BILLY PORTER REVEALS HE WAS DIAGNOSED HIV-POSITIVE IN 2007

Oscar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” For Billy Porter, who plays the charismatic and outspoken Pray Tell on the award-winning show Pose, the latter seems to be more true. On the hit drama from FX, Porter’s character was revealed early in the first season to be HIV-positive.  Over the course of Pose’s three-season run, Pray Tell’s story arc morphed from being in denial of his diagnosis to grief and anger to acceptance, and in the fourth episode of the third season, “Take Me to Church,” he goes back to his childhood home to confront his demons.

Three days after that episode, Porter has shown how much art has imitated his own life.  In an exclusive with The Hollywood Reporter, the 51–year-old actor revealed he is HIV-positive. Porter explained to Lacey Rose:

“I was the generation that was supposed to know better, and it happened anyway. It was 2007, the worst year of my life. I was on the precipice of obscurity for about a decade or so, but 2007 was the worst of it. By February, I had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. By March, I signed bankruptcy papers. And by June, I was diagnosed HIV-positive. The shame of that time compounded with the shame that had already [accumulated] in my life silenced me, and I have lived with that shame in silence for 14 years. HIV-positive, where I come from, growing up in the Pentecostal church with a very religious family, is God’s punishment.”

Porter also divulged to Rose that nobody involved with Pose knew he was HIV-positive.

“Then came Pose. An opportunity to work through the shame [of HIV] and where I have gotten to in this moment. And the brilliance of Pray Tell and this opportunity was that I was able to say everything that I wanted to say through a surrogate.”

The actor recounted how his shame over his diagnosis was associated with his mother:

“My mother had been through so much already, so much persecution by her religious community because of my queerness, that I just didn’t want her to have to live through their ‘I told you so’s.’  I didn’t want to put her through that. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I was the statistic that everybody said I would be.”

Porter then detailed that he was originally waiting until his mother died to write his memoir where he would reveal his status as HIV-positive. Porter assumed, after moving her into the Actors Fund Nursing Home, she wouldn’t be alive for too much longer, however, five years later, Porter explained, “She ain’t going anywhere.” While he and his sister were planning on telling their mother that he was HIV-positive face to face, Porter ended up revealing his truth to his mother another way:

“Then I woke up on the last day of [shooting] Pose; I was writing in my gratitude journal and my mama popped into my head. I was like, “Let me just call her.” Not two minutes into the conversation, she’s like, ‘What’s wrong?’  I said, “Nothing.’  She’s like, ‘Son, please tell me what’s wrong.’ So I ripped the Band-Aid off and I told her. She said, ‘You’ve been carrying this around for 14 years? Don’t ever do this again. I’m your mother, I love you no matter what. And I know I didn’t understand how to do that early on, but it’s been decades now.’ And it’s all true. It’s my own shame.”

The full story on Billy Porter can be found on The Hollywood Reporter’s website. 

SOURCE: INSTINCT MAG

BILLY PORTER REMINDS US THAT LGBTQ PEOPLE MADE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE ELECTION

The LGBTQ community made a major impact on the outcomes of the 2020 election season. LGBTQ Nation analysis of data revealed that without LGBTQ voters in key states, Donald Trump likely would have won reelection as President, for example. Further reviews have also concluded that Trump could have won again, if not for the force of LGBTQ voters all over the country.

Billy Porter doesn’t want you to forget. He’s working with GLAAD to remind everyone that LGBTQ voters, organizers, and groups like GLAAD made the difference in what was considered the most pivotal election of our time.

In a new video, the Pose star himself narrates a review of the tireless work that GLAAD committed to during the 2020 primary and general elections. The two-and-a-half minute spot highlights “the LGBTQ community’s impact on the 2020 general election, as well as the impact we are posed to have in the Georgia run-off,” GLAAD announced.

“After five primary debates without a single question about LGBTQ health care protections, workplace discrimination, violence against the community or support for the Equality Act, GLAAD deployed thirty years of media expertise to amplify the LGBTQ voice in the election conversation,” Porter explains.

He lists their media guide for journalists, petitions to debate moderators, and self-hosted Presidential Forum in Iowa as examples of the group “spotlighting LGBTQ issues on the national stage.”

“GLAAD went into combat mode against rampant lies and disinformation,” Porter continues, “with daily media pushback from its news and rapid response team, pre-election polling, and a heart-wrenching ad that aired on Fox News.”

“GLAAD led the charge to turn out LGBTQ and ally voters,” says Porter, “resulting in the biggest LGBTQ turnout ever.”

“Because of GLAAD, the voices — and the votes — of LGBTQ people and their allies were heard loud and clear at the ballot box, and GLAAD will continue to lead the fight for equality and acceptance,” Porter concludes.

Yet, the extent of progress for LGBTQ rights under incoming President Joe Biden’s administration remains uncertain. It all depends on if Democrats can take hold of the Senate by winning the runoff elections for Georgia’s two seats on January 5.

