Ahead of the 2019 State of the Union Address by President Trump, Logo aimed to offer an alternative State of the Union, one to the LGBTQ+ community. The goal was to reach as many eyes as possible across social media and on-air. With LGBTQ+ rights at risk or under attack by the Trump Administration, and with the increasing record of trans homicides each year, we wanted to remind our community that the state of our union is strong, and that we can fight this hatred with love and strength.
Our strategy was to create a powerful piece of content that could be informative and reassuring on the day of President Trump’s State of the Union Address. We wanted the speaker to be a leader in our community and an icon - the one and only Billy Porter from Broadway and FX’s Pose. Similar to his role on the hit show as master of ceremony Pray Tell, he was our Commander in Chief.
Our brilliant writer and producer Les Fabian Brathwaite brought statistics, facts, and news to life in an inspiring and informative speech that sought to offer comfort to our community and a call to organize for the fight ahead.
We posted a tease on February 4th announcing that Billy would be debuting his LGBTQ State of the Union address the following day. The full address premiered on February 5th across Facebook, YouTube, IGTV, Twitter, LogoTV.com, and a promo on-air on Logo during the time of premiere.
Sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. The video garnered 204K views and 6.6K engagements across platforms, with folks replying that it was inspiring, beautiful, and far better than Trump’s State of the Union. Billy also later remarked how he was “happy to do it.” The project was a success in reminding the LGBTQ community that we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going anywhere.
