HBO Max's EQUAL Dives Into LGBTQ+ History With Star-Studded Trailer

The four-part HBO Max series EQUAL chronicles the history of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and stars dozens of queer luminaries and a few allies in reenactments along with archival footage of the real people who pushed for equality. Now the first trailer for the series, out on October 22, has dropped.

The series covers historic events and organizations including the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis, the Compton's Cafeteria Riots, Stonewall, and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. In the series, beloved LGBTQ+ stars embody the activists who paved the way for queer visibility today (along with a couple of composite characters). Orange Is the New Black star Samira Wiley is playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Sense 8's Jamie Clayton plays pioneering trans activist Christine Jorgensen, while Star Trek's Anthony Rapp turns up as Harry Hay, among many others.

As evidenced by the trailer, archival photographs and footage are melded with reenactments to tell the story of queer history.

"I declared under oath that I was homosexual, and I wasn't ashamed of it," Cheyenne Jackson proclaims in the role of gay rights activist Dale Jennings.

Watch the trailer below.

EQUAL is executive-produced and led by Scout Productions' Emmy Award-winning team: Academy Award winner Michael Williams (The Fog of War), Joel Chiodi, David Collins, and Rob Eric (all from Queer Eye), along with Emmy-nominated Berlanti Productions' Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter (Supergirl, Riverdale), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jim Parsons, and Emmy nominee Todd Spiewak (Special, Young Sheldon, A Kid Like Jake) as well as Eric Norsoph from That's Wonderful Productions, Jon Jashni from Raintree Ventures, and Mike Darnell and Brooke Karzen, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. Diane Becker and Melanie Miller of Fishbowl Films serve as producers.