If either incumbent — Kelly Loeffler or David Perdue — were to defeat their challenger — Rev. Raphael Warnock or Jon Ossoff, respectively — Republicans would retain control of the Senate. That means current Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would remain in charge of the chamber’s agenda.

If both Loeffler and Perdue lose, there would be exactly 50 Republican and 50 Democrat Senators in the next Congress. That would allow Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to cast the deciding vote to end tiebreakers in the chamber, and giving pro-LGBTQ legislation like the Equality Act a chance of passing.

As Porter says, “the election is over, but GLAAD’s work goes on.”

That’s why GLAAD also announced that it will undertake yet another text messaging campaign this week, hoping to encourage millions of potential voters to make that difference yet again. They are working with LGBTQ organization Georgia Equality and VoteAmerica to reach as many voters as possible before polls close next Tuesday.

“Join millions of people supporting diversity and inclusion by voting in the Jan. 5th Senate runoff,” the sample text messages shared with LGBTQ Nation read. “Early voting is open now,” they remind readers, before encouraging them to find their nearest polling location and other information on the runoffs at GLAAD.org/georgia.

“The texts will continue through December 30 when early voting ends in select locations,” GLAAD said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the anti-LGBTQ records of Sens. Loeffler and Perdue were published to GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project, also in collaboration with Georgia Equality. They found that Loeffler donates her salary to an anti-LGBTQ group and has close ties to the Family Research Council, a hate group, while Perdue has earned praised from the Council and the Family Policy Alliance, a lobbying front for another anti-LGBTQ hate group, Focus on the Family.

Neither have voiced support, or even acknowledged, the proposed Equality Act, GLAAD points out. Both Ossoff and Rev. Warnock support it.

That’s part of why GLAAD is working just as hard to get the vote out in the Peach state — and so far, early voting numbers reflect higher turnout than in November’s election.

“The general election began with a lack of attention given to LGBTQ issues and pivoted to the Trump Administration falsely positioning itself as LGBTQ-affirming in a shameless effort to court LGBTQ voters and our allies,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told LGBTQ Nation.

A post-election poll by GLAAD found that Trump only earned 14 percent of the LGBTQ vote, which was the same as he had in 2016. By contrast, Joe Biden earned 81 percent of the community’s vote.

That contradicted a previous analysis that determined that Trump had doubled his LGBTQ support in this election, based on an exit poll using a much smaller sample of LGBTQ respondents.

“Combatting that false narrative and growing visibility for LGBTQ issues became centerpieces of GLAAD’s largest election campaign ever,” Ellis said. “LGBTQ voters turned out in historic numbers and it’s thanks to our community, along with other diverse Americans, that pro-equality candidates crossed the finish line.”

GLAAD found that approximately 93 percent of LGBTQ identifying people voted, and 25 percent did so for the first time.

“Now, we must join together to secure another win for equality in the Senate run-off,” Ellis said, because “the Equality Act, an end to the trans military ban, and rollbacks of other recent anti-LGBTQ policies can become realities” after “years of advocacy.”

See GLAAD’s video as narrated by Billy Porter here first.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

BILLY PORTER WILL COHOSE 2020 NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOW WITH RYAN SEACREST

Porter, who hosted the New Orleans festivities for the first time last year, will be joined by multiplatinum-selling artist Ciara, who will once again be hosting the Los Angeles festivities on the same broadcast.

Country artist Jessie James Decker will also be returning as Powerball correspondent for the second year in a row, giving updates throughout the evening as he checks in with five randomly selected finalists across America before revealing the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year, just after midnight on January 1, 2021.

This is certainly the era of Billy Porter. Last year, he became the first Black gay man to win an Emmy Award for best actor in a drama series for Pose. This year he narrated HBO Max's Equal series and announced that he's set to direct his first feature film. There's also his 'genderless' role as Fairy Godmother in the upcoming Cinderella remake. 

Of course, we can’t forget to mention that the fashion icon is also has a Grammy and a Tony Award for his work in Broadway's Kinky Boots, where he played a drag queen named Lola who forms an unlikely partnership with a man that inherited a shoe factory. Together, they produce a line of high-heeled boots and ultimately save the business from going under.

This year’s New Year’s Eve broadcast will be closed to the public due to the pandemic.

It is unclear whether Porter will be performing, but last year he brought the house down when he performed “Love Yourself” in an unforgettable gold encrusted jacket with a matching lieutenant cap.

A few days after his debut at last year's broadcast, he appeared on ABC’s Live With Kelly and Ryan to spill the tea about the night.

"First of all, I just have to say this man called me for one of the dreamiest jobs that I always wanted in my life,” he said of Seacrest. “I got to host New Year’s Eve in New Orleans with the master of the whole thing. It was so much fun!”

SOURCE: OUT DOT COM