c'mon guillermo, i'll cut you out of that suit. good night, everybody! tonight on "nightline," the groundbreaking history-making show "pose" on fx. this week garnering ten emmy nominations. the musical drama highlighting new york's underground ballroom dance culture. breaking down all kinds of barriers. >> everybody told me that my queerness would be my liability. and it was. for decades. i'm so grateful that i lived long enough to see this day. >> the show and its ensemble cast of lgbtq+ people of color in many ways a mirror of the characters' own pain and triumphs. >> love is the answer. that's where a lot of my confidence comes from. whether there be derogatory slurs, whether there be hate, i choose to persevere through that. >> the finale going out with a bang, and i learned a thing or

two. >> more like a pivot. step forward and turn. >> oh my god, do that again. >> this special edition of "nightline," "pose: pain to pride" will be right back. at! (cat 1) it's made with real farm-raised chicken! (cat 2) i gotta get my paws on that! (cat 1) it's friskies farm favorites! (cat 2) the winning farm-ula. (woman vo) feed their fantasy. ♪ friskies ♪ (cat 1) look! friskies ocean favorites! yum! ♪ i've got nothing to eat. nothing. [crying] hold on, i can do something. ♪turning nothing into something♪ ♪i turned nothing into something♪ it's amazing what you can do with nothing, and a little best foods.

it's amazing what you can do with nothing, ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ receive a chargepoint home flex charger or a public charging credit. see your volvo retailer for details. ♪ ♪ >>. >> thanks for joining us. the power of storytelling.

for years we've been sharing stories about the transgender community, the struggles, the heartache. "pose," a raw and unflinching look at the black and brown underground ballroom scene in the '80s. many of the stars in the show lived through the pain of that era but buried it for years. and only now are sharing with us their lessons of love and healing. "from pain to pride." dying to see the crowns. >> you should try one on. >> oh my gosh, i'd love to. >> yes. you're a queen. >> i'm a queen. >> you're a queen. >> reporter: 6'2" and supermodel sleek, dominique jackson is the true week. a trans icon teaching me how to strut. >> step forward, step, and turn. >> oh my god, do that again. >> reporter: one of the stars of "pose" shattering records for transgender representation on screen. >> you just do the same thing, and you're there. oh, she's a natural! >> dominique invited us to her cozy home in upstate new york, showcasing her most prized possessions.

>> and look at miss continental. oh, look, it's heavy. >> yes. >> interview winner. that's fitting. >> along the way i have picked up some awards. >> yes? >> when you don't think you can and you see tse things are happening, you see that you are acknowledged, it gives you the ability to keep going. >> reporter: a blend of her life before and after fame. dominique embodied electra. >> a mother provides. >> reporter: a transgender house mother saving black and brown queer youth from the streets and from hardships she herself lived through. >> what do you little ones think you're doing? >> i went through sex work, i went through homelessness, hunger. but through all that, i found family, i found love, i found friendship. and i am now and still a part of my family. >> they think he might kill himself. >> who is going to kill himself?

>> wally! >> no! >> reporter: playing electra on fx's "pose" resurfaced a lot of the trauma that dominique had hidden away. >> the outside world thinks, she's electra, she has shoes, bam, she's fabulous. but no. i was feeling the memories of, oh my gosh, i got out of that car and, no, he didn't stab me. i'm going down to do the laun laundry, i flash back, it's me sitting in a car with a gun to my head. >> reporter: brutal real-life flashbacks echoed in storylines in "pose" set in the underground ballroom scene of '80s new york. at the height of the hiv/aids epidemic. despair that much of the cast and crew experienced in their own lives. >> it's true to the reality of what was going on during that time. there was violence. there was sickness. there was death. there was rejection. there was homelessness. there was crack addiction. prostitution. these were all people trying to survive. really, the main storyline is

family. whether it's chosen or your birth family. and the struggles of and finding acceptance within your own family. >> reporter: but this day is a celebration. ♪ at tos bowl in pasadena, a drive-in performance by some of the cast to close out the emotional finale. ♪ after two glaad awards, a peabody, and an emmy for historic star billy porter. >> you're the first openly gay man to win lead actor in a drama. what does that say to you about representation? >> when i got into this business in the mid-'80s, this what you see sitting in front of you with all of these accolades and all of this, was not possible. you know, everybody told me that my queerness would be my liability. and it was.

