LGBTQ icon Billy Porter has something to say about the rainbow flag—he’s over it! Wearing it has become a bit boring, Page Six reports the Tony- and Grammy-winning performer saying.
During the 2023 NYC Pride Parade, the award-winning actor served as one of the grand marshals, sporting a rainbow sash. However, Porter told the outlet he has a love/hate relationship with the iconic symbol and is looking for something different.
“I’m trying to find a rainbow without being the rainbow. I’m sort of over the rainbow but I like the rainbow, Porter said. “Because we have had to wear it for so many years, it’s like, ‘Damn, can we wear something else now? Do I have to wear the colors? Can I just show up in something cute?”
According to the LGBTQ History Project website, the colorful flag was designed for the Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978 in San Francisco.
Porter has always been known for his statement-making appearances on the red carpet and beyond. In 2019, the Pose actor wore a custom high-necked Christian Siriano gown to the NYC Pride Parade made from a rainbow of tulle fabric. Now, he just wants pride and its celebration to go back to its roots, comparing his first Pride in 1989 to now. Porter said it is now about the party rather than protest and showing strength.
Strength is something the LGBTQ+ community needs right now as government officials are looking to strip their rights away with 70 new laws this year alone, according to the Human Rights Campaign, calling it a “state of emergency.
“We’ve made some strides, a lot of strides, I keep saying the change has already happened because it has, and therefore there’s now a lot of pushback again,” Porter told Today. “And so Pride must be about protest again.”