Emmy-nominated Pose writer Our Lady J reveals her personal connection to a scene she crafted for the series finale, which sees Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) providing support for a young trans woman who learns she is HIV-positive
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BY TYLER COATES
‘I Did Have Blancas in My Life’
Emmy-nominated Pose writer Our Lady J reveals her personal connection to a scene she crafted for the series finale, which sees Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) providing support for a young trans woman who learns she is HIV-positive.
In Pose’s series finale, Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) delivers the news to a young patient that she has tested positive for HIV. The scene mirrors one from the FX show’s pilot, which aired in June 2018, in which Blanca learned of her own HIV-positive status. “We wanted this to be the final moment for Blanca, where we show that she is a survivor,” says Emmynominated writer Our Lady J. “Not only is she surviving, but she’s taking care of others in her community the way she was taken care of.”
“I’ve been an advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS, having been diagnosed myself almost 20 years ago,” Our Lady J says. “I went to GMHC myself, and received counseling and support from them in the early days of my diagnosis.” The nonprofit — founded in 1982 as Gay Men’s Health Crisis — provides testing, crisis counseling and legal aid, and the organization has worked tirelessly to serve the communities most impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
This scene represents the heart of Pose’s three seasons and the theme carried throughout the series. “The show is all about family and taking care of each other when society has not done that for us and our community,” Our Lady J says. That Blanca’s narrative arc is bookended by similar scenes in the pilot and the finale underscores not just the importance of community, it also shows how Blanca has put her community first. “[She treats Safaree] how she wishes she had been treated. With Safaree, she gets to be the person she once needed in that moment [from the pilot].”