and they were right. for decades. and then all of a sudden it wasn't. you know? i'm so grateful that i lived long enough to see this day. >> reporter: billy's real-life pain and perseverance reflected in every scene. >> this is the moment that i dreaded most. >> reporter: culminating in his stunning revelation last month, that like his "pose" character, ballroom impresario pray tell, he too is hiv positive. an intimate secret he'd kept for 14 years from his own mother, a deeply religious woman who'd initially rejected him when he came out as gay in the '80s, but now embraces her son unconditionally. >> she said to me, "i love you, i've always loved you, and please stop doing this." you know? "i didn't have all the tool when you came out, but that was decades ago now." >> please stop doing this as in? >> please stop not telling me stuff. please let me be your mother.

and that's a lesson for us, too. it's like, we have to give the people an opportunity to grow. so that forgiveness can happen. so that we can heal. >> stop, stop! stop it! >> you're like everybody, everybody! >> stop it! >> what was raw to me is the fact that you revealed so much despair in that entire year. beyond your hiv status. >> yeah, yeah. 2007 was a really difficult year for me, you know? it was diabetes in february. bankruptcy in march. hiv positive by june. i was on the precipice of obscurity. if i could just hold on, you know? and i had such wonderful angels encamped all around me, forms of friends, forms of chosen family, forms of -- you know, my sister, you know -- just -- i never

would have made it by myself. >> reporter: billy and his character pray tell showing perseverance in the face of prejudice and rejection. channeling the spirit of how "pose" got the green light in hollywood. >> i pitched it for 2 1/2 years2 i was told, there's no space for a show like this, i don't know hot audience is, i don't know who you're supposed to cast in these roles. >> trans youth and trans athletes are under scrutiny, if not under assault. in some ways, your show could not be morton call. >> that was never lost on us in the writers' room that we were crafting narrative that was directly addressing everything that's happening right now in our country. >> reporter: queer visibility all the more important in a year already on track to be the deadliest for trans people in america. with at least 28 lives lost.

mostly trans women of color. >> i constantly make sure that i am the leading example of what love is supposed to look like and how it's supposed to be given through the world. and "pose" has given that to me. >> please don't do this, it's embarrassing. >> we do not have the luxury of shame. >> reporter: michaela jay, known as mj roigue,layed blanca, patron saint of the show. >> it's not magic. it's parenting and it takes patience and practice. >> reporter: mothering and nurturing her chosen ballroom family. in the face of all the hate that is directed at the trans community, your answer is love? >> amen to that, yes. love is the answer. that's where a lot of my confidence comes from. whether there be dialogue tore slurs, whether there be hate, i persevere through that. >> next up, nominees for outstanding lead actors in a drama series. >> this week a groundbreaking nomination. >> mj rodriguez, "pose."

>> reporter: mj becoming the first transgender emmy nominee in a lead acting category. one of ten emmy nominations for the show. >> "pose" has changed my life in so many ways. it gave me space to open my heart up to love a little bit more. and also have people understand what love looks like through the television screen. >> reporter: but it wasn't just their shared traumas and just how much "pose" has bubbled up for each of them. >> we realized the show was coming to an end. there was a bit of, yes, thank god, i can finally not have to relive my trauma. then we realized, look, we don't always have to be strong. we were feeling what it really felt to be blessed and reliving the journey to get to it. >> reporter: dominique relived part of her journey. raised deeply religious in the caribbean, the immigrant from tobago says she was molested by a priest at a young age. >> i had to reclaim my faith.

i had to literally say, listen, you cannot grant or take god from me. you don't have the power to send me to hell. >> duane, where do you think you're going? >> anywhere but here with you! >> reporter: in the final season this poignant scene where electra's mother finds her secret trunk of dresses and jewels, triggering emotions in dominique, bottled up for so long. >> get out. >> that was some days of just 24 hours of crying. i just kept crying. i couldn't stop. because i had a trunk also. and my mom went into it. and it was in that trunk she discovered that i had a trans identification. i had to have the choice between staying at home and being what i was supposed to be, or going out there into the world. and now with my mother, she understood, understands, that i

needed that too. >> if those tears that you shed that night could speak, what would they say? >> they would say, you're on your way to freedom. it's going to take a little while. you might have a few breakdowns. but you're going to continue to face this, but you're going to be okay. >> reporter: as for her costar billy, he ignored his pain for decades, chasing success on broadway, even winning a tony award for his performance in "kinky boots." but only now is he finally stopping to process decades of pain. >> it was the time that we were forced into with covid that allowed for me to find present inside of this journey and go, oh, i need to heal some stuff. i'm experiencing real joy. for the first time untethered. ♪

to any validation needed from the outside. i'm trying to be present, you know? it's beautiful. ♪ let's give the world love ♪ god bless you all, thank you for the love! we love you! >> we love you all. coming up -- >> that morning i had the call-back. >> do you think you can come to the balls and beat me with a lucky break then disappear? >> i was not going to go. >> how "pose's" fierce house mother almost didn't make it to her audition. >> denying any any opportunity for redemption? leaving my twisting in the wind? >> i was in a space of truthfully, it's frustrating to see how fast dust reappears. but dusting with a cloth is a pain. and dealing with a bulky vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters.

