"It's like my goal has always been my art as activism, my art as healing. He said: "The whole process for me, from start to finish, has really been about stepping into what visibility means and how art has the power to change the hearts and minds of people from the inside out.
The Emmy award-winning star hailed appearing on the show, which came to an end last month, as his "greatest, greatest honour" and he thinks it's had a significant cultural impact. And I hope that as an example we can be that for others." "And that's been the biggest part of this particularly in the last season, is how I've been able to use it as an agent of healing. He explained: "So there's a whole generation of us who haven't really been able to process what happened to us in relation to healing trauma.
The final season was set in the mid 90s and saw Pray Tell offered a spot on an HIV drug trial and Billy recalled how once the medication was developed that made the illness easier to manage, "everybody moved on, as if it never happened", leaving a "whole generation" with struggles they still need to work through. "One of the things that has stuck out for me about the whole thing is a lot of my older friends were calling and saying, 'Oh, I didn't know that I had anything left to process.'" Only because it's 'cool' he goes around talking about how he 'luvz gettin dem totally chill sheshs bro' when he's never stepped on a board in his life. He told E! News: "What I understood from day one was that I could use Pose and the character of Pray Tell in proxy for my own healing and my own journey with trauma and grief as it relates to that time period. A poseur is a real turd of a guy who shops at Zumiez/Pac Sun, likes Nyjah Houston and all the worst brands (revive, sector 9, diamond, etc.) but most importantly doesn't skate. The 51-year-old actor - who revealed earlier this year he was diagnosed as HIV+ 14 years ago - could see similarities between the journey of his character, Pray Tell, and his own life, and the FX series has also helped his friends realise they still had issues to "process". Billy Porter's role in 'Pose' helped him "heal" from his "trauma and grief".