STRAY KIDS' LEE FELIX OUTS HIMSELF AS BISEXUAL

This morning, Stray Kids' Felix came out as bisexual in an official announcement. It declared how he is attracted to both men and women and thus a proud part of the LGBT-community. He stated that he wanted to be as honest and real with his fandom - Stay - as they've always been with him. Felix is happy to share that part of himself with the world and hopes that Stays are happy for him as well.
Felix is to get in the (still short) line of openly queer kpop-idols like Marshall Bang and Holland. Though, the reactions to his coming out were, compared with former outings, surprisingly positive thus far. Stays seem to be genuinely happy for him.
Maybe Felix's outing and Stays unconditional support paves the way for a more open and accepting kpop-industry in terms of LGBT-artists.

dispatch

~

I was nervous.

The reactions were really positive so far.

But I was still afraid it would turn.

And also, I was about to go live. Alone.

Just me and stays. And the haters, of course.

God, I hoped nothing bad would happen.

'You got this!' mouthed Chan from behind the camera, cheering me on.

He had offered to make this live together with me, but I wanted to face them alone. It was my decision, my sexuality.

I shivered just thinking that maybe in a while I'd sit here and talk live about my coming out as nonbinary.

Scary.

The staff member gave me one final nod and turned the camera on.

I pressed the live button.

As all the members had posted over the day that I would go scheduled live at this time, viewers were quick to trickle in.

Comments as well.

I waited a few minutes smiling at the camera and greeting them.

My heart was beating unnaturally fast against my chest.

I tried to read the first comments but they were way to quick.

A little number at the top of the screen indicated that I had already nearly one million viewers. Holy shit.

That did nothing to easy my nervousness.

'Hello, guys! So nice to see all of you here! I think you can guess what the topic of this live will be, right?'

I chuckled.

A comment said:

OMG FELIX IS IT TRUE?!?!

I read it out loud and answered then seriously, but with the hint of a smile in the camera: 'Yes, it is. I'm bisexual. For the ones of you who don't know, that means I'm attracted to both men and women.'

I shortly debated what to say next.

'Since you guys probably have a lot of questions, feel free to ask, I'll give my best to answer you.'

I watched more and more comments spamming the screen.

I'm so happy for youuuu

Are you and Changbin a couple??

Omg bi king

You can't be attracted to both, either you're gay or straight

FELIX MY BIAS I'M BISEXUAL TOO

I laughed and read the next one out loud: 'I knew it, I knew you were bisexual, no one's surprised! Well, I gave you enough hints didn't I? Of course you'd have figured it out by now.'

The amount of negative or hate comments kept actually at a really low limit.

My tension evaporated within seconds.

Stays were really happy for me, maybe a little shocked but there wasn't any need to worry.

I felt like a huge weight lifted from my chest.

More confident and free, I went on reading comments and answering them.

When did you find out?

'Actually when I was fourteen or fiveteen. I had a huge crush on my male best friend back then, but denied myself for more than two years. I'm so happy and proud to be finally - officially - out now, though.'

Did you have anymore crushes since then?

I smiled in the camera. 'Who knows'

Are you in a relationship??

'No, I'm not. I'm single. Would you be okay to share me?'

A warm smile creeped on my lips as I read their answers to that.

Of course

omg yes

as long as we get cute couple content

yes ofc

why not?

'You're all really mature and I appreciate that more than you can imagine.' I laughed. 'Not that there's any hope that I'll get out of the single life anytime soon.'

If you had to choose - Scarlett Johansson or Ryan Reynolds?

'Guys, what are that for questions? I have to go with Ryan Reynolds for loyalty reasons, though.'

FELIX ARE U TOP OR BOTTOM?!?

The staff mentioned me frantically to not answer that, but I already grinned in the camera and said with a wink:
'Come and find out.'

I heard Chan's choked laugh.

On my phone popped instantly more private messages from the members up.

Changbin wrote in all capital letters: FELIX ARE YOU INSANE

Minho: you did NOT just say that

Hyunjin: wait I'm on my way omg

Seungmin wrote: please don't get us fired

Jisung was the best though: damn babe that was hot

I smiled and happily continued the live.

Whereas otherwise it felt weird and awkward when the other members watched my lives, I was now glad to know that they were here, by my side.

Even though they kept distracting me the whole time.

•°

A few days later I was just finishing dance practice and leaving the studio as two girls approached me giggling.

