Last month, Broadway's favourite son Billy Porter took to Instagram to post a video where he called out queerphobia and transphobia in the Black community, and he didn’t come to play. His scathing critique called on people in his community hold up a mirror and really reflect on the ways their words and actions can harm Black trans and queer folks and there's obviously a lot to unpack there, so when Billy appeared on
Jimmy Kimmel Live! with guest host Billy Eichner, he eloquently expanded on his Insta statement.
“I am Black first,” he explained to Billy Eichner via video-chat, “and growing up gay in the Black community, it’s a very homophobic community across the board. With that said, as the world has changed and as the world has shifted, the Black community is changing and shifting.”After explaining that his Instagram post caused many Black people and non-Black people alike in the LGBTQ+ community to reach out to him to let him know that they love and support him, Porter wanted to clarify his statement to be more inclusive.“The language in this moment has to be more specific,” he said, wearing a kaftan which he pointed out was specifically sporting trans colours, “So I have done an addendum to that post to really specify who I’m talking to. I’m talking to homophobic, transphobic, and xenophobic people in general, specifically Black people in this instance, because
Black trans women are dying at the hands of Black cis men at such an alarming rate.”Admitting that his speaking out came from a place of experience and authority, based on incidents and oppression he was subjected to in his youth, Billy even shared one specific snippet from his past: “Because my experience in the '80s was a cousin saying If I ever turned gay, he would kill me. So yeah, sometimes my trauma shows.”[video_embed id='1958507']RELATED: How the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia has grown since 2004 [/video_embed]What Porter is pointing to with this issue is how the misogyny, queerphobia, and racism that has been built into our modern society has roots in slavery and historical oppression that has a trickle-down effect. In short: homophobia in the Black community can be traced back to anti-Black racism created by white supremacy.“As a Black queer man in America, my basic human rights have been up for legislation every single day that I have had breath in my body from all sides,” he said in his orignal
Insta-vid. “And by that I mean, that the Black community’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community is appalling at best, and eerily similar to that of white supremacists versus black folk. Hear me Black people and hear me well: I’m calling y’all out, right here and right now.”Last month,
TIME published a piece on this very subject, interviewing Rev. Louis Mitchell, an African American trans man, who said that the patriarchy contributes to violence in all communities across the board but seriously affects the lives of trans women of colour.“This is intersectional,” he told TIME. “When you have the combination of a society that protects racism, misogyny and transphobia, it creates insurmountable odds.”He went on to say, “There’s a number of reasons Black trans women are disproportionately affected by violence. The combination of racism and misogyny and the disregard for Black women has always been a factor, so I’m not surprised it’s landing on this population. There’s not a lot of mystery, when you’re stacking up oppression, its gonna hit Black trans women the hardest.”With that in mind, Eichner, who is also a part of the LGBTQ+ community, was visibly moved by Porter’s words and expressed how even though he’s a cis male, “it even made an impact on me. I’m obviously the whitest person alive. It affected me because I’m extremely white and extremely pale, but I am a proud member of the LGBTQ community, I care about everyone in our community, and all you’re doing is speaking up for people who are in that overlap, who are taking it from all sides right now.”“We can't do it until we embrace and love each other through our differences; because of our differences,” replied Porter. “Love the humanity in every single human being. We're human beings first, that's all I'm trying to say.”[video_embed id='1959656']BEFORE YOU GO: Five LGBTQ+ movies you need to see [/video_embed]
