BTS J-Hope's Song Visualizer Apparently Featured The Transgender Symbol, Fans Feel Touched

On July 21, the BANGTANTV YouTube channel posted the visualizer videos for all 10 of BTS J-Hope‘s new songs from his album Jack In The Box. Fans noticed a detail in the “Equal Sign” visualizer that made them praise the artist even more.

In the animated lyric video, you can see the transgender symbol featured clearly.

TRANS FUCKING RIGHTS????? pic.twitter.com/xv05by5fbK

— aiden⁷ out of the box 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 (@bringsnofear) July 21, 2022

Though there is some debate around the exact significance of this symbol, most fans are interpreting this as a transgender/bigender/intersex representation. In the context of the song that talks about living in a world where everyone can exist as equals, this gesture was heartwarming for LGBTQ+ ARMYs.

is the video working? it only flashes for me here lol. also i know that it’s technically just the male and female combination symbol and can be used as like “equality between men and women” but <3 i am choosing the trans interpretation on purpose pic.twitter.com/FfOFVLxvMv

— aiden⁷ out of the box 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 (@bringsnofear) July 21, 2022

Previously talking about “Equal Sign,” J-Hope mentioned that it is a song that reflects his personal beliefs. His bandmate RM also said that this song is the “Most Hobi-like song” (“Hobi” is a popular nickname of J-Hope) during his recent live broadcast with fans.

This is, however, not the first time BTS has touched the hearts of queer folks in the fandom. When BTS created BT21, they insisted on keeping the characters gender-neutral. Some queer fans also felt represented through the character of Mang.

JIMIN : Actually, these friends’ genders is not determined yet.
SUGA : I don’t want them to be classified into two gender groups.
— all of BTS agreeing that bt21 should have no gender :( how to give these seven angels the whole world pic.twitter.com/FeP4LBNzUq

— comforting things bts said (slow) (@tanniefairie) January 11, 2022

love how bt21 perfectly illustrated the trans struggle of trying to choose between going into the mens or womens restroom by simply animating mang crashing into a fucking wall instead

— who is gold (@killedjk) May 30, 2019

Jimin also featured the transgender/bigender symbol as a temporary tattoo on his wrist for a photoshoot previously.

jimin's bigender tattoo has never left my mind since pic.twitter.com/b3lFZAc4aU

— jimin's boyfriend (@BOYMEETSJ) April 23, 2022

Even though public opinion on LGBTQ+ rights in South Korea is slowly progressing, it is still a very taboo subject. In fact, transgender people remain one of the most vulnerable marginalized groups worldwide.