He’s one step closer to an EGOT, but as presenter Kerry Washington noted, Billy Porter’s 2019 Emmys win is significant for another major reason. Porter made history as the first openly gay black man to win in the Lead Actor in a Drama Series category, per the Los Angeles Times. Ryan Murphy’s Pose is a historic show in its own right with the largest cast of trans actors as series regulars. And now the Pose emcee helped mark another momentous TV occasion with his major Emmy win.

Porter channeled his character Pray Tell when he announced, "The category is love, y’all!" while accepting his Emmy. The previous Tony and Grammy winner (for his role in Kinky Boots) didn’t directly acknowledge that he had made history as the first gay black man to accept this award at the Emmys. But he showed exactly why representation matters by quoting writer James Baldwin in his speech. "It took many years of vomiting up all the filth that I had been taught about myself and halfway believed before I could walk around this on the earth like I had the right to be here," Porter said. Then, he triumphantly added, "I have the right, you have the right, we all have the right!"

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