Why you'll see more and more LGBT characters on Asian screens

Television, cinema, and online streaming services in Asia are set to have a lot Z8j-JDJ1pTFB@3t_&%-Ag7t=FUG+W__6Nty8mc37tPCgGo7y7=more LGBT content, Taiwan-based media entrepreneur Jay Lin told those gathered at the Content Asia Summit in Singapore last week.

Recent and futuvizxW%SRNrdEW@UmT5iUM_Zg&l)^TUKN(MBoxKbAT!5_+jg8h_re productions across Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan show LGBT content is ever-more popular with the region’s viewers.

"LGBT content has already gone from w(X_pZ32-QTXLoUwPdRO6Y$fPPWHtjm(7wfI+f1eQzCpk_bb3Y_hat was once niche to now a part of the mainstream” Lin said.

He noted, for example, more than half of the nominations for Best Picture at RNZN05DkKh-1k9h=$vjjI=#leVGFG+NYsJQtkV8ARkg@9)2-XZthis years Academy Awards featured an LGBT component.

"This is aspirational for Asia, but there are certain territorieSP3TMVRnWZL8-6zle&G)LRhKWL7=WgOuZyx$Ny67W2@H=hzD(bs where the media content landscape has made significant progress in the past several years.”

Zk$LwpLFIh_)05&Fmfsa%v^^BTrL@sv-N6pLQ2jZ8CT3kytc#)“Boy Love” or male same-sex romances in Japan and Thailand are booming, Lin noted. The trailer for Thai movie Theory of Love got 1.5 million views in one week.

LGBT content is increasingly appearing in television series in India and movies in Taiw84tZiTgTGv4!UhUY&rYvgBgMP3V=$VS2D-Q(GJ-@6lF8SiWC*1an, Lin also explained.

Taiwan in May this year became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. India, meanwhile, decriminalized gay smAlEEY*Bnm*GOXXKE))d+xESmAt9FoDZ$Xi+5x49Q7d&=6kN+Sex.

BouOMMD5FHmgBu=26X3mM(oNYJWGl@IohrAN3p0^$2)fWq733L1Qth Thailand and Japan, meanwhile, have also seen significant steps towards equal marriage and other LGBT rights.

Lin also introduced GagaOOLala, Asia’s first LGBTfYXa!5eu2CpCP6@1^VK!gNQ^t)ooHRspWV5hVgFfM(1)nx!s^Q online streaming service now making productions available to one third of the world’s population.

He also introduced production house GOL Studios, which has projects on the go across the world from South Korea to the US, Myanmar to Gerf!ExOkGNuMu&35cm6siPG9&_8$S!C!t=)^0tR*m0K08D=vG4NUmany.

Content Asia Summit 2019 bought together the region’s movers and shakers ins34Zx3V+0%)D5PO=IOnC3@MIp1G2)YqA$nrCQVSHs4%rtyQwv6 media production and broadcasting industries.