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♪ tell me about your love of borbies. >> when i was younger i wa not allowed to play with barbies. i would sneak them. i had this love for them. i just started. >> reporter: surrounded by the comforts of home, dominique jackson is fearless. >> and you, frankly, look like a barbie come to life. >> we're all barbies. >> it's mommy barbie. >> reporter: unapologetically living her truth, meaningful mementos after a lifetime of struggle. but all this success almost didn't happen. >> you're clearly not winning the game. nor are you playing it fairly. >> reporter: this is her audition. the one she barely made it to. for the role that would change her life. >> i was not going to go. i was a few weeks out of bottom

surgery. i still had stitches. and i looked at every possible excuse. there was no way i was going to get this part, and i wasn't worth it, i wasn't enough. but i knew the lines. i knew the character. and i fought myself. i fought through agoraphobia. i fought it and i got up. >> reporter: for decades the woman behind such a confident, feisty persona said she secretly suffered from agoraphobia, a crippling fear of leaving her past. triggered perhaps by her- >> within all of that pain and the struggle of not knowing where i would sleep that night, having to depend on some man's fetish in order for me to eat and find a place to sleep, was -- it broke me. many times i would get to my door and i would just close the door, and i would just sit there and cry. i didn't want to be outside. i couldn't go outside. >> what does that meal like?

feel like? >> being trapped. everything around me was vibrating. and it's really hard to sit there and try to focus and smile with people, but on the inside, it was bawling, it was hollering. i just wanted to get home. the only thing that got me outside was i would drink to the point where, okay, yeah, i can go. >> self-medication. >> reporter: but amidst that struggle, she also unexpectedly found love. and a pillar of support. with her straight cisgendered male bodyguard, edwin, who has two young sons. >> he's your kevin costner, you're whitney houston. >> we are "the bodyguard." it's crazy. it was the loving, the caring, the affection, everything like that. it was that moment of going, oh, this is real. >> you've been a ballroom mom. >> yeah. >> for so many years. to transition to real-life stepmom is a big deal. >> it is a big deal. >> what is that kind of motherhood like for you?

>> at first it was like, no, i don't want this. and they show up. and they're loving. and they open their beautiful eyes. they look up at you. they're like, yeah, so we want to, you know -- chocolate milk, please. you just fall in love. >> reporter: that love giving her new strength. >> i don't want to be dependant, but edwin does help me a lot. he gets me to go to things and be normal. >> love you. >> and one thing that edwin did, he has now helped me to do it without alcohol at all. >> reporter: her triumphs both on and off screen inspiring countless trans fans who say they feel seen. >> "pose" has given me extra oomph and energy to be able to walk out with my head held high. >> the world was finally seeing an accurate depiction. >> it makes me want to continue doing what i do and giving back to other individuals. >> reporter: one of the show's avid fans, naomi green, is a

real-life electra. part of the ballroom scene since the '90s. >> it's not the same type of transgender woman representing every period on the show. there are many different trans women who represent many different backgrounds, shapes, colors, sizes, all of that. >> reporter: as an advocate, naomi says representation from "pose" is vital for the trans women of color she serves in dallas, texas. >> we offer a leadership development with services like resume-building, professional dress. a ton of different services that we really focus on. and the reason being is because of many things that you saw in the show "pose." >> you have to shine so bright out there that they can't deny you. >> reporter: a show whose legacy will last far beyond its three-season run. >> i've read comments of people saying this is going to save lives. >> i hope so. when we were filming the second season of the show, it had a young -- i had a young gay black

man approach me and say with tears in his eyes, watching the first season of the show inspired me to go and get tested for the first time with my boyfriend. >> we're not going anywhere, we're going to be making strides for a very long time. i feel like the sky is literally limitless. >> the legacy of "pose" is respect. it's love. it is family. formed in order for people to find their joy, find their love, find their life, find understanding and respect amongst each other. amongst each other. when we come back, a final i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctoran infeconsyts such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs

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our thanks to the incomparable dominique jackson, billy porter, mj rodriguez, and