How did Boy Love get so much audience support in Asian Countries?

I discovered Thai BL dramas last year and was blown away by the earnest effort put behind delivering these stories to audiences who clearly take them seriously. Eventually, I watched some Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese BL too. I found it interesting that with the exception of Thailand, most of these countries have laws banning or censoring LGBTQ romantic content. 

So, what I want to know is: 

1. How did these dramas find a foothold in these drama industries to begin with? 
2. What drama(s) started this trend? 
3. Do you think the presence of manga and webtoons focused on gay romances prepared/normalized the idea for drama viewers too?
4. Is the audience support so big locally that the governments don't dare squash them? 
5. Basically, who or what do I have to thank for amazing shows like Together With Me, SOTUS, Seven Days, etc.? 

I'm researching into this for a podcast episode, and I would be very grateful for any information you guys can give me. Links to sources would be appreciated but I just generally want to hear your opinions. 

Thanks in advance for any and all answers!

 m:

I dunno about other countries but at least in Japan BL as a drama/movie genre (not to be confused with gay/LGBT cinema)  can be traced back to manga pretty much entirely, so you might want to look into that for a better perspective on BL in Japan? There's a lot of excellent BL studies scholarship out there, a lot of it in English; this list compiled by Anne Lee is a great start!

Thank you for this. I had no idea that BL mangas had so much written about them. It's opening up a whole new world for me. Are there articles discussing the BL drama phenomenon too? 

*running off to read all the newly opened tabs now*

The first YAOI/BL Manga I think was Kaze to Ki no Uta (year 1987) 

About thai BL serie the real first one was Lovesick in 2014 

Yes this terms is for every girl/women that love BL/YAOI/GAY ROMANCE, and also BROMANCE AND SLASH. Basically every woman is a fujoshi inside or at least most of us, it's just that many don't know that these things exist, especially out of Asia (it's the same for M/M Romance in America and outside, that is also written by straight girls and destined to straight girls mostly, many authors had man's nicknames but are still women xD) 

About your last question I have a negative idea about that.

As I said these countries has not so much issues about these kind of shows because they know that are for girls, and about the content that is clearly Gay Romance , even if many of them are more on the YAOI/BL side, with yes 2 guys but one of them is basically a woman in a male body xD that's why we have uke and seme or top and bottom: one is "the woman" the other the man. It's not like that in every story but in most in the novels and manga it is, in dramas it's different because the actors are man and they add more manlyness let's said xD 

And another thing: YAOI/BL is really popular right now in place like Thailand so it makes money and that's another reason I think why they do these kind of show, money rule the world.. 

But sure we have to start somewhere if we want to arrive someday in a world that see homosexuality as normal as it is and these kind of show as I said maybe won't help everybody but can start questioning in the mind of some people and this is sure positive.

Anyway China is already out of the business if you know, they can't show nor shoot anything BL, it's totally illegal since 2016 or 2017 I think so the YAOI/BL show that tryed to came out in the last months from China are sadly censured or cancelled . 

This not work for Manga and Novels for some reasons as far as I know, I have no idea of why but I assume is because dramas have real people and manga is totally fiction.

Btw all of those are just my opionion about the things I know or heard around the internet, maybe some things are different, probably someone who actually lives in Asia can know better than me

I just find it very weird that people can be accepting one second, and then hating all of a sudden. I'm a K-pop fan and I've noticed that with the Korean fans. That's just freakin' stupid. I imagine that a lot of the K-pop stars are gay in fact. Or at least Bi. But now an artist named Holland has debuted, as a gay person. He even had a kissing scene in his music video. intense fangirling

Hopefully people will become more open minded about it. I'll go look up how Korean people have reacted to his video.

(edit): I saw this video, I think it would help^ above

 ihvnolife:

But now an artist named Holland has debuted, as a gay person. He even had a kissing scene in his music video. intense fangirling

Hopefully people will become more open minded about it. I'll go look up how Korean people have reacted to his video.

Whoa! I had no idea about Holland! Thank you for the video link! I found the answers to 'Why is fan service bromance okay but not LGBT?" pretty interesting. Seems to stem directly from the sasaeng fan culture. 

 Liz:

Hope you will not find me rude but can you please don't mention me? 

I hate being under attention xD

No. I completely understand. Thanks again for helping though. =)

Are you sure Taiwan has laws against showing LGBT content? I know they just recently legalized gay marriage so it wouldn't make sense for them to still have it.

I'll only answer a few because it looks like a lot of people have answered already. 

2. I would say that what started the trend was mangas that later developed into anime. I think most people who watch BL started with an anime. Where the interest of dramas arised was the idea that you could see the same thing that was being animated being acted out by real people. Not only that but you can relate to them more and it doesn't feel as distant. 

4. I would say thinking of the Chinese government that it's actually the opposite. When it gets to big the government tries to squash it. That's why you see a lot of popular BL dramas left incomplete or with an unhappy ending. I would say that Korea doesn't completely block LGBT content (with the exception of a few movies notably Method) they more use it as bait or as a comedic role (Strong Woman Do Bong Soon). However, I have seen a few roles where it isn't used in a comedic way and is more serious (Witch's Court).