This weekend at the AIA Real Life Now: Festival there were plenty of performances and announcements making it easy to miss out on some of the smaller details. Lady Gaga showing her support for the LGBT community is nothing new except for when it's in front of a mostly conservative South Korean audience. Furthermore, this statement carries the weight of the long and paradoxically overdone and not talked about subject of homosexuality in K-pop.

As Asia One reports, last Saturday at the grand finale of the AIA Real Life Now: Festival, Lady Gaga announced to the audience, "There are gay kids in Korea. There is an LGBT community in Korea. And you deserve to be f - ing equal." Lady Gaga has become quite infamous for her overwhelming support and adoration alike in the LGBT community, but on a stage in which she admits she was asked to avoid certain controversial topics, one can't help but wonder what the reaction was in the crowd that day.

Some fans may have been reminded of the tragic time in 2008 when actor Kim Ji-Hoo came out and the response was so negative that he shortly thereafter committed suicide. It is no secret that netizens can do great damage to the image of any K-pop star, especially amidst scandal or controversy. But the topic while seemingly at the forefront of thought by fans (see various fan forums where they discuss the sexuality of various K-pop idols), still remains shrouded in darkness in larger public spaces.

Even the famous YouTubers Simon and Martina from Eat Your Kimchi have attempted to cover the topic holistically and found that while some of their Korean friends are willing to discuss homosexuality in South Korea, they are equally not likely to reveal their own sexual identity in a predominantly Korean workplace in fear of discrimination.

Lady Gaga's presence in South Korea may offer some comfort to those of the LGBT community who feel that it is still difficult to be open about their homosexuality. Most importantly however, her statement can at least bring the subject matter back to the forefront, as discussion is the first step toward acceptance.