This is not a rant as such, it's me wondering. This is a reaction to the comments on a video called 50 Kpop Pet Peeves by DareDB.

I'm ace. I've been around the LGBTQ+ community for years because most of my social circle is part of the community. I'm also a gay shipper.

Now, I consider myself fairly common sense, so I know that the my idols are most likely straight. Which is fine, they do them. I don't mind whichever uality they have - and sure, sometimes it's fun to speculate and to piece together moments. I understand the appeal when shippers look at moments and say "here, this is something else" because what it usually is, is idols being warm and sweet with each other. 

Who doesn't like seeing their idols being kind-hearted people and showing some love?

Whether it's platonic or not is honestly a little irrelevant to me. 

Shipping is, for the most part, a fantasy. We like the way a pair of idols interact together and we interpret it to fit our narrative. Shipping is, for the most part, harmless as long as it isn't taken too far and becomes hatred (towards others, e.g. our idol's partners) or reaches the idol in question, making them super uncomfortable.

If you can keep your shipping to your living room (and your fanart or fanfiction) and doesn't shout obscenities and/or would ask them at a fan-meeting, I have no problems with shipping. 

But - it happens very often that I see straight shippers who have a problem with especially gay shippers. Some are very straightforward about it, others are more subtle. The one thing they have in common, though, is that their problems with shipping is always directed towards the gay shippers. 

Sometimes I see subtle comments like "I'm okay with shipping but why do all gay shippers say any effeminate idol is gay, that's statistically impossble" or "I'm fine with shipping but gay shipping is ridiculous because obviously only a small amount is gay". 

Sometimes it's more like "I hate it when people say all idols are gay. That's statistically impossible" or "I wish gay shippers would stop claiming their idol is gay".

Often, though, these arguments are never reversed. It's never about straight shipping. 

And it saddens me. Not that straight shipping isn't getting hate, lol. But that gay shipping is. 

We're not stupid, us LGBTQ+-people. We know that not all idols are gay. We know statistics and we know that majority of the world is straight. That isn't exactly rocket science.

But what seems to be rocket science for me, is why gay shippers aren't allowed to express their opinion on a ship as long as it doesn't hurt anybody? 

If the shipper isn't 1) trying to reach the idol with their ship, 2) isn't hating any past or present partners, 3) isn't fighting tooth and nail to make sure this idol know that they're believed to be gay - who does it hurt? 

It hurts nobody.

I don't understand why some people feel the need to bash on people who call girl groups "gay queens". It's a fanservice. It's nice to see people caring towards one another, especially in a world so competitive as the kpop industry. 

I don't understand why some people feel the need to tell LGBTQ+ people that their ship is invalid because "statistically speaking, said idol is straight". 

I don't understand why some people think it's such an offense to look at an idol and say "I believe this one to be gay and I like that imagination". 

If it doesn't hurt anybody, why do we feel the need to one-up one-another? 

If you are fine with shipping so long as it doesn't hurt the idols in question and makes them uncomfortable, why all these extra conditions when it comes to gay shippers?

And finally; why - when people feel the need to rant about shippers - do they only rant about gay shippers? 

Because I know for a fact, that your behavior isn't determined by whether or not your ships are gay. 

(And this is not to hate on straight shippers. I know reasonable people in both categories. It's just because I always see hatred (subtle or straightforward) towards gay shippers and it always leaves me questioning; do people really believe that being an -shipper comes with one's uality?)