Porter was honored with the Elizabeth Taylor Legacy Award during the annual event at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He shared powerful stories about his upbringing with a stepfather who molested him, opening up to his mother about his HIV status, and his memories of being a young man during the devastating early days of the AIDS epidemic. “My friends were dropping like flies around me from the age of 16. I lost more friends by the age of 21 than my 80-year-old grandmother had,” he says. “All I know how to do is fight. All I know how to do is fight for what’s right. I don’t care who’s in office. I don’t care what the consequences are.”
The gala celebrates Elizabeth Taylor’s legacy as a vocal advocate for finding a cure for AIDS, as she was the first major global celebrity to dedicate her fame and money to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic when it was still widely ignored and stigmatized. “Liz was famous—she had platforms,” said Porter, who stars in the upcoming film, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. “She had the courage to use her platform to show and teach the world what unconditional love looks like. As a baby gay, I was a beneficiary of her example and I’m grateful for the lessons.”
From left: The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation offer Quinn Tivey (who is Taylor’s grandson), honoree Billy Porter, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation officer Barbara Berkowitz and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation offer Tim Mendelson pose at the event.
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One way Taylor did so was by appearing on the November 1992 cover of Vanity Fair, holding a condom, under the headline “Liz’s AIDS Odyssey.” For its part in covering the AIDS epidemic, Vanity Fair was honored with the Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS Award on Thursday.
The night, centered on the foundation’s ongoing push to fund a cure and support those stigmatized by their HIV status, didn’t end on that solemn note. Deborah Cox took the stage and got attendees out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Porter didn’t stay seated either—he jumped in for a duet with Cox, living out the promise he’d just made to the room. He wasn’t going to be silenced, not even for one more song.
Porter and Cox got the crowd dancing at the end of the night.
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