And I have been given the tools through this experience, in particular, to be at the forefront of moving the conversation forward and telling all different kinds of stories from this Black, queer lens. A coming-of-age story that is a new conversation now. I am directing a film now that is a romantic comedy that follows a Black, transgender, high school girl. They taught us all how to feed ourselves.

I always use the analogy of “You teach a man to fish, and he’ll never go hungry.” Through the opportunity of “Pose,” they’ve taught us all how to fish. But what I do know is that what Ryan Murphy and FX have done, in terms of allyship, is to create a space for us. You know, I’m not a fortune teller, so I can’t tell. What “Pose” is, is something that was an impossibility until we came along. “Pose” has taught me to dream the impossible. And we don’t talk about it a lot because I feel like we’re always inside of some sort of collective trauma, but I do want to bring light to the fact that lots of change has happened in the world. I’ve always stood at the intersection of being Black and being queer and being a Christian. Put me at this intersection and elevated my platform. Changed that and put me at the front of something. No one was interested in my Black, gay behind for a long time, and “Pose” changed that, period. Now that it’s over, how do you think it has changed or shaped your career? It sounds like “Pose” has changed you as a person, and as an actor. There’s an importance to the work that we do that vibrates above and beyond just the surface. So to win for that would send a different kind of message to the world: That it’s not just about the glitz and glamour of the award. The idea of using art as activism, using my art to heal my trauma, has really come to the forefront this year. But through quarantine - and then coming back after quarantine to finish Season 3 - has just been really healing. For the first two seasons, I knew I was engaged in a healing conversation. There is a consciousness and a healing that has sprung out of my journey with “Pose” and Pray Tell. What would make winning this year different? These are edited excerpts from our conversation. In a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon, he discussed why this nomination would be extra meaningful and what “Pose” has meant for his career and for the future of Black, queer stories onscreen. On Tuesday he received his third consecutive nomination for best actor in a drama for his portrayal of Pray Tell in the groundbreaking FX series “Pose.” (Jeremy Strong of “Succession” won the award in 2020.) But this year feels different, he said, and not just because “Pose,” set in New York’s ball scene of the 1980s and 1990s, wrapped up its acclaimed three-season run in June. In 2019, Billy Porter cemented his place in history as the first openly gay Black man to be nominated for - and then the first to win - a lead acting award at the Primetime Emmys.

Do prey tell