Billy Porter took home an Emmy for ‘Pose’ & Patricia Arquette spoke out for trans equality

Billy Porter became the first black gay man to win an acting Emmy last night for his role in Pose, and that was just one of many notable LGBTQ moments from the awards ceremony.

Porter, who plays the role of Pray Tell in Pose, won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. In his acceptance speech, he quoted James Baldwin.

Related: LGBTQ stories won big at the Oscars last night & we looked good on the red carpet too

The category is love y’all, love! I am so overwhelmed and I am so overjoyed that I have lived long enough to see this day.

James Baldwin said: “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 earth like I had the right to be here.” I have the right, you have the right, we all have the right.

We as artists are the people that get to change the molecular structure of the hearts and minds of the people who live on this planet. Please don’t ever stop doing that, please don’t ever stop telling the truth.

He was asked how his win helps LGBTQ people after the ceremony. He responded: “I know that being black and gay and out and being in this position and speaking in the position that I get to speak from is the change.”

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“I hope that young queer people of all colors can look at me and know that they can,” he added, holding back tears.

Patricia Arquette took home the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her role in The Act.

In her speech, she talked about her famous transgender sister Alexis Arquette, who passed away in 2016, and spoke out against transphobia.

In my heart I’m so sad. I lost my sister Alexis. Trans people are still being persecuted.

I’m in mourning every day of my life, Alexis, and I will be, the rest of my life, for you, until we change the world until trans people are not persecuted.

And give them jobs. They’re human beings, let’s give them jobs.

Actress Laverne Cox reacted to Arquette’s speech.

RuPaul’s Drag Race won the Emmy for Competition Program. This is the third year that the show has been nominated in the category and the second that it has won the category.

Last week, at the Creative Arts Emmys (the awards for more technical categories), RPDR took home three more awards: Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming; Outstanding Hairstyling for a Multi-Camera Series or Special; and Outstanding Host for Reality/Competition Program.

During his speech, RuPaul told people to register to vote.

But the image of Ru on stage… surrounded by white men… drew some attention. After the ceremony, RuPaul was asked about why the production team behind RPDR isn’t all that diverse.

RuPaul, after making a tired joke about the “BLT community,” he had a rambling non-response.

First of all, most of our show is black, gay, and drag queens. So check, check, and check.

But, no, we’re pretty diverse. There are lots of different types of people here.

Is it important? Absolutely. Hey, you know, I grew up- I had to fight- I feel like I’m about to quote a movie right now.

You know, it wasn’t easy. You know what I had to do. And, like, some of the things I’m going to refute that I had to do. But I think we got it.

Laverne Cox attended the ceremony and she used the platform to bring attention to two LGBTQ Supreme Court cases by bringing along ACLU attorney Chase Strangio.