R&B Star Frank Ocean Comes Out and Exemplifies the Community’s Rejection of a “Gay Identity”

And on the days we were together, time would glide…

The African American celebrity gossip, news, popular culture and entertainment blog Bossip.com outed Latifah in September 2010 with photos of Latifah and gal pal and “personal trainer” Jeanette Jenkins in a tender embrace that was not intended for public viewing. When R&B soul diva Alicia Keys’ photos from the nuptials of Queen Latifah and Jenkins intimately embraced aboard a private yacht in France went viral on the Internet, the public’s long awaited “Gotcha” moment was revealed.

“My private life is my private life. Whomever I might be with, I don’t feel the need to share it. I don’t think I ever will,” Queen Latifah had said in a November, 2007 interview with People magazine, refuting rumors that she’s a lesbian.

Ann Powers in her article, A Close Look At Frank Ocean’s Coming Out Letter, for NPR opines differently as to why artists might not self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ):

“There is another reason why Ocean can’t be saddled with an easy label, and it points to an interesting aspect of his newly minted self-conception. In his note, instead of embracing an identity, Ocean shared a set of memories and explored complex feelings, just as he does in his songs. Unlike the standard coming out gesture – newsman Anderson Cooper’s public email to his friend Andrew Sullivan, “The fact is, I’m gay” – Ocean’s presented sexuality as something that arises within particular circumstances, defined by shifting desire and individual encounters rather than solidifying as an identity. In the age-old debate about whether sexuality emerges as something we are or through something we want or do, Ocean carefully rested on the side of feeling and deed.”

Although Ocean appears “label-less” in not identifying as either “bisexual” or “gay,” Cleo Manago, founder of Black Men’s Xchange (BMX), states in this article, Can People Let Frank Ocean Define His Own Sexuality, a possible reason why:

“What we’ve witnessed is a profound chauvinism on the part of gay-identified individuals who cannot conceive of any identity outside of the limiting gay/straight binary. And in the process, they continue to obscure the rarely acknowledged reality that many Black men who love men are not comfortable with the LGBT or gay identity.”

The terms “LGBT,” “queer” and “gay” are not descriptors Manago and his organization would use to depict themselves. They would be “same-gender-loving” because terms like “gay” and “queer” uphold a white queer hegemony that Manago and many in the African-American LGBTQ community denounce. As a matter-of-fact, he is credited with coining the terms “men who have sex with men” (MSM) and “same-gender-loving” (SGL)

With a president who now embraces same-sex marriage and in this era of celebrated LGBTQ artists like Ellen DeGeneres and Wanda Sykes, the fluidity of sexuality is becoming more accepted, even in certain artist enclaves of the African American community.

When Ocean made public his announcement, power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z expressed their support. And Russell Simmons, co-founder of the hip-hop label “Def Jam” wrote a congratulatory article, The Courage of Frank Ocean Just Changed the Game! in Global Grind stating, “Today is a big day for hip-hop. It is a day that will define who we really are. How compassionate will we be? How loving can we be? How inclusive are we? … Your decision to go public about your sexual orientation gives hope and light to so many young people still living in fear.”

Ocean has certainly changed the game for both hip-hop and R&B LGBTQ artists, but he sums up this issue best when he posted on his Tumblr page, “My hope is that the babies born these days will inherit less of the (expletive) than we did.”