‘ Equal’ illuminates S. F. queer pioneers
HBO Max series features LGBTQ performers playing historic figures
While preparing for his role in the new HBO Max series “Equal,” Jai Rodriguez knew that to fully embody San Francisco drag legend and activist José Sarria, he would have to perfect the performer’s distinctive voice and speech cadence. Sarria’s grand, declarative vocal style revealed so much of the gay history of the mid20th century, says Rodriguez. Each elongated vowel or plummy consonant told a story of the underground culture where LGBTQ people were finding one another.
“One of the things I found most charming and intriguing is that drag entertainers always have someone they’re inspired by,” says Rodriguez, best known as a host on the original “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” series. “José was heavily inspired by the film sirens of that era ( the ’ 50s and ’ 60s.)”
Developing the accent Sarria used to rule the stage at the Black Cat nightclub is what helped Rodriguez find the camp, but also commanding, physicality of the character. “There was a level of courage and bravery that we take for granted,” says Rodriguez of Sarria, noting that being in drag was illegal at the time.
The late Sarria was not only the founder of San Francisco’s Imperial Court drag community, he was also the first openly gay person to run for political office in the U. S. with his campaign for the Board of Supervisors in 1961. Sarria remains a less wellknown gay political icon than a later politician: Harvey Milk, who eventually succeeded in his run to be the first openly gay San Francisco supervisor.
Highlighting undertold queer stories like Sarria’s is part of the goal of “Equal,” which is executive produced by “Queer Eye” creator David Collins, actor Jim Parsons and popular television showrunner Greg Berlanti (“Dawson’s Creek,” “Arrow”).
The series, which premieres Thursday, Oct. 22, on HBO Max, features a number of LGBTQ performers playing key figures from queer history. The series, which is narrated by “Pose” star Billy Porter and uses historical footage combined with actors, includes Cheyenne Jackson and Anthony Rapp as gay activists Dale Jennings and Harry Hay in episode one, Alexandra Grey and Jamie Clayton as trans rights pioneers Lucy Hicks Anderson
and Christine Jorgensen in episode two, and fellow “Pose” star Hailie Sahar as Stonewall Riots icon Sylvia Rivera in episode three. Rodriguez’s role as Sarria appears in the second episode and was written specifically for him.
“Do you know how much I have in common with José?” Rodriguez joked. “Who else would do it?”
It wasn’t just Sarria’s life as a cabaret performer in San Francisco that entertainer Rodriguez related to: The intersectionality of Sarria’s performing, politics and drag were all elements Rodriguez felt kinship with. “I immediately felt a sense of pride that there was this queer Latinx person who had made such waves.”
Episode one of “Equal’ includes the stories of two more San Francisco figures: Lesbian activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, founders of the pioneering queer women’s group Daughters of Bilitis, played by Shannon Purser (“Stranger Things”) and
Heather Matarazzo (“Welcome to the Dollhouse.”) Both actors were familiar with the women’s stories, which included being the first samesex couple married in California in 2004 and again in 2008.
“I was in New York at that time fighting for the same rights,” says Matarazzo. “When this project came about, I was humbled and honored to slip into that skin.”
With many of the series’ actors and behind-the-camera team identifying as LGBTQ, there was an environment of support on the set that Purser felt was important to comfortably tell these stories.
“There’s something really special about that fact that it was largely queer people who created this entire project from start to finish,” says Purser. “I feel a similar way when there’s a lot of women on a set. There’s this kind of freedom and safety I don’t always feel in other circumstances. I do think you can see a tangible difference in the way stories are told, too.”
In her research for the Lyon role, Matarazzo says she went down a “YouTube rabbit hole” looking for footage of the women speaking, of which she found surprisingly little. She did however, discover that she and Lyon shared the same birthday — Nov. 10. The timing of the series, says the actor, also feels fitting during an election season where LGBTQ rights are again a topic in many campaigns, especially with efforts by President Trump’s administration to roll back many of the protections for LGBTQ people established during the Obama presidency.
Phyllis and Del “were two women who fell in love with each other and fought for the right to do that loudly and publicly so that future generations didn’t have to go through the same things they did,” says Matarazzo.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” says Matarazzo. “What I’m most thankful for is that I get to stand on the shoulders of giants. I get to look to those chosen ancestors for cheerleading and a refill of fortitude.”