Billy Porter Opens Outfest With Directorial Debut ‘Anything’s Possible’ And Impassioned “Soapbox” Speech: “F**k SCOTUS!”

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The 40th edition of Outfest is underway in Los Angeles after a rousing opening night with Billy Porter, who unveiled his new film and teed off on the Supreme Court while accepting the LGBTQIA+ festival’s top honor.“Fuck SCOTUS!” Porter declared to cheers from the audience at the Orpheum Theatre.

Alluding to the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the prospect the court might revisit other rulings that okayed same sex consensual sex and same sex marriage, Porter said, “We worked too hard for our progress and we ain’t going back.”Calling that portion of his speech a “soapbox moment,” he also spotlighted the January 6 hearings examining former President Trump’s role in the Capital insurrection. “None of you Republicans who are coming forward in these hearings right now are heroes,” he remarked. “You agreed with everything he [Trump] did until January 6, until his cult followers came for ya’ll.

You are not heroes. Fuck ya’ll too.” A member of the audience shouted encouragingly, “Preach!”Porter makes his directorial debut with Anything’s Possible, a rom-com that centers on a Black trans high school senior and her budding romance with an Arab-American boy.

Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali, who play the leads in the film, presented Porter with the festival’s highest accolade, the 2022 Outfest Annual Achievement Award.