CELEBRITY INTERVIEW

Your stamp is certainly on it. What was it like to put your big queer stamp on an episode of a show that is otherwise not particularly queer-focused at all? It’s one of those moments where you just... I stand in awe of what has happened to me once I chose my own authenticity. I got a second chance. I failed as somebody else very early in my career, and I’ve decided to choose myself. And so when you watch that episode, it’s a manifestation of that. It’s a manifestation of living a true and authentic life, and I get to then be able to tell the story of what that feels like in a really real way. I love that they’ve taken the risk with this particular episode. We need to have tough conversations. As artists, we get to get right in the middle and have conversations and create safe spaces to have conversations that otherwise are rejected. This is a Middle America show that’s going to come on in Middle America on a Middle America network at a Middle America time. Folks will be changed after watching this, and I am so grateful to be able to be at the helm of something like that.

What do you hope those viewers walk away with after they see this episode?

I think the biggest thing that I’m hoping for, and in all of my work, is to be reminded of our collective humanity. There’s a dehumanization that’s prevalent in this world right now, and I’m hoping that my work can remind people of our collective humanity, because that’s what heals.

You’ve been in front of the camera and behind. What is different about both for you? Are you more comfortable doing one over the other? It’s not about more comfortable or less comfortable. It’s just about exercising another creative