Before “Pose,” before the Golden Globe, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez learned about HIV at home. Her uncle Alen Davis, a bisexual veteran and one of her favorite relatives, lived with her family. He was also living with HIV.
He got care through the VA. Rodriguez still wonders about everyone who didn’t. “Would he get it now? I don’t know.”
Davis has since died, though not of AIDS, she’s quick to note. When I asked his name, I repeated it back to her, a nod to the old AIDS-era call to remember the names. “Exactly, remember the names,” she said. Then: “You about to make me cry.”
She’s been carrying him with her a long time. Years before Hollywood knew her name, Rodriguez played Angel in the 2011 off-Broadway revival of “Rent.” Then came Blanca, the fiercely loving house mother on “Pose,” the role that made her the first openly trans actress to win a Golden Globe and the first trans woman nominated for a lead acting Emmy. Since then she’s gone comedic opposite Maya Rudolph on Apple TV+’s “Loot,” put out her debut album, “33,” and finally made it to Broadway this year as Columbia in “The Rocky Horror Show.” Not bad for a girl from Newark.
In October, she added another first to the list. APLA Health gave Rodriguez its inaugural Voice of Visibility Award at the 42nd annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles, and her “Loot” co-star Joel Kim Booster did the honors.
When we talked, Rodriguez got candid about the moment Ryan Murphy made her feel seen and why that Golden Globe hasn’t led where it should have. She also had plenty to say to every young trans girl out there. We started with the award, though, which, to hear her tell it, was never really about her.
How does it feel to be the inaugural honoree of the Voice of Visibility Award?
I think that this award is probably much bigger than myself. Sometimes I have to work through that, but it’s really important and crucial to understand what the award means. It’s more so about my community’s survival. Their resilience and their brilliance.
Did you ever think it would all lead up to this?
I had persisting goals on being a person that would be in the spotlight, whether it be music or art. And I did have dreams of becoming someone who was a pinnacle piece in change. But I didn’t expect it to be this big. I was young and had dreams and aspirations.
What was the first moment in your career that you felt truly visible?
When Ryan Murphy had me stand up for a standing ovation. He’s a very prominent figure in Hollywood, and for him to shed light on me as a trans woman of color, in that space on national television, that alone made me feel very seen — not just specifically from his gaze, but for the world. That opened up the door for people to see a standing ovation for a thriving and striving young, trans woman of color. I think it gave a lot of hope in that time, when you see camaraderie like that between a director and his lead actress. It compelled me to go beyond just winning a Golden Globe and being a history maker to be even more vocal about the disparities of other people who don’t have the opportunities that I have.
We know that trans visibility has never been greater, and yet the legislative attacks have never been worse. Does visibility protect people, or does it make them targets?
It does both, to be quite honest. It’s a double whammy. Yes, you are a target, especially if you are speaking about injustices, especially when you are speaking about disparities, especially when you’re speaking about topics like this, with HIV. We can’t talk about HIV without talking about the disparities, especially Black and brown trans women. Inequalities that happen within the system. Those are the things that make people feel uncomfortable, but they need to be talked about.
This year’s AIDS Walk Los Angeles theme was “Defend Care, Demand Action” about the gap between what HIV medicine can do and who can actually get that medicine. Where do you see that gap most clearly?
I do specifically see the gap within the LGBTQ+ community. If we centralize it to America, it’s very centered around people who are queer and a part of the LGBTQ+ community, especially now more than ever: Black and brown trans women. A lot of people don’t understand that there is discrimination. No access to health care, no access to housing, no access to even education. So how are we even to expect HIV care? There’s a huge gap in information about who’s actually benefiting from medication, or even benefiting from just health care in general.
When did HIV/AIDS advocacy become personal for you?
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It’s extremely personal for me. I grew up with my uncle. I also personally knew about his diagnosis. And honestly, if he wasn’t a veteran, he most likely probably wouldn’t have the [access] to do that. Even then, it was still hard. So he was a really important figure in my life — with me all the time, one of my favorite uncles — and we related on a level because he was queer, he was bisexual. I had a well of information given to me from him, and also what I’ve learned in the process of his health care and how he was taken care of. So, when “Rent” and “Pose” came, it only expanded my knowledge about HIV and AIDS.
