“We’re not all living really tragic lives - we’re entrepreneurs, we’re fathers,” the 46-year-old, who is raising twin boys with his partner in Taipei, said. “One of the main impetuses for me to create GagaOOlala, (is) to kind of dispel a lot of the myths and misconceptions that a lot of people might have about LGBT people,” said Jay Lin, a prominent LGBT rights activist in Taiwan who founded the platform.
GagaOOLala brings more than 1,000 feature films, shorts, web series and documentaries to people across Asia, where censorship and traditional attitudes mean there has been little in the way of gay content in the mainstream media.Īfter launching in 2017 in Taiwan - a beacon for gay rights since becoming the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage - it has expanded to 21 territories, including several that still criminalize homosexuality. “As we have developed we have realised that actually a lot of Asians also want to see Asian faces, and watch Asian stories and watch films take place in places or cities that they’re familiar with,” Lin explained. Originally GagaOOLala featured a library of mostly Western content, but it has steadily branched out into original Asian queer film with the help of its development arm, GOL Studios. So far Lin and his team have not run into any regulatory hurdles, but are aware of the need to be discreet in countries where LGBT+ identities are still policed.Īs a result, advertising is done through closed chat groups, social media and by LGBT+ influencers, rather than out in the open. “We’re not all living really tragic lives - we’re entrepreneurs, we’re fathers.” LGBT+ streaming service ramps up queer Asian representation.Īlready more than 280,000 people have subscribed to the service – mostly LGBT+ people, but also including a significant amount of straight women. “One of the main impetuses for me to create GagaOOLala is to dispel a lot of the myths and misconceptions that a lot of people might have about LGBT people,” he said.
In a separate interview with The Japan Times, Lin explained that his aim is to showcase the depth and breadth of the LGBT+ experience.
Some, such as Malaysia, go as far as to censor films that include LGBT+ content, with the Elton John biopic Rocketman a recent victim. Gay sex remains illegal in a number of the countries that GagaOOLala serves, including Singapore and Brunei. GagaOOLala launches in countries where gay sex is illegal. “And it makes it easier for us to find production and distribution partners outside of Taiwan,” he told Variety.
Founder Jay Lin said that Taiwan’s legalisation of same-sex marriage “allowed us to open that door a little bit wider when persuading sponsors, platforms or government to seeing as something that’s beneficial for them as well.”