Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Billy Porter Calls Out 'Vogue' For Featuring Harry Styles In A Dress: 'I Had To Fight My Entire Life'

Billy Porter Calls Out 'Vogue' For Featuring Harry Styles In A Dress: 'I Had To Fight My Entire Life'
David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Actor and singer Billy Porter is not a fan of Harry Styles' Vogue cover appearance which features the former One Direction singer in a dress.

The cover shoot made Styles the first man to appear on the cover of Vogue solo.


Porter, who plays Pray Tell in Netflix series Pose, isn't unhappy because it's a dress. He's upset because he has been wearing gender nonconforming clothing on the red carpet for years.

And Porter's nonbinary styles have not always been received with such open arms.


In an interview with The Sunday Times excerpted by Rolling Stone, Porter said:

"I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to."
"I'm not necessarily convinced and here is why."
"I created the conversation [about gender nonconforming fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight White man, in a dress on their cover for the first time."
"I'm not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you're going to try and use to represent this new conversation?"
"He doesn't care, he's just doing it because it's the thing to do."
"This is politics for me. This is my life."
"I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down."
"All he has to do is be White and straight."


Until as recently as 2011, a person could be arrested in New York City for "impersonating a female" which came from a law enacted in the 19th century prohibiting "dressing as the opposite sex." These laws were used to arrest gender nonconforming people, crossdressers and transgender individuals.

Transgender and gender nonconforming people of color have faced the highest level of discrimination, higher than any other segment of the transgender community—especially Black and non-White Hispanic people.

Trans and gender nonconforming POC are assaulted and killed at an alarming rate in the United States.

Styles' dress wasn't universally well received. He caught outrage from conservatives.

However, Porter's statements have become a point of debate.

Is Styles' cover moment a step in the right direction or an example of racial bias and heteronormativity?











@otbeans/Twitter





Last year when Styles' covershoot dropped, he said gendered fashion is "limited."

"I've never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something."

Though it seems like a step in the right direction for fashion and acceptance of gender nonconforming individuals, it's also important to lift up our most vulnerable.

That being transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming queer folks of color.

More from Trending

Donald Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump Hit With Epic Math Lesson After Making Absurd Claim About Lowering Drug Prices

Percentages are a part of mathematics that a lot of students struggle with. But they should be a breeze for any alumnus of Fordham University or a Penn State Wharton School of Business graduate with a bachelor's degree in economics, like MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

For example, if you're talking about tangible items, like prices for prescription drugs, those can increase by any percentage, and often do.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kim Kardashian
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Kim Kardashian Just Showed Off An Impossibly Tight Outfit—And Fans Wonder How She Can Even Breathe

When we think of Kim Kardashian and what she's likely to wear, most of us picture something form-fitting and/or revealing, especially when it's for a special event.

But Kardashian took "tight" to a new level when she appeared in a recent piece from a Mugler fashion show. The piece is black, sheer, and sparkling, with long vertical lines. It fully covers the neck, arms, chest, and legs, with peek-a-boo cutouts on the thighs, inner thighs, and buttocks.

Keep ReadingShow less
Phillie Phanatic; Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images; instaagraace/TikTok

The Phillies Mascot Just Recreated The Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal—And It's Comedy Gold

To anyone out there with a bonus relationship, let this be a reminder: not only might you get caught cheating, but you might also go viral and get your situation turned into a meme.

At least that's what happened to now-former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, with whom he was having a relationship, despite having a wife and kids.

Keep ReadingShow less
Wide shot of a mansion with fancy, black convertible parked out front.

People Share Dark Secrets About Working For The Ultra-Wealthy

Some say that being filthy rich isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Sometimes, it's just filthy.

Keep ReadingShow less
The clacker B1 Battle Droids
Disney/LucasFilm

Robots labeled 'Star Wars' slur

Artificial Intelligence and robots can thank the droids from Star Wars for the internet-appropriated slur “clanker,” which has been used to insult real-world technology as automation slowly creeps into and takes over daily life.

According to Wookieepedia (yeah, I went there), the word “clanker” was first used as a slang term because the joints of the droids would, well, clank against their metal bodies.

Keep ReadingShow less