Even when he was on the medications, there were still complications. It built a lot of strength in me to be aware and talk about what I’ve seen personally, but it also made me wonder, if he had this and he was lucky enough to get this access, what about the other people who aren’t? And he’s an African-American person living in America. He was grateful enough at the time to get care from being a vet. But would he get it now? I don’t know. That was my push.
World AIDS Day is coming up on December 1. What do you want people to carry into that day?
More so than anything, if you’re a person who speaks out, and if you’re out there on the streets, be vocal about the stigma, and that it has not ended yet. And that we need to continue to fight against the stigma. Though we have wonderful access and great science towards a cure, that doesn’t necessarily mean the stigma is over. There are still people who are not allotted the right kind of health care or medication. And for that, they are suffering. So when you post that red ribbon, just think about that. When you are speaking and are courageous enough to speak, think about that. And if you are even putting yourself on the line to walk and go in the streets, think about that, because it will give you a sense of reality of what’s really happening and how it has to continue to be fixed.
You were the first openly trans actress to win a Golden Globe. What has your experience been as an actor after that win?
I think it has been interesting. It’s been very interesting, I have to say. I’ve definitely been in spaces where I was able to work. I was not able to, in this time, garner work that I thought would benefit the prestige of the award that I had gotten. It didn’t pigeonhole me, but it did put me in a place… I mean, I did win for leading actress. And I also did get a nomination for an Emmy for leading actress in a television show. And when you are a trans woman of color who wins a leading actress award, I do believe it can become harder to place her in a leading category. And it’s showing. There are no trans women of color right now in the spaces that are being lifted up at all.
Why is that? Is it the political era?
I do think it’s the political era. I do. I don’t think it has anything to do specifically with agents and managers. I think Hollywood is really on the up and up, trying to figure out how to beat the uptick of what’s happening [political] climate-wise. But Hollywood took a couple of shots, you know? We had a strike, and we had Covid.
Your role on “Loot” has let you be funny but, first and foremost, has let you be an actor. What has that role meant to you?
It meant a lot to me. One of the reasons why was because it was structured after a very prominent political figure who we know right now in the space, and her nickname is AOC. I just recently found out that she follows me, so I’m really excited about that, because we share the same points of views in certain retrospects, which I really appreciate. What helped me understand that “Loot” was different from “Pose” is that it was more expansive, because I wasn’t playing a character that was so close to my experience, I was playing someone who was totally different from my experience. Though her mother and father were hard workers and working class, she worked harder in a different way than Blanca worked. That helped me learn about character development and moving forward and what I want to go into next. I want the work that I do to translate in different ways and for people to see me for the versatility that I have, versus just the characters. “Loot” alone taught me so much. I was never in comedy, and I am a silly girl, OK? But there’s technicality to comedy; there’s buttons, there’s timing, and I learned from some of the most insanely talented human beings on that show.
What is next for you?
Now that I’ve just left “Rocky Horror,” there are some things that are on the uptick. I just did a comedy. I did a drama that was a different kind of drama. It was about the trans experience. Not saying that I’m stopping that. The word that I use now is expansive. I want to be expansive, and I want meaty roles that really get to the grit of reality. I have something on the back burner that I can’t talk about. It’s not reality, it’s actually sci-fi and fantasy. And definitely more music, for sure.
What would you say to a young Black or brown trans girl reading this who doesn’t see herself anywhere yet?
I’ll make that even broader, because I don’t want to exclude my Asian young trans girls or my young white trans girls. I know the disparity is much bigger for my brown and Black girls, but I want to encompass all the dolls because they are experiencing it as well. So I want to say to the younger ones: Don’t count yourself out. Don’t stop. There will be words slung your way that are discriminatory, that are inflammatory, that are just downright disrespectful. I’m not gonna sit here and placate and act like it’s not hard, because it is. But I’m not going to stop.
I think it should light a fire under our babies to go, “Oh my god. It’s not only her; it’s Michaela Jaé, it’s Hunter Schafer, it’s Dylan Mulvaney, it’s Laverne Cox, it’s Peppermint, it’s Josie Totah, it’s Yasmine Petty.” The list can go on. I’m a girl’s girl, so I’m gonna lift my sisters up. You look to us and see that we have not gone anywhere, though it may be sparse. It doesn’t mean the advocacy has stopped, and it doesn’t mean the work has stopped. Take that, my babies, and know that it is always possible, and never give up on yourself. Ever. And I’m speaking to myself, too.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
