In an age where sexuality and fluidity have been embraced, we all assume that queerness has been accepted and it is easier to be accepted. There is a bizarre belief that perhaps queer people have more rights and are much too demanding. Even in their representation.
Yet, a very acerbic culture exists within heterosexuality, one that weaponises homosexuality against queer people.
In one instance, Castle Lager had come out with an ad with the tag line “I’m more than that” where numerous people from different backgrounds asserted that they are not limitations of the slander used against them. One of those characters was a queer person who admonished the word “stabane”. What was meant to be a powerful affirmation for queer children instead became something sinister. One of my nephews told me that the tag line was used to mock a child who was assumed to be gay.
This is the same violence I once felt in the synecdoche of Somizi Mhlongo’s name. It wasn’t a word that attributed his talent but one that was a politically correct way of using the F-word. It was the gotcha that heterosexuality has used even to this day to shame other LGBTQIA+ children or those who are assumed to be part of the queer community. A word that speaks to the lonely island that is queer celebrity.
There are a few celebrities in the entertainment pool of SA who are out of the closet. Mhlongo not only defied the perceptions people have had of him but he was also treated as a stereotype that was used to put the community down.
Sexuality, in its fluidity, comes with the varieties including gender performance, which is how one expresses themselves. In the case of Mhlongo, who once sported long copper braids while playing an uncle for lobola negotiations on Muvhango, it’s quite feminine. It is the kind of explorative femininity under his drag persona Madame Gigi. It is also the societal pressures of having had a child.
All of this has built an unfair hatred from heterosexuality. I remember a great big aura of contempt at the sight of Mhlongo on family television. His Gigi often fuelled the misinformed fire that all queer men want to be women. A bigotry that persists as queer people are viewed as being underhanded in their closeted romances.
The life of Mhlongo is not one where you can easily cancel him when he is embedded in the misconceptions of society. Especially as someone who had been burdened with the difficult task of being queer. In an industry that can easily kick you out for being queer, Mhlongo stood tall. Mhlongo is not just someone who is hated, but someone who is an involuntary poster boy for what it means to be black and queer in SA.
An additional issue with Mhlongo is that he has often played a little role in the radicalism expected of queer celebrities in this day and age, becoming instead a fossil that feeds on excess wealth. An issue that reminds me of a Marie Antoinette-inspired scene from the popular series, Pose.
For those who might not know, the series is set in the 1980s and follows the ballroom circuit where a number of queer folk partook in competitions based on how well you could dress up for a category or perform in a dance challenge.
The category in question was for the French Revolution and main anti-hero, Elektra Abundance, who was usually a big winner, stole the show in a pink number fitted with a moving carousel fitted at her waist that spun as she re-enacted the chopping of Marie Antoinette’s head in the guillotine.
While one of Elektra’s crimes may have been joining the mafia and accidentally killing a man, her downplayed moment reminded me very much of the current fate of Mhlongo.
The queer icon has built his career around abundant wealth and now stands at the threat of a big industry snubbing. Something a very fictional Elektra would not have to worry about but can get away with. Mhlongo has always been limited to how well he can be a jester to those who are not like him. Those in the industry who call the shots are cishet and are looking to keep the industry that way, ensuring they see themselves.
Mhlongo is a subject of his environment. One where there was always pressure to snub him out and not exclude him. Yet, in surviving these odds, Mhlongo became his own problem by not changing the society and industry that is too toxic for other in and out of closet stars to thrive. As a queer icon, Mhlongo did not rise and stand for his fellow queers and as a result he finds himself a mess that cannot be reformed.
The fate of Mhlongo is one that is a reminder of the toxicity of success that is self-beneficial. In an age where queer kids aren’t looking to be told who they are by beer ads but are looking to be included in the opportunities that make these moments happen. Enough cake eating — the queer community wants equality.
