Pose

I remember this time so clearly. The clubs, the slow - then rapid - rise of AIDS, the combination of having the freedom of clubs to go for the LGBT community combined with friends either being terrified they had AIDS - or their despair when they found out they did. Finally, fighting back: ACT UP, drug imports from foreign countries, the AIDS quilt, protest marches.

This show should be watched by every LGBT person who did not live through the AIDS epidemic before the triple cocktail was invented and people could actually survive long-term once they knew they had HIV/AIDS. The world for about 15 years was a terrifying place for the community, and POC were so disproportionately hit, it was horrifying - because the few drugs/treatments available were extremely expensive, and they had two forms of discrimination working against them. This was true even after the triple cocktail was first available.

The one good thing that came out of it was that it brought lesbians/bi women, gay men and trans people together for a common cause: that we not be considered disposable.

This is an original show with a fantastic cast! I suspect a lot of us are learning a lot about "things we didn't know we didn't know." The ballroom culture of the 80's is fascinating, as are many of the characters. This show operates smoothly at several different levels and tackles the hard stuff. At its heart is the issue of family-it's enduring position as safe harbor & moral compass, and the human tendency to create families of our own to uphold and sustain us when the traditional model has failed.

I love POSE. Which is why I care about it. It's one of the first trans led, trans positive shows to tell the story of lgbtq+ culture in 80s/90s New York ball scene. Yet as much as I love it, I feel half the episodes are like watching re-runs of Jem and the holograms. There's goodies and baddies for every episode, push down your throat morality lessons, and unrealistic poverty living standards. The main lesson I've learnt is that as long as your beautiful and wear amazing clothes you'll life will be fabulous. Forget hardship, just put on a lipstick, spend all your money on outfits and the gym and you'll be fine. The shows premise is amazing, the actors are great and the background stories for the main characters need telling. Yet we need to be able tell these stories in a realistic way so they can be properly understood, so that the audience can fully explore and comprehend the real drama of people's Lives. I feel Pose takes important issues and works to raise awareness but does so with so much millennial style filtering that the real meaning is lost amongst all the gloss and glitter.

This is a series that opened my eyes and taught me a lot about a world that I'm ashamed to say I didn't know much about. What is really nice about the series ,except the fact that all the actors in the series are simply amazing, is that we are shown (although I'm sure it's only fragile) all the experiences and difficulties the characters go through. Although it is a matter of years past, you can see that our world has progressed, but not much in its attitude towards the different. Maybe if all people are exposed to this series, then maybe something will change, because as the series says, the world does not change on its own, the people are the ones who change it.

I'm in agreement with everyone who is in love with this show. Just want to give a shout out to MJ Rodriguez, who plays Blanca. She is the real standout in a very good cast.