I had seen them around a few times already, but we never talked. I didn't know what to expect from them at all. I smiled nervously. Small talk, let's go.

They introduced themselves as trainees who'll debut soon, hopefully together.

After sharing an excited glance which each other, the smaller one said to me: 'Actually, we just wanted to say that we admire you a lot for what you did.'

For a moment I just stared at her, not understanding. 'What I did?' Then I remembered the last days. 'Ohhh, you mean the coming out?'

They nodded eagerly. The smaller girl continued: 'That was so brave. And everyone is just so nice and happy about it, I would have never thought that possible. It gave us so much hope!'

'Hope? Oh my god, are you queer too?'

They shortly smiled at each other, then intertwined their fingers gently. 'Yeah, we're a couple.'

I gasped dramatically, covering my mouth with a hand. 'No! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you! You two make an amazing couple!'

They really did.

We talked a while longer and promised to stay in touch.

I was so happy to meet them.

And I wished them with my whole heart that one day they could have a public relationship as they dreamed of.

It wasn't long after that another trainee spoke to me.

Turns out, he was a gay guy who already wanted to give up his dream and leave the industry, as he didn't see a chance to live out and proud anytime soon.

Though with me outing myself, he reconsidered and wanted to come out as soon as he debuted.

I was glad that we could keep him. I knew that he was a brilliant singer and quite talented dancer. He deserved to be out there, on stage. His sexuality shouldn't hold him back.

Over the time, I got to know more and more people in our industry who were part of the LGBTQ-Community. Trainees, idols, staff members.

The whole place was gay.

For me, it felt great to be kind of a role model, to be able to give other people hope and make all these new contacts.

•°

All in all, the reactions were mind-blowingly positive.

Of course I got a little more hate than usual, biphobia added on top of the other crap, but fortunately Stays were eager to fight back. They kept it in check.

There were a lot of articles being written about me; I had to do like thousands of interviews were they asked the same questions over and over again. But it was worth it.

The next live concert we had, the whole crowd was decorated with bisexual flags. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I couldn't even perform properly because I was just crying the whole time. Out of happiness, of course.

The other members hugged me tightly on stage and Chan said to Stays: 'I think you broke Felix with that one. We're so thankful for you.'

I really was. I said that like a thousand times during the concert.

I felt loved and safe and proud.

But nonetheless, being bisexual was just a small part of my identity and with more and more time passing I wanted more and more to share that other part of me too.

•°

So. I did want to come out as nonbinary.

Problem: our head management was a bunch of money-mad queerphobic cowards. They didn't want me to come out.

But I wasn't backing down that easily.

Chan neither.

One day, when I had an appointment with our managers, he joined me.

And told me this:

'I talked with the others about this. Without you. To not make them feel pressured. And, listen: they all agreed within seconds that we're first your family, your best friends, not idols. And that we want you to be able to be out and yourself more than anything.

Without hesitation, everyone agreed that when it comes to decide between a life as idol with you unhappy or even without you and a life without our money and fame - we'd all choose you and screw our success. We love you and will stand by your side no matter what happens.'

'I don't want you to-'

'But we want to. Hey, let me speak. This also means that our management can't threaten us with losing our jobs or cutting off our money - because we don't care. As long as we're together we're happy.

And we're goddamn talented - if our label doesn't want us anymore I'm sure another one will be happy enough to take its place. And they'd let you be free and out as the wonderful person you are.'

I cry a lot, yes. But I have never, ever, in my whole life cried as hard as I did when he told me that.

I didn't know how I deserved them. They were willing to give up so much just for the sake of my happiness. They were willing to fight for me.

Knowing them by my side was the most fucking amazing feeling I've ever had.

Together with Chan (and our personal manager - who always supported us as best as he could) we visited the head management again and again. Fighting for my coming out.

They were stubborn, yes.

But we were, too. And as Chan said, they couldn't threaten us with anything anymore.

Further, we were their main source of income. They couldn't risk losing us. And we made clear: If they didn't let me come out we'd go and find another label.

They realized after some time they had no other choice than to give in.

Though, they still tried to demonstrate their superiority. They bargained that, if our next come back should be a success (despite me being now openly bisexual), I could out myself as nonbinary. If it wasn't a success, I had to agree to wait a little longer and keep quiet.

With them, 'a little longer' could mean everything between two years and never, but I was okay with the truce anyways.

Because I knew for a fact our next album was going to be fucking great.

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