This homophobic reggae “Queen” should not be welcomed in Queens, activists say.
About 100 LGBT rights supporters will protest an upcoming concert at Jamaica’s Amazura Concert Hall that will headline Jamaican-star Queen Ifrica, whose biting anti-gay lyrics and public statements have drawn ire across the Caribbean.
“Mi nuh want si mi brother dress up inna no skirt,” she sings in her 2009 track “Keep it to Yourself,” which calls for Jamaica to be freed of gay men for the sake of the nation’s children.
The 39-year-old performer, whose real name is Ventraice Morgan, reportedly had a scheduled performance cancelled last August, after she glorified heterosexual marriage during a performance at the Independence Day Grand Gala in Kingston, Jamaica.
“The majority of her music has been very, very homophobic and it rings in the ears of men, women and kids,” said Michael Forbes, a Jamaican-born human rights activist. “She uses the stage to burn gays.”
Protestors want the concert hall in Jamaica, Queens, to cancel its Saturday music fest, which features Queen Ifrica and a lineup that includes six other prominent Jamaican female artists.
“We don’t need homophobic people like her coming to Queens to spread their message of hate,” said openly gay City Councilman Daniel Dromm, who is leading the rally.
On Friday, they’ll hold a rally outside the mega club, and call on organizers to halt the “Invasion of the Queens” show, which they say contributes to the violent anti-LGBT climate in the developing island country.
“People look up to this artist,” Forbes said. “Her songs are part of what keeps getting gay men and women attacked.”
The 28-year-old, who now lives in the East Village, said he was constantly beaten in Jamaica by family and neighbors for being gay.
He was hospitalized for fractured ribs last year, right before he was chased out of his homeland.
“It was like 40-on-1,” he said. “The whole village came down on me.”
Amazura Concert Hall and VP Records, which produces Queen Ifrica’s music, did not return calls for comment.
Morgan has previously defended her words, saying she was exercising her right to free speech.
“I simply spoke for what I believed in,” she told the Jamaica Online Star. “Until a member of the gay community can give birth from their union, they should not be abrasive to heterosexuals, because they came from that union.”
