Billy Porter to Be Honored for HIV/AIDS Advocacy

Billy Porter, also known as Billy Thee Porter and Pose’s Pray Tell, is set to be recognized at this year’s Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End Aids.

Variety reports that the actor and fashion icon will be honored with the Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS award at the annual fundraising event and will be joining fellow honorees Dr. Anthony Fauci, amFAR and Sandra Thurman, who previously served as director of the Office of National AIDS Policy under the Clinton administration.

During an intimate interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in May, the Pose star revealed he had been HIV-positive for the last 14 years. Explaining how the shame and stigma surrounding folks with HIV kept him from initially speaking out about his status, Porter shared:

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. It’s time. I’ve been living it and being in the shame of it for long enough. And I’m sure this will follow me. I’m sure this is going to be the first thing everybody says, “HIV-positive blah, blah, blah.” OK. Whatever. It’s not the only thing I am. I’m so much more than that diagnosis. And if you don’t want to work with me because of my status, you’re not worthy of me. 

Though there probably are some unfortunate folks out there who would be myopic and dumb enough to choose not to work with Porter, I don’t think it’s a problem he’ll have to worry about anytime soon. If you need further proof, just look at the long slate of projects he has coming up. There’s his directorial debut What If, that just started filming this summer, plus the forthcoming feature he’ll be directing for Gabrielle Union’s production company tentatively titled To Be Real, which, as previously reported by The Root, is set to follow “three queer friends who escape their hometown for Pride Weekend in New York City where they discover that life over the rainbow is an insane, raunchy, often divisive, but ultimately FIERCE non-stop party.”

And then there’s the upcoming Amazon Studios produced Cinderella, expected to hit the streaming service beginning September 3. As Vogue reports, Porter stayed true to his character as “Fab G,” Cinderella’s “fairy Godmuva,” during the premiere on Wednesday. Styled by Beyoncé’s former stylist Ty Hunter, Porter wowed on the purple carpet with a black and white ensemble adorned with a giant bow and sweeping train in the back designed by Mohamed Benchellal.

He completed his lewk with hella high platforms and I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to miss the days when I could (and had the desire to) get all dolled up and sport shoes that high. Blame it on the pandemic turning me into an athleisure and pj’s type of girl, I guess. Seems I’ll have to continue living vicariously through Billy Porter’s outfits until I have a change of heart.

The Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS fundraising gala goes down Sept. 17.