Steven Canals Talks About Our "Rich History of Trans Erasure"

From Bayard Rustin (adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington) to trans women today, queer and trans people of color have never been the focus of mass media, says Steven Canals.

Now, as diversity on-screen has slowly begun to rise, Canals is proving how crucial these untold stories are with Pose, the FX series that he \created with Ryan Murphy. Pose takes place in the ball scene of 1980s New York City and features the largest cast of trans actors ever assembled, the majority of whom are trans women of color.

In this week's episode of LGBTQ&A, Canals details the years of effort it took to get Pose made, why Ryan Murphy pushed him to make it accessible to a wider audience, and how growing up in New York City during the height of the AIDS crisis made a lasting impact on him.

Listen to the full interview with Canals below or click here to listen on your favorite podcast app.

Check out recent episodes with Kate Bornstein and Wilson Cruz.

LGBTQ&A is a weekly interview podcast from The Advocate that documents modern queer and trans history. Hosted by Jeffrey Masters, LGBTQ&A gets beyond transition and coming-out stories in order to get to know each person's defining moments, their accomplishments, and how they got to where they are today.