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FOUNDING MEMBER
WORLD AIDS DAY
A Personal World AIDS Day
for Billy Porter
Billy Porter opened up about living with HIV earlier this year.
BY NICOLE AKOUKOU THOMPSON
Tony Award-winning
star Billy Porter (“Kinky
Boots,” “Cinderella,” and
“Pose”) is more than an
omni-talented fashion icon who
is just one letter away from reaching
EGOT status. He’s the poster
child for radical vulnerability and
a change leader who’s re-energizing
conversations around HIV through
his own experiences.
It has been a critical year for Porter,
who is slated to appear alongside
a bevy of icons and stage legends for
a star-studded Broadway concert
called Remember the Ribbon: A Tribute
to World AIDS Day. He went public
about his HIV status in May, telling
The Hollywood Reporter that for
him, HIV positivity includes splashy
colors, boisterousness, and visibility
that resounds the importance of his
voice and life — not being defi ned by
his condition.
“This is what HIV-positive looks like
now,” Porter stated during his revealing
interview published in the May 19
issue of The Hollywood Reporter.
Porter is re-contextualizing his
journey as a Black gay man living in
America with HIV. He’s grappled with
trauma, shame, and fear, but he’s
also abounded with resilience, forgiveness,
bravery, and excellence.
During recent interviews, Porter
has opened up about his troubled
REUTERS/MARIO ANZUONI
history: psychoanalysis at the age
of fi ve; bullying due to his effeminate
nature; and sexual abuse at
the hands of his stepfather from
ages seven to 12. He came out at
16, during the height of the AIDS
crisis when hundreds of thousands
were succumbing to illness, which
saddled him with survivor’s guilt.
Twenty years later, he, himself, contracted
HIV during a particularly
diffi cult year that included fi ling for
bankruptcy and a type-two diabetes
diagnosis. Stigmatization, fear of retaliation
and marginalization, and
guilt would keep him from widely
disclosing his HIV status for another
14 years.
“Having lived through the plague,
my question was always, “Why was I
spared? Why am I living?” Porter told
THR. “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. I can be who I am
in this space, at this time, because
of the legacy that they left for me. So
it’s time to put my big boy pants on
and talk.”
All while enduring in silence, Porter
has been blowing away audiences
with award-fetching performances.
His portrayal of cabaret performer
and drag queen Lola in the hit
Broadway production “Kinky Boots,”
for example, snatched him a Tony.
His masterful portrayal of Prayerful
Pray Tell, a celebrated emcee within
the NYC ball scene and friend to the
House of Evangelista on the Peabody
Award-winning series “Pose,”
charmed an entire generation and
earned him an Emmy. Through his
characterization of Pray Tell, he was
able to navigate the choppy waters
of HIV-related shame. He used the
character, who shares his diagnosis,
as a “proxy” to investigate his own
struggle and truth.
“Yes, I am the statistic, but I’ve
transcended it,” Porter stated. “This
is what HIV-positive looks like now.
I’m going to die from something else
before I die from that. My T-cell levels
are twice yours because of this
medication. I go to the doctor now…
I’m the healthiest I’ve been in my
entire life. So it’s time to let all that
go and tell a different story. There’s
no more stigma — let’s be done with
that.“
Porter’s new revelatory debut memoir,
“Unprotected,” is self-described
as “a revealing autobiography about
race, sexuality, art, and healing.” The
book is a lock-step coming-of-age introduction
to the life of a gay Black
man living in America. It’s an intimate,
haunting, and conversational
tale of unbreakable determination,
both timely and inevitable, discussing
racism, homophobia, the AIDS
epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Porter, who was named among
TIME’s most infl uential people in
2020, will participate in the live World
AIDS Day concert, which will feature
Judith Light, Lena Hall, Rema Webb,
Javier Muñoz, Chita Rivera, Alan
Menken, Beth Leavel, and many
more. Bryan Campione will direct
the production, and the music will
be coordinated by Mach, with music
direction/arrangements by Joshua
Stephen Kartes.
The performance will be recorded
at Sony Hall in New York City and
will stream December 1-3 on Playbill.
com and Playbill’s YouTube channel.
The event will help benefi t Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Never one to miss a beat, Porter
is additionally set to direct a feature
adaptation of “Camp” for HBO
Max and Warner Bros. Based on the
book of the same name by Lev A.C.
Rosen, “Camp” is a witty screwball
comedy that examines gender, sexuality
and self-acceptance among a
group of queer teens. According to
Deadline, Porter is also set to direct
an entitled queer comedy for Amazon
Studios.
NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2 14 021 | GayCityNews.com
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