Billy Porter
Billy Porter — who will be speaking at the DFW Black Tie Dinner on Nov. 2 — just became the first openly-gay black man to win the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of Pray Tell in FX’s hit show Pose.
“Bless you all! The category is love y’all! Love!” Porter declared in accepting the award while his Pose castmates cheered him from the audience. “I am so overwhelmed, and I am so overjoyed to have lived long enough to see this day. James Baldwin said, ‘It took many years of vomiting up all the filth that I had been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.’ I have the right, you have the right ― we all have the right!”
Patricia Arquette, who won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, in her acceptance speech paid tribute to her late sister, trans actress Alexis Arquette, saying that “in my heart, I’m so sad I lost my sister Alexis and that trans people are still being persecuted. I’m in mourning, Alexis, and I will be the rest of my life for you until we change the world, until trans people are not persecuted.”
Arquette also urged those in power to give trans people jobs.
Laverne Cox, who is also transgender and who has been nominated for an Emmy three times including her nomination this year for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for the final season of Orange Is The New Black, took her appearance on the red carpet as a chance to make a political statement by carrying a rainbow-colored acrylic clutch that she designed and then made in collaboration with Edie Parker that says “October 8” and “Title VII Supreme Court.” She also walked the red carpet with lawyer and activist Chase Strangio. The two explained that Oct. 8 is the date on which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case debating whether Title VII includes federal employment protections for LGBT people.
In another highlight for the LGBTQ community, RuPaul’s Drag Race won the Emmy again for Outstanding Competition Series.
