs in 500+ currently active anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination bills*

including a current ban on "public homosexuality" just outside of Nashville, TN - not to mention current nationwide bans on LGBTQIA+ library books, drag shows, drag storytime and other queer resources/events.

and don't get me started on all of the tragic stories of Black queer and trans people, and queer and trans people of color (especially trans women) who have been murdered in the name of transphobia and homophobia in recent years right here in the US - again, the "West".

that said... can you name a big mainstream/pop star who publicly disclosed their queer identity right at the time of their debut and made it big in the industry from the get-go?

sadly, me neither.

sure, Troye Sivan came out on YouTube at age 18 pre-pop star fame, so i get the impression his label had figured the GP already had time to "get used to" this blond, blue-eyed white musician from Australia being gay:

which is very different than being a queer artist of color from SK who doesn't speak fluent English - in an unjustifiably Eurocentric, Anglocentric, xenophobic, homophobic industry and world, mind you:

(we love you, JK! 💕)

i've already spoken about how much higher the stakes are for queer people of color vs. queer white people, no matter where you are in the world.

so the fact that someone like JK (a presumably queer Korean man from a super conservative society) is doing the throwback Ricky Martin/George Michael/Lance Bass/Jonathan Knight/Sam Smith/Billy Porter/Luther Vandross/Teddy Pendergrass (way before my time, but still!) Het Heartthrob thing to play it "safe" in his solo debut career in 2023 - especially right before mandatory MS - is (sadly) not that surprising.

and if SK is roughly a decade or so "behind" the US** in terms of LGBTQIA+ rights, then a similar career trajectory in the 90's/00's sorta tracks for queer idols and other entertainers in SK today.

**(and i wanna be careful with that language, because we know SK is only socially "behind" western countries due to the laser-sharp focus that was required to rebuild their country after the Korean War in 1953, which had to eclipse social progress at the time out of economic necessity - a lag in progress that has sadly spilled over into the present.)

case in point: another pretty face with a golden voice...

Tevin Campbell.

a Texas-born choir kid-turned-Quincy Jones protégé who - when he debuted as a teen with the hopeful, uplifting track Tomorrow - was dubbed the next Michael Jackson-esque vocalist.

despite that Tevin sang about, pursued and cozied up to teen girls/women in his MV's and performances, he wasn't publicly out.

BuzzFeed

Tevin Campbell Confirmed his Sexuality and Praised Frank Ocean and Lil Nas X

After years of speculation, the '90s R&B star has publicly embraced his sexuality and is hopeful for the future of queer Black artists in an

"After years of speculation, the '90s R&B star has publicly embraced his sexuality and is hopeful for the future of queer Black artists in an industry (and a society) still rife with anti-gay discrimination."

↑↑↑ yep. that last part in red.

again - right here in the US. in the "West" in the present day.

so if The Tevin Campbell is saying this about the music industry in the west as of 2022, it makes sense that JK - another crooner of color marketed as a quintessential "ladies' man" - would present as a cishet pop singer in this day and time.

"Depending on which decade you were born, you may know Tevin Campbell as an R&B singer, a cartoon heartthrob, or the guy whose song started a viral TikTok challenge.

'I didn’t hide anything about me. I didn’t try to act a certain way or anything,' he said. 'You just couldn’t be [gay] back then,' he said.

After he briefly stepped away from his R&B career and joined the Broadway musical Hairspray, he fully embraced his identity: 'Being around people who were like me, LGBTQ+ people that were living normal lives and had partners — I had never seen that.'

Tevin explained that as a teen star, he knew his sexuality but didn't have the time to process it."

i was a kid when Tevin made it big, but i remember rumors swirling about him being gay, especially as he entered adulthood and i tried to stuff down my own budding lesbian leanings.

and back then - like he said himself - you simply couldn't be openly gay (in the music industry), especially as a person of color and/or of a non-western ethnicity. the stakes were just too high. you could lose your family, your career, your "reputation"... everything.

Tevin came out last year (2022) at the age of 45.

let that sink in...

in 2022. 30 years later.

Tevin told Out.com:

"When I came out to my family and friends [at] about 19 or 20, that was it for me. And then I went on the road of discovering myself. I didn't know who I was."

"What makes me happiest right now is how far I've come in life. You know, there are a lot of child stars that don't make it. But a lot of us do, and [I've embraced that fact]."

cr./ckimberlinjr - x/twt

cr./UmEarth2Chelsea - x/twt

Tevin with fellow R&B hitmakers Aaliyah and Brandy

cr./tevincampbell - instagram

bonus: following Tevin's performance on Soul Train of Can We Talk (which still slaps, btw 🔥 - you should watch it!) is this interview where, even though he was still a minor at the time, he tells the host the meaning behind the title of his new album - I'm Ready: shorthand for the more "mature" image he was going for.

(hmm... sounds familiar! Jungkook, you have a call on line 2! ☎️)

cr./BET Networks - youtube

Tevin Campbell was (and still is!) everything. periodt.

anygays... unfortunately we're not "there" yet as a society - not even in the west. is it easier being queer here than in other parts of the world? sure, but like i said, there's levels to this sh!t, depending on other (especially public) oppressed identities a queer person has.

that said... i remain hopeful and expect our cishet friends and fam to help us take down all this homophobic and transphobic gatekeeping, violence and erasure that holds back so many of us and destroys queer lives.

may all of our queer icons and artists from the Global South, the west and everywhere in between rise up and shine like the beacons of hope, love, beauty and joy they are! ✨

untagged photos: all credit to rightful owners

Why is this giving me steamy foggy mirror vibes? 🧐

The overlapping text. Foggy, out of focus. Seven days a week.

Lemme say that again.

Seven days a week, y'all.

Get ready to clutch your pearls.

A hot summer jam is coming 🍓🌶️🔥☀️

We knew Jikook was coming with the 1, 2 punch. But I'm still not ready. We're bring this gif back today for this summer jam!

Cr. Moonlit night

JK and JM D-day Black N White pics

Surprise surprise, the J not covered nor is it separated from the M once again.

yes, hunny x 2 😍😍😍

sassy jungkook ✨

The sound immediately made me smile 🥰

Love this so much!

Jikook giggles! 🥰🥰