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

Television, cinema, and online streaming services in Asia are set tKxY=CD$eM2sTUKm(4ryO56csYfC&GpvF(ftgc7bzHadLrFxq5Lo have a lot more LGBT content, Taiwan-based media entrepreneur Jay Lin told those gathered at the Content Asia Summit in Singapore last week.

Recent and future productions across Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan show LGBT content is evePKF$P&ip6lUU*hong*nyr=5NwKK9PGuoyygx3*vO%PBDPEQad^r-more popular with the region’s viewers.

"LGBT content has alrZtCW#DAo%EZun-T#NPOgNoCClK5DXhexc7NT0Zrc16sLomFtU=eady gone from what 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 this years Academy Awards featured $([email protected]$([email protected]%cMxrL5p%[email protected](aRQnS5wenQ0tB(e(50uJqyan LGBT component.

"This iRLul_sk_!pBpP*_i6O(7%tshW5d)YE+I_bw1f=ffn%)WwzmX#zs aspirational for Asia, but there are certain territories where the media content landscape has made significant progress in the past several years.”

“Boy Love” or male same-sex romances in Japan and Thailand are booming, Lin noted. The trailer for ThEVdZ)bQn(QC&xa3l4fVsB1prS4EfyzZo0i!V0L%4zPpqj5p-eUai movie Theory of Love got 1.5 million views in one week.

LGBT content is increasingly appearing in %7Gczx&gaCmIieks_SI7fJORm(Kt^Y=%GFHD(igoXCBddS74lhtelevision series in India and movies in Taiwan, Lin also explained.

Taiwan in May this year became the first c3idHLeIeJMb(^eGP*=RhYmL3y2W!fq#hnnFV7etHJgk!X6_$WLountry in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. India, meanwhile, decriminalized gay sex.

Both Thailand and Japan, meanwhile[email protected]&PoOzkO44q131XtK_N&aydE, have also seen significant steps towards equal marriage and other LGBT rights.

Lin also introduced GagaOOLala, Asia’s first LGBT online streaming service now making productions available to one third of the world’o8vL%v)*ULlsfeKg8D3T6sH5KLz9&kZi4JF7RHT%B%Qj&Wim7Ns population.

He also()UzTK%[email protected]#GbvW93Mev introduced production house GOL Studios, which has projects on the go across the world from South Korea to the US, Myanmar to Germany.

Content Asia SummitWuXid9u05r$6de2MD1!+3nzH#4E(O2_w+nzMLZ_Vf0IouVqp_B 2019 bought together the region’s movers and shakers in media production and broadcasting industries.