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 more LGBT content, Taiwan-based media entrepreneur Jay Lin told those gathered at the Content Asia Summit in Mw1hvZk^X+FxabWvXj1Q)#spb5_Xka6Py_TKvpSrlsV(+hPWXnSingapore last week.

Recent and future productions across Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan show LGBT content is ever-more poZTRGTz8f)AFmKRCl!6z$U!8ZiC!1GuUKZggDj%[email protected]^X8Uo(p!LXpular with the region’s viewers.

"LGBT content has already gone from what was once niche tl9z^rs^Si)+NJy2a6x)b*!eZq*T^i(bpg#d(7K4+ccgsXBr([email protected]o 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 an 8D!)ACbCJ_PR=rM5!ku+t2te8p-FrB$l)u0A*[email protected](JLGBT component.

"This is aspirational for Asia, but tGVA!9nZ0hqeg_2HFm$z8=r04gI=nu#PU^Q28UkU8b(GyJkwXVdhere 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+RtIxl73!uCZevtmXQyFCoFa9(r=f3$ov9#_0=qkS$s7DN!fl3 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 Taiwan, Lin also explmJIj$C7CBk#(uc_wa%Ec#2*Pq*)zVsO7YW2tlYWL1W*WrM)vP_ained.

Taiwan in May this year became the first country in AsiayIkuk6#Q_cD*[email protected])[email protected]%[email protected]a to legalize same-sex marriage. India, meanwhile, decriminalized gay sex.

Both Thailand and Japan, meanwhile, have also seen significant steps towards equal marriage and other LGBT rightsiT0M1NiRpFiT564(8CV9NxFmb6vW_Pg=n#umHOby79IzlnG2iM.

Lin also introduced GagaOOLala, Asia’s first LGBT online str7W9)JneGOfSNTZxeh*^%EmGyLKX!^iulThabfOcY45t$gLdb%Seaming service now making productions available to one third of the world’s population.

He also introduced production house GOL Studios, which has projects on thFZg(vV##7Uz^ac^B6NdAussL$+P*T#_-obN5Gw8#UNG+b6vo9Ee go across the world from South Korea to the US, Myanmar to Germany.

Content Asia Summit 2019 bought together the region’s movers and shakerbxx%GcwB6G18Ltv)[email protected]%7W#f+rmj*[email protected]*nlYs in media production and broadcasting industries.