'Little throwback for pride': After Sakura, Le Sserafim's Yujin backs LGBTQIA+ community
While the rest of the world celebrates Pride Month this June, a rare sight of some South Korean celebrities in support of the LGBTQIA+ community comes as a welcome surprise. The country in itself has still not recognized the community due to its conservative mentality but it feels like some K-pop idols are taking a step in the right direction to change this mindset -- Be it singer Holland, being the first openly gay idol and publicly stating that he was in a relationship, or be it Jiae, a former member of Wa$$up exposing the group’s label for kicking her out of the girl group because she came out as bisexual.
The K-pop industry is getting a lot more acknowledgment now that K-pop has gone global and it is evident from the way fourth-gen idols are openly supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. So is the case for HYBE’s newest girl group, Le Sserafim, with members Sakura and now Yujin openly supporting the non-heterosexual community. Sakura, who was formerly a member of IZ*ONE, has been vocal about her love and support for the community as she stated how she wished to be a role model for the LGBTQIA+ community and hoped that K-pop idols to also join hands by using their platform to act as allies to the marginalized community.
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little throwback for pride :)
— 르세라핌 (@IM_LESSERAFIM) June 2, 2022
i love you. unconditionally.#LE_SSERAFIM #HUHYUNJIN #허윤진 #ホユンジン pic.twitter.com/LO7ueLuBQl
Le Sserafim's Yujin shares a message for the Pride Month
Following the footsteps of Sakura, Le Sserafim’s Yujin becomes the newest girl group member to show her support to the community. On June 2, Yujin took to Le Sserafim’s official Twitter handle and shared some throwback photos in celebration of Pride Month. In the post, Yujin posted a photo of herself dressed in white standing in front of a white wall. Both Yujin, as well as the wall, were splattered with bright colored paint that referenced the colors of the LGBT+ flag. The singer also captioned the post with, “Little throwback for pride :)” She added another message for her fans saying, “I love you. Unconditionally.”
This goes on to show that the younger generation of K-pop is unlearning the rigid mindset of the country and using their voice and platform to support the marginalized community. In the past, Shinee’s Minho and SF9’s Rowoon have used their K-drama projects to represent homosexual individuals. Idols and groups like CL, TWICE, Red Velvet, The Boys, Blackpink, Ateez, Pentagon, Loona, Monsta X, and KARD, among many other groups have shown their support for the LGBT+ flag by waving the pride flag during concerts or wearing outfits promoting “Love All” in support of the LGBTQIA+ community making their fans from the community feel loved and accepted.
Despite these actions of support from idols, the prejudice against the community is not lost as back in May of 2022, Holland reported a homophobic hate crime against him where the openly gay idol was assaulted by a man as he walked on the street in South Korea.