Ghana’s first transgender musician, Angel Maxine has spoken on the alleged “prejudice and ostracization” she faces in her country.
Speaking in a recent interview with BBC, where she opened up on her journey as a transgender and how she had to accept and embrace her biological difference.
According to the musician, she started displaying effeminate qualities from birth and the nurses were confused about her gender even though she had a penis at the time.
Maxine said;
“Even right at the hospital, they couldn’t tell my gender. They will be like, is this a male or this is female? They have to unwrap me and take me all around for them to see that oh, this one has a penis oo!
“I always felt like I was living somebody else’s life. Kojo Besia… Obaaberima… It got to some point I owned it. So when you call me Kojo Besia, Obaa Berima, I’m like, ‘hello, hi’. I just owned it. I am popularly known as Angel Maxine, and I’m Ghana’s first openly transgender musician.”
She further stated that the LGBTQ movement is not an imported idea as she was effeminate from birth.
“Angel didn’t go and pick anybody’s lifestyle or anybody’s culture. I was effeminate from birth. Even though I had backlashes from family and other people, I was like, I was really tired, and this is me. So I started doing my music openly, wearing my short pants, my Santiago boots and all that.
“And that was where I really saw myself like, Hey, this is me. This is the beautiful picture I’ve always been seeing, and this is what I want to show outside,” Maxine added.
