The stars of Pose opened up about the groundbreaking FX drama has impacted their lives in a recent panel.
Angel Bismark Curiel, who plays Lil Papi Evangelista, revealed how he didn't even know what the term transgender meant before being cast on the series.
"For me, before I even stepped foot on set, I didn’t know what trans meant," he said, according to PinkNews. "I didn’t even know the vocabulary definition of it and let alone the complexities and the traumas that follow very soon after that word."
Curiel hopes Pose can help educate not only the LGBTQ+ community, but cisgender men who know very little about trans issues, like him previously.
“What I hope to see is a young man sitting on a couch, flipping through his TV, looking for something to watch, and he stumbles upon this show. [He] starts watching the show, sees himself reflected in Papi and says, 'Oh… that looks like Rico over there across the street. And she’s trans? What is he doing over there? I don’t understand, man.' But he loves her. He loves her, and he appreciates her. I get that. I’ve got my shorty too. I love my mom. That’s the way I see him loving on her."
"[He turns] the TV off. Goes with the boys. And because he has that already in him…[if] the boys want to be toxic, he can say, 'No, no, no. Hold back, bro. Hey, I’m going to put you on this show, man. It’s called Pose. Let me tell you something. That boy, he could teach you a thing or two about how to love a woman.'"
Curiel concludes: "I genuinely see that as a possibility. I know it’s happened a lot for me back home with my friends. I’ve had a lot of interactions with them. They’ve had a lot of questions, and I welcome them. And that’s all because I stepped foot on this set, and now they have some insight. They can further develop their own knowledge through watching the show, picking up some books, reading some articles, and then that just spreads like wildfire. That’s what I hope [viewers] will take from this."
On the show, Lil Papi and Angel (played by Indya Moore) have been swept away in a whirlwind romance. In real life, Curiel is dating Pose producer and trans activist Janet Mock.
The third and final season of Pose premieres May 3 on FX. Watch the trailer below!
