Billy Porter’s ‘EQUAL’ examines origins of the gay rights movement
Billy Porter is busy, pandemic or not. He’s appeared in a virtual play about nurses on the front lines. His series “Pose” is returning to production. He’s soon to appear in the “Cinderella” remake. He’s writing a memoir — a project he calls the hardest thing he’s ever done.
And he narrates “EQUAL,” a new docuseries on HBO Max that traces the history of the LGBTQ movement through the Stonewall uprising in
1969.
Porter was born just a few months after Stonewall. He learned about that galvanizing moment for the modern gay rights movement as he grew up. Still, he says, there was a lot about the movement’s earlier history that he didn’t know and was able to learn through the docuseries.
In four episodes, the series looks at the rise of early gay rights organizations like the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis; the 20th century transgender experience; the role of the Black community in gay rights; and then Stonewall.
Porter sat down recently to speak about the project, his other work and how he’s been coping during the pandemic. (The interview has been condensed for length.)
You were born just after the Stonewall uprising; do you remember when you first became aware of it?
I came out when I was 15, about 1985. The research wasn’t really at our fingertips as it is now, but we found it some way. There were some older survivors who would teach us. It was always nice to know as a baby gay that there was somebody out there who was fighting for our rights. Just as I intersect with the African American community and our civil rights. The two are aligned in many ways for me. It helps remind those of us in the fight on the regular that good is possible. And the work is eternal. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty is what Frederick Douglass says.
Tell us about “EQUAL.”
It was really interesting for me as
somebody who knows a lot about LGBTQ history there’s a lot of stuff in the four-part series I had not heard about before. So it’s always nice to learn something new. (It’s about) everything before the Stonewall riots. I think there’s a lot of information at the fingertips post-Stonewall, (but) there’s not a whole lot of talk about what came before Stonewall, so it’s really interesting.
You recently did a public service announcement during the Emmys, basically saying that Hollywood is making an effort toward more inclusive representation, but there’s a lot further to go.
That is the direct message for the entertainment industry. But in the macro, it’s the message for the world at large. Not just America, for the entire world. You know, it’s time. It’s time to make a change and a change for good. And it’s about people rising up and making that so. So that’s what you’re seeing right now. And I think what’s interesting about this series is that it’s about people taking charge of their lives and rising up and making sure
that we live up to what our Constitution boasts, which is that all men are created equal.
The pandemic has changed lives. How has yours changed?
It’s a global reset, that’s what I’ve been calling it. I’ve really been trying to make lemonade out of lemons. I’ve leaned in to my self-care work. I’ve leaned into boundaries and balance in relation to how I engage in the business and how I protect my relationships, my marriage, my family, everything.