Frank Ocean did not say he was gay.
What the singer, songwriter and Odd Future member revealed was that his first love was a man. As he mentioned on his Tumblr page, Frank Ocean had already decided to state this fact in its proper context by way of the liner notes of his forthcoming debut album Channel Orange. That moment was almost tarnished after a presumptuous story about him quickly spread across the Web. Now, instead of the rumor mill dictating his personal narrative, the world can now see his gorgeously written account of genuine love for another person, achieved one summer, in its intended form.
He may be bisexual. There is a possibility that he is gay. Or perhaps it was a one-off thing that lends credence to what many people already understand: sexuality can be fluid. Regardless of what label Ocean does or doesn’t feel is true as it pertains to his sexual orientation, the one that tag that applies best at this moment is brave. The 24-year-old is only days away from the release of his first official album. While his music spans genres, it’s largely rooted in R&B and soul, and one does wonder whether audiences will continue to be supportive of Ocean in the wake of his revelation.
It’s the sort of fear that many assumed kept allegedly gay singers like Luther Vandross in the closet. In an Out magazine story, one of Vandross’s close friends, comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, claimed that at the beginning of Vandross’s career, he said to him, “No one knows I’m in the life.” In that same story, New York gossip writer Michael Musto, noted, “A famously open gay singer/songwriter (told me) Luther was dying to have a boyfriend.”
Several years later, many assumed that singer Freddie Jackson, who had also battled gay rumors throughout his career, would declare his homosexuality on TV One’s Unsung. Instead, he used troublesome language to deflect the issue.
It would be nice to think the sort of ignorance they battled is passé, but it is very much inter-generational. Look at Gawker’s “Gay or not Gay” feature, which recently featured Trey Songz. This isn’t done to aid those who may struggle with their sexuality; it’s done for the sake of scoring Web hits – and plenty of other media outlets are guilty of this.
Once rampant speculation begins, the stereotypes aren’t far behind.
Even now, in the wake of Ocean writing about love in ways men and women, gay or straight, often cannot express so candidly, a lot of the media coverage has been led by the most effeminate picture of Frank Ocean one can find. Such feminizing, done unconsciously or not, is problematic. A shout out should go to the likes of Sylvester, one of the few who stood tall and proud, but not all men who love or have loved men are the same.
Frank Ocean adds much needed nuance to conversations about the kind of black men who can love other men.
Not surprisingly, one of the most vocal supporters of Frank Ocean’s decision to convey this outlook is his Odd Future brethren, Tyler the Creator.
“F**king Finally Sus Boy @frank_ocean Hahahaha, You Still Aint Got No B*tches Hahaha My Ni**a Dawg
OFWGKTA.
My Big Brother Finally F**king Did That. Proud Of That Ni**a Cause I Know That Sh*t Is Difficult Or Whatever. Anyway. Im A Toilet.”
Some would suggest irony given Odd Future’s rampant use of gay slurs. However, much like Bassey Ikpi, who once wrote in defense of Odd Future’s right to free expression, I never actually found the group to be homophobic. With another gay member in tow who shares the group’s use of inflammatory lyrics, I found them all to be a bunch of kids who say stupid things for sport and attention. That’s something they learned from the likes of Eminem, various ’90s rockers, the dominant culture overall, and you know…the Internet.
Tyler is right, though, when he says, “that sh*t is difficult or whatever.”
It’s difficult because black male sexuality is still portrayed painfully linearly; difficult because he runs this risk of being stupidly typecast as “the gay singer;” difficult because something seemingly so simple like this is always complicated by people with prejudices.
Fortunately, he opened up anyway.
In the precursor to the “outing” post, Ocean wrote “my hope is that the babies born these days will inherit less of the bullsh*t than we did.”
Should they, it’ll be thanks in part to people like him.
Follow Michael Arceneaux on Twitter @youngsinick