Billy Porter is primarily known as an entertainer who – although making no other attempt to appear feminine – shows up to award shows in dresses. Porter made the news earlier this year for coming to the Academy Awards in a dress-tuxedo hybrid. He’ll now be playing the ‘Fairy Godmother’ in a Broadway adaptation of Disney’s Cinderella.
So to recap, the homosexual will be playing a fairy godmother [ahem].
Porter first gained fame in 2013 after winning awards for his role in the play Kinky Boots. He now stars in a television series called Pose and is the first openly gay black man to win an Emmy award for a lead character in a series.
Porter told the press…
“I’m invited to red carpets and I have something to say through clothes. My goal is to be a walking piece of political art every time I show up. To challenge expectations. What is masculinity? What does that mean? Women show up every day in pants, but the minute a man wears a dress, the seas part. It happened to me at the Golden Globes [when I wore a pink cape], and I was like, really? Y’all trippin’? I stopped traffic! That Globes outfit changed everything for me…I’ve always wanted to wear a ball gown, I just didn’t know when. I was inspired [this past New York Fashion Week] because there’s a conversation happening about inclusion and diversity. There were so many people of different races and voices. At Palomo Spain, genderless boys floated down the runway in gorgeous chiffon dresses and capes. It was lovely. Fashion has the ability to touch people in a different way.”
Porter does not consider himself “transgender” per se, and does not always dress as a woman. When he does wear a dress, he makes no attempt to appear as a female. This has traditionally been called transvestism, when a person of one sex simply dresses as another.
Over the weekend, Porter confirmed that he will play the Fairy Godmother in Sony’s upcoming live-action Cinderella movie, originally of Disney.
Hopefully, he at least shaves his mustache.
“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5).
