Billy Porter Encourages LGBTQ+ Youth to Get Involved With Local Politics: ‘Pride Started As An Activist March’
Rocking the vote. Billy Porter encouraged the LGBTQ+ community not to forget about politics during Pride — especially when it comes to fighting for equality.“You know, Pride initially started as an activist march,” the Pose star, 52, told Us Weekly at the Variety Power of Women event on Thursday, May 5. “So let’s get back to that.” In order to fix what Porter called “our fractured government,” it’s important to understand and get involved in politics at all levels. “What we need to be talking about is … how to vote, where to vote, who to vote for and really understanding politics on a local level,” the Tony winner explained.He continued: “I think recently I have begun to understand within the last decade that it’s actually the local level that has the most impact.
And I know that a lot of people don’t really know that. And that’s what the other side counts on.”Porter has long been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, telling Essence in July 2020 that “being first-generation post-civil rights and feeding directly into — as a gay man — the AIDS crisis, activism is in my DNA.
And while I don’t fancy myself an organizer, you tell me where to show up, I’m going to show up. I’m that kind of activist.”In May 2021, the Cinderella star opened up about deciding to share his status as HIV-positive, explaining that he feels a responsibility to speak up in order to encourage others to live their truth. “Having lived through the plague [the AIDS crisis], my question was always, ‘Why was I spared?
Why am I living?'” he told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “Well, I’m living so that I can tell the story. There’s a whole generation that was here, and I stand on their shoulders.
