seeing all of the seonghwa tweets every june genuinely makes me so proud. i am a firm believer that no one owes us explicit confirmation of queerness (though the people who choose to make that statement at the cost of their safety are treasures) but you can tell that he does as much as he can, within the limits of his own comfort and boundaries and even amidst the turmoil of figuring himself out, to push back against social / industry standards- and it really does works out to a lot. the music video for skin, especially, felt like an incredible triumph in that sense, particularly with the knowledge that the song itself had to be heavily modified despite his (and hongjoong and balm and maddox’s) best efforts. with the world how it is, to know that he was brave AND supported enough by the members and everyone else around him to finally put it out with the messaging he’d originally envisioned is just… it makes my heart soar.
i will always be very grateful to him and to the members for, as he says, “giving him the courage to show it [this side of himself to us]” and i hope that those of us who benefit from his bravery and see him will always be able to give him a safe space in return 🩶