Billy Porter shares why he's still upset about Harry Styles Vogue Cover: 'You're using my community'

Three years after Harry Styles made history as the first solo man to grace the cover of Vogue styled in a dress, Billy Porter is still upset.

In a new interview, Porter vented his frustration with the fashion industry "gatekeepers" who don't widely recognize members of the queer community for their role in defying gender norms. Porter recalled that months before the cover, he sat down for a Q&A with the outlet's editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in front of the Condé Nast staff.

"That bitch said to me at the end, 'How can we do better?' And I was so taken-off guard that I didn't say what I should have said," Porter told The Telegraph. What did he regret not telling her? "Use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering fashion movement" noting "six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover."

The Pose star clarified his issue is not with Styles specifically, "It's not Harry Styles's fault that he happens to be white and cute and straight and fit into the infrastructure that way," Porter said. "I call out the gatekeepers."

Porter, who regularly turns heads with his gender-fluid red-carpet looks, has been making waves in fashion history for the past few years. But he certainly doesn't claim to be "the first" to push beyond gender stereotypes in fashion.

"I know David Bowie existed, I know Sylvester existed," he told the outlet adding "[Styles is] white and he's straight. That's why he's on the cover. Non-binary blah blah blah blah. No. It doesn't feel good to me. You're using my community – or your people are using my community – to elevate you. You haven't had to sacrifice anything."

In a 2021 interview with U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times, Porter said, "I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to. I created the conversation [about nonbinary fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time."

"I was the first one doing it and now everybody is doing it," Porter added. "I'm not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you're going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn't care, he's just doing it because it's the thing to do."

He continued, "This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned now. All he has to do is be white and straight."

Porter later clarified his stance after the comment was picked up by media. "Apparently, I'm famous now and it was a slow news day," he told Stephen Colbert during a Late Show appearance. "The first thing I wanna say is, Harry Styles, I apologize to you for having your name in my mouth. It's not about you. The conversation is not about you."

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