CINEMA
LGBTQ Kin and “Coming 2 America”
As folks return to Africa, where do LGBTQ people fi t?
NICHOLAS BOSTON
The long-awaited sequel
to “Coming to America,”
the 1988 cult classic
starring Eddie Murphy
as Prince Akeem of the Kingdom of
Zamunda, has arrived! But, “Coming
2 America,” now streaming on
Amazon Prime, is far less about
actually coming to America than it
is about returning to Africa.
“Coming to America” was set
mostly in Queens, where Akeem,
accompanied by his loyal aide,
Semmi (played by Arsenio Hall),
set out to fi nd authentic love.
By contrast, the lion’s share of
“Coming 2 America” takes place
back in Zamunda, a fabled country
in Africa to which Akeem’s longlost,
American-born son journeys
to claim his royal birthright and,
predictably, fi nds romantic bliss
with a local woman.
Behind this twinkling fantasy
is an actual, factual movement:
Black people in the diaspora “returning”
to Africa for the prospect
of thriving in a Black-majority environment.
The government of Ghana proclaimed
2019 the “Year of Return”
with a campaign “inviting the
Global African family” to tour, invest,
and relocate there. President
Nana Akufo-Addo rolled out the
red carpet for celebrity visitors like
British model Naomi Campbell,
American rapper Cardi B., and Jamaican
singer Koffee. And a mass
naturalization ceremony was held,
conferring citizenship upon 126
African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans.
But, for LGBTQ kin, the welcome
mat is not so plush. Last year, Ghana,
where sexual activity between
men is illegal, banned a pan-African
conference on LGBTQ rights,
“not because of coronavirus,” said
a government spokesperson, but
objection from conservative Christian
groups. On February 21 of this
year, security forces in the Ghanaian
capital of Accra shuttered a
community center recently opened
by the advocacy group LGBT+
Rights Ghana, the organization
Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy star in “Coming 2 America.”
said in a tweet. News reports say
the center was closed to protect its
staff, following death threats and
online hate speech. The shutdown
sparked “an extraordinary show of
diaspora power,” according to The
Guardian, with 67 Black British
celebrities and dignitaries, many of
Ghanaian heritage, signing a letter
urging Akufo-Addo to institute LGBTQ
protections. The signatories
include Edward Enninful, editorin
chief of British Vogue, who is an
out gay man.
Earlier, Ghana’s minister for
gender, children, and social protection,
Sarah Adwoa Safo, told lawmakers
that “The issue of LGBTQI
is an issue that when mentioned
creates some controversy, but what
I want to say is that our laws are
clear on such practices. It makes
it criminal…it is non-negotiable on
the issue of cultural acceptance
and norms, too.”
Similar positions are taken by
lawmakers in neighboring Nigeria,
where there is “harsh” anti-LGBTQ
legislation, according to Human
Rights Watch.
“I wasn’t disappointed by my
experiences in Nigeria and Ghana
because I had no expectations of
safety there,” Maya Okonkwo, a
Black lesbian visitor from Britain,
told Lonely Planet in June, 2020. “I
stayed fi rmly in the closet for the
entire duration of my stay.”
Kehinde Wiley is undeterred.
The celebrated openly gay, African
American artist who painted Barack
Obama’s offi cial portrait, is
opening a studio in Lagos, Nigeria’s
capital, according to Architectural
Digest. Wiley has already cut the
ribbon on Black Rock, a stunning
artist’s retreat on the outskirts of
Dakar, Senegal. Among the creatives
recently granted a Black
Rock residency in 2021 is Arinze
Ifeakandu, a queer-identifi ed, Nigerian
American writer.
Wiley and Ifeakandu are representative
of a less visible minority of
people claiming space on the continent
as both diasporic and queer.
The invitation to “return” to Africa
has struck a chord with several
Black luminaries in the entertainment
industry. None queer
QUANTRELL D. COLBERT/AMAZON STUDIOS
so far. Stevie Wonder told Oprah
last month that he plans to move
to Ghana permanently. Others
have taken citizenship in different
African nations – actor Samuel L.
Jackson and rapper Ludacris in
Gabon, actress Tiffany Haddish in
her father’s homeland of Eritrea,
and actor Idris Elba in his father’s
birthplace of Sierra Leone. Actor
Isaiah Washington used the results
of his ancestry DNA test as
evidence to acquire citizenship in
Sierra Leone.
Black-led movements espousing
“repatriation” have been in
existence for centuries. “Coming
2 America” is a fi ction. But an upcoming
biopic titled “Marked Man”
will feature actor Winston Duke of
“Black Panther” fame as Jamaicanborn
Marcus Garvey, a major leader
in the Back-to-Africa movement
in the early twentieth century.
Nicholas Boston, PhD, is an associate
professor of media studies
at the City University of New York,
Lehman College, and author of “The
Amorous Migrant: Race, Relationships
and Resettlement.”
MARCH 11 - MARCH 24, 2 24 021 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
