Billy Porterwho was honored with the Outfest Achievement Award on Thursday as part of the LGBTQ+ festival’s opening night, used his time on stage for “a soapbox moment”, taking the High Council and Republican politicians.
“Fuck SCOTUS,” Porter declared from the front of the Orpheum Theater in downtown LA, after Roe v. Wade’s recent court strike, “We’ve worked too hard for our progress and we’re not going back.”
During the Jan. 6 hearings, he also called on Republicans who are now testifying and opposing Donald Trump, saying, “None of you Republicans coming forward in these hearings now are heroes… you agreed with everything he did until 6 January. until his cult followers came before you. You are not heroes, fuck you too. No more reaching down the aisle to people who don’t want to be touched.”
Looking ahead, he said liberal reporting needs to change, and after winning marriage equality and some civil rights victories — along with Barack Obama’s election — “we all sat on our butts for eight years and ate chocolates, and then the unthinkable happened. We make it happen.” also part of it.”
“We’ve lost our vigil — it’s time to get that shit back. The coverage needs to change,” Porter continued, referring to his film Everything is possible, which premiered at Outfest after its awards ceremony. The film, marking the Attitude Star’s directorial debut, follows a transgender teen as she navigates her senior year of high school.
“Our 24-hour news cycle has forgotten to emphasize that the reason the pushback is so severe right now is that the change has already happened. We’re already there – look at me, look at this movie, look at all of you,” he said. “A celebration of trans joy centered on a black, empowered, transgender high school student who gets the cutest Arab Muslim boyfriend and has the audacity to demand respect for her humanity.” He then instructed the crowd to “turn to your neighbor and say, ‘The change has already happened, and we’re not going back.'”
Porter advocated choosing love, hope, and joy, promising, “No one comes to save us from ourselves but ourselves. What are you going to do and who are you? This is the time, now. This is the time. No more silence, no more fear.”
Before his political statements, Porter was introduced by his movie stars Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali, as he recalled the long journey to his film’s premiere — starting with his Outfest debut 22 years ago for The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. The film prompted him to move to LA, where he rarely got auditions and “continued to get feedback that I was too flamboyant and that the part would be given to a straight actor.”
He eventually moved back to New York to begin the theater career that would launch him in Kinky bootsand have a “come to Jesus moment” after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and HIV.
“Would I still choose life? Or not? Now I’m not going to bore you all with what came next – I’ll let you buy my memoirs, Unprotected,‘ he joked with commotion. Back to the present and “this script found me. Everyone’s talking about how did you choose this? I didn’t pick anything, this script found me. Because I made the choices in my life that were about me. I made for myself chosen.”
Outfest marks the 40th anniversary of the festival this year, which runs through July 24. Larry Horne, one of Outfest’s co-founders, took to the microphone on Thursday to comment on how it’s grown since its UCLA origins, saying, “I continue to be in awe of the hundreds of filmmakers, video artists, queer visionaries, a multitude of voices over time – and the Supreme Court and the far right will never be able to silence us. On to another 40 years of Outfest.” Executive Director Damien Navarro added: “We are committed to leading the dismantling of the entertainment industry as we know it, and building a more abundant media ecosystem is in place.”