Pose: the series that rewrote trans representation on TV

In the history of American television, few series have had an impact as profound and transformative as Pose. Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals and broadcast on FX from 2018 to 2021 [1], the series did not merely tell stories about transgender people: it rewrote the rules of who can be in front of and behind the camera, of which stories deserve to be told, and of how television can be a tool for cultural justice [2].

The genesis: Steven Canals and a story that needed to be told

The idea for Pose originated in the mind of Steven Canals, an Afro-Latino queer screenwriter who, growing up in New York, became passionate about the history of ball culture through the documentary Paris Is Burning (1990) [7]. Canals wrote the screenplay as his thesis project for the MFA program at UCLA, imagining a series that would interweave the lives of the ballroom community with the world of corporate luxury in the 1980s.

The project remained in a drawer until Ryan Murphy, already known for Glee and American Horror Story, discovered it and decided to produce it. Murphy brought enormous production resources, but above all made a choice that would define the series’ identity: involving the trans community at every level of production [8].

Plot: three seasons of balls, family, and survival

Season 1 (1987-1988)

The first season introduces audiences to the world of New York’s balls, underground competitions in which LGBTQ+ people — predominantly African American and Latino — compete in categories of dance, fashion, realness, and vogue [5][7]. At the center is Blanca Evangelista (Mj Rodriguez), a young trans woman who, after receiving an HIV diagnosis, decides to found her own house (a chosen family) to offer young queer people a safe haven.

Around Blanca move unforgettable characters: Elektra Abundance (Dominique Jackson), the supreme mother of the House of Abundance, obsessed with perfection and survival; Angel (Indya Moore), who dreams of a career in fashion; Damon (Ryan Jamael Swain), a young dancer thrown out of his home; and Pray Tell (Billy Porter), the master of ceremonies at the balls, the voice and heart of the community.

Season 2 (1990-1991)

The second season moves to the early 1990s, in the depths of the AIDS crisis. The epidemic is no longer a background element but becomes the narrative center of the series [6]. Pray Tell faces his own diagnosis, while the community loses friends and companions. The series shows with unprecedented delicacy and realism what it meant to live with HIV in an era when the government ignored the disease and society stigmatized those who were sick [6].

Season 3 (1994-1996)

The final season takes the protagonists into the mid-1990s, in an era of transition: antiretroviral drugs begin to offer hope, ball culture evolves, and the protagonists seek stability in a world that continues to offer them few opportunities. The series closes with a message of resilience and community, celebrating the power of chosen families.

The cast: a quiet revolution

The most revolutionary aspect of Pose is not the plot, but who tells it. With five trans women in leading roles — Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Angelica Ross, and Hailie Sahar — the series set a record that remains unbroken: the largest transgender cast in television history [3][8].

This choice was not a foregone conclusion. For decades, trans characters on TV and in film had been played by cisgender actors, often in stereotypical or degrading roles (as documented in the film Disclosure). Pose demonstrated that trans people can tell their own stories with authenticity, depth, and commercial success [8].

Mj Rodriguez (now Michaela Jae Rodriguez) brought to Blanca a vulnerability and strength that won audiences over. In January 2022, she made history by becoming the first trans woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series [4]. Billy Porter, an openly gay actor, won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2019, becoming the first openly gay Black man to receive the award [1].

Behind the camera, the series employed trans writers, directors, and producers, including Janet Mock and Our Lady J, who brought lived experience to the writing of characters that finally existed as complete people and not as caricatures [8].

Ball culture: history and context

To understand Pose, one must know ball culture, a phenomenon born in the 1960s and ’70s in the African American and Latino LGBTQ+ communities of New York [5]. The balls were safe spaces where people marginalized by mainstream society could express themselves freely, competing in categories ranging from fashion to dance to vogue, a dance style inspired by the poses of fashion models.

The houses functioned as alternative families: led by a “mother” and a “father,” they offered emotional, material, and social support to young people who had often been rejected by their biological families [5]. Figures like Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Willi Ninja became legendary in this scene, immortalized in Jennie Livingston’s documentary Paris Is Burning.

Pose has the merit of bringing this culture — which had influenced mainstream fashion, music, and language without ever receiving due recognition — to a global audience, respecting its roots and involving members of the ballroom community in production [7].

AIDS: telling a crisis with humanity

One of the most powerful aspects of Pose is the way it tells the story of the AIDS crisis [6]. Unlike many previous portrayals, which treated the disease as a moral punishment or a mere dramatic device, Pose shows the epidemic through the eyes of those who lived it: trans and queer people of color who were among the hardest hit and the most ignored.

The series does not indulge in grief for its own sake. It shows the anger at the Reagan administration’s inaction, the community’s solidarity, survival strategies, and also the moments of joy and beauty that persisted despite the devastation [6]. Pray Tell, magnificently portrayed by Billy Porter, becomes the emotional vehicle of this narrative: his grief for lost friends, his fear about his own diagnosis, his stubbornness in continuing to live.

Cultural impact and legacy

The impact of Pose extends well beyond television ratings [2]. The series contributed to:

Normalizing trans presence in media: after Pose, Hollywood can no longer claim that there are no trans actresses capable of carrying a successful series [8]. The cast’s talent opened doors for a new generation of trans performers.

Educating mainstream audiences: millions of viewers discovered ball culture, the history of AIDS, and the experiences of trans people through engaging and accessible storytelling, without sacrificing complexity [3].

Creating professional opportunities: Murphy founded the Half Initiative, committing to reserving 50% of roles in his productions for women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ community members [8]. Many Pose cast members have gone on to land important roles in other productions.

Reconnecting with history: in an era when trans rights are under attack in many parts of the world, Pose reminds us that the LGBTQ+ community has a long and rich history of resistance, creativity, and solidarity [7]. Blanca’s battles and those of her daughters in the 1980s resonate with contemporary challenges.

A necessary series

Pose is not a perfect series. Some critics noted that the narrative sometimes sacrifices complexity for melodrama, and that the underlying optimism can soften the harsher aspects of reality. But these criticisms pale in comparison to what the series achieved: for the first time in television history, trans people — and in particular trans women of color — were the protagonists of their own stories, with their own voices, their own bodies, and their own experiences [2][8].

As the New Yorker’s television critic wrote, Pose did not just change television: it changed who can imagine being part of it [2]. And that, perhaps, is its most enduring legacy.