Diversity Rules Magazine

5 Diversity Rules Magazine September 2018 doing because...why not? JRK: You said your inspiration was Janet Jackson. How so? JT: She is my idol. I grew up with her music, learning every single dance from her iconic music videos--she really is my musical muse. Dance-centric but dabbles across genres and constructs lyrics that stem directly from her inner life. eatrical yet relatable. And how she is the creative force and boss lady- -she's not a label puppet. She decides the look, the sound, the feel, the mes- sage, the tour, the photoshoots...she's just the total package. An extremely hard worker who does it her way and can show you all the receipts. JRK: In addition to being a singer, you are also the founder and owner of "Necessary Outlet." Can you tell us what that is all about? JT: When I had that mid-life crisis, I guess you can say that's what it was, I decided that a creative "outlet" was "necessary" to my existence. So I formed this pro- duction company with the idea that I would produce small-scale local projects. Little cabaret shows and web series--really just to give me license and a platform to do all the things I wanted to do. I didn't want to be out on the audition hustle competing to say other people's words, I wanted to make and star in my own creations and have control over the messages and out- put. Because some of what I do is quite divisive or incendiary. But when I launched my web series His- tory, I ended up getting a lot of festival selections and awards and then season 2 just ballooned my YouTube subscriber base. And then the letters from people say- ing how much they connected with what I was doing so...what started as a little side project is growing into something that I hope is starting to look pretty damn professional. JRK: You act in a show called "History." Can you tell us about that? JT: History is my most popular creation to date. Two seasons of six half hour episodes following my charac- ter's love life and friendships in New York City. e point of view is the mid-30s single, gay, professional and how his personal history impacts how he lives his life. How internalized homophobia contributes to the idolization of masculine, how we learn to be guarded and our readiness to fight or flee when faced with con- flict, our search for validation, our racism on the apps, our youth obsession, our compartmentalization of sex and love. It's a uniquely LGBT point of view but truly about our shared humanity. e idea was to tell a story out of our world where the center of the story wasn't "i'm gay and I need to tell people" or "i need to live my truth" or "i have HIV" or "but my family's religious." ese are just people living their lives who happen to be gay. JRK: You have said that shared experiences, thoughts and val- ues can create a genuine con- nection with other people, and that is what has made your refo- cused life fulfilled. Can you get into that a bit deeper and give us some insight on how that can help us all deal with the very try- ing times politically and socially that we are now experiencing in the country? JT: Politically? Oh god. My first movie, coming out hopefully this fall called "Snowflake", tackles just that--LGBT people trying to survive in this kind of political landscape. Dealing with the swing of the pendulum back towards social conservatism. But stepping back from politics, I think if I look back at my former life--the parties, the bars, the vacations, the friend circles, the drama--I realize that I was looking to belong to a "team." And that superficial lifestyle of always being surrounded by a group of "fabulous funny gays" has a way of tricking you into thinking you're on one. But it's when the chips are down that people show you who they are, and no matter how entertaining someone is to bar hop with, if they can't let you crash on a couch when you're homeless--they aren't worth your time. So all of that, that whole lifestyle, there was no genuine connection. It was all facade. Where I've found true connection is by putting out these intensely personal projects into the universe. I never thought by telling these stories I'd start getting letters from people reaching out to let me know that I made them feel less alone. Because they felt the same things I did. Or that they were moved to tears, or laughed out loud, or were reminded of an old friend or old love. It's vulnerability that forges true connection. No, I don't know these people, I've never met them-- Tracy - Con't on page 6

• Cover