Opposition to Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ bill inspired Michaela Coel

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Ghanaian-British actress Michaela Coel says that the Ghana parliament’s consideration of an extreme anti-LGBTQ bill prompted her to accept the role of queer character Aneka in the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.

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**Michaela Coel (right) in Accra, Ghana’s capital, with her father, Derek Kwesi Coel (left), and grandmother Jemima Andam. (Photo courtesy of Vogue)**

The website of the television program “Good Morning America” reported:

The Emmy winner told “Good Morning America” … that it was proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation in Ghana, where her parents are from, that inspired her to tackle the part of Aneka in the “Black Panther” sequel.

**Michaela Coel (Malick Bodian photo courtesy of Vogue)**

“Hopefully it doesn’t happen,” Coel, 35, said of the controversial bill, which would criminalize identifying as LGBTQ+ as well as same-sex relationships and marrying someone who has had gender reassignment surgery, punishing those in violation with up to five years in prison.

Anyone seen “promoting” LGBTQ+ identities or “activity” prohibited in the bill could also face up to 10 years in prison.

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She added that her Ghanian queer friends and other queer people in the country already can’t get married, can’t adopt children and can’t have children of their own.

“This is heartbreaking to me,” she said. “So any time I can contribute to pushing a queer narrative and making it acceptable and normalizing it in places where it’s considered abnormal, I’m very on board for [it].”