South Africa: Mr Gay World crowns a winner

Gay Social • Tags:

Andreas Derleth (left) - winner Mr. Gay World 2012 of this

Mr. Gay World crowned Andreas Derieth Mr. Gay World 2012 on April 9 in South Africa. Africa, too, was apparently represented with participants from South Africa, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe,  and … ah,, ahem … Let’s just say that 98% of the contestants were … not black.

And that was to be expected of course. Mr. Zimbabwe dropped out at the 11th hour, no doubt with the pressure of his entire country gnawing, no chewing, on his mind. Mr. Gay Ethiopia stayed the course together with Mr. Gay Namibia. Those were the black faces. Mr. Gay South Africa wasn’/isn’t black at all of course.

So, when Mr. Gay World 2012 was hosted on the black continent, there was more or less no black representation. That in itself need not be something to gnash one’s teeth about since, in fact, the two black faces that participated were themselves a first. Baby steps, yes?

Yes.

Except that when one reads up on what this pageant hopes to achieve, one begins to wonder whether it will ever attract black gay participants who are indegenously African.

The Mr. Gay World Competition is a Twenty First Century public performance where the delegates represent their nation as the best spokesperson and embody the spirit of their nation. (Mr. Gay World)

Of course there are many black, African, gay men who can display inner beauty, intelligence and compassion as well as ably enbody the spirit of their countries. But to get them to walk the plank with the cameras rolling, amidst the applause and flashing bulbs so that those images are instantly projeted all over the world? That is another proposition all together, especially if, after the pageant, they have to travel back to their countries of origin.

Mr. Gay World 2012 - the partipants

In the end, the eventual winner came from New Zealand by way of Germany. He graciously touched upon one of the reasons you are not going to see a native black African gay man with a shot at winning this competition participate for quite some time:

“It would have been nice for them to make it into the top five, but they clearly didn’t have support from their countries, you can see no support for them in the audience.” 2012 winner, Mr Gay New Zealand Andreas Derleth

That support will not be forthcoming any time soon, of that you can be sure. Does that mean that the competition will never showcase more than two or three black faces? One suspects that black men, of African origin, who are living in America, Europe or elsewhere, away from the African continent, will likely take part. But it is difficult to see how a Cameroonian gay man will get on a plane and fly to Belgium (that is where the 2013 pageant is to be held) to represent his country, and then expect to fly back to Yaounde to regale journalists with his experience(s).

Somehow, I think the mental block, the fear of the consequences, the sheer enormity of what that would entail is going to keep many a beautiful black gay African man frozen in his tracks. Yet, yet … it is very exciting to think about what could be.

Now, I wonder whether Sylvia Owori might be interested in prepping some gay men for the 2014 competition? Hm …

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Baby steps, yes? Yes.

Thanks Mr. Gay World for hosting this pageant in Africa.

Related articles