Pose star Mj Rodriguez won’t ever stop schooling transphobes: ‘I want to change minds’
Mj Rodriguez attends the amfAR Cannes Gala 2021 at Villa Eilenroc in Cap d’Antibes, France. (P. Lehman/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Emmy nominee Mj Rodriguez hopes that her stellar work on Pose will “change the minds of people who hate or choose not to understand” trans people.
Rodriguez earned critical acclaim and devotion from leagues of fans for her amazing performance as Blanca in the groundbreaking series Pose, which ended earlier this year in its heartbreaking third season. In July, she made history as the first trans woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award in a major acting category.
Ahead of next month’s ceremony, the actor told Shape that she doesn’t plan to slow down advocating for trans rights through her work on screen and in music.
Rodriguez explained that there is “a lot of prejudice, discord and separation around the world” when it comes to trans women, “let alone the LGBTQIA community”.
She wants people to see that “we need to focus on” the “human experience”, and that “we are all one”.
“My goal is that my artistry, whether it’s acting or music, changes the minds of people who hate or choose not to understand,” Rodriguez said.
“I hope it helps them realise that just because I’m a woman of the trans experience, that doesn’t mean I have an agenda to harm.”
Mj Rodriguez as Blanca in Pose. (BBC)
She continued: “Instead, I want to let others know what humans are like, how some of us work, and what we have to offer.
“I’m going to keep striving for that. And I’m never going to stop until it’s accomplished.”
Shortly before her Emmy nomination, Mj Rodriguez spoke to PinkNews about sharing the experiences of trans people through her work on Pose.
She explained it was important for her to highlight the “love and happiness” that people of the trans community can experience “outside of a very traumatising and dark and deep show”.
“It’s beautifully dark and traumatising – we needed that, for people to see what we went through,” Rodriguez added. “But there’s also light at the end of the tunnel, there is gold at the end of the rainbow. We do live prosperous, long, lengthy lives.”
