Michaela Jae “MJ” Rodriguez has made history by becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Golden Globe.
The Pose star brought home the award for best actress in a TV drama for her role in the FX series as Blanca Evangelista.
After her win Rodriguez took to social media to spread the news. “”OMG OMGGG!!!! @goldenglobes Wow! You talking about sickening birthday present! Thank you! This is the door that is going to Open the door for many more young talented individuals,” she wrote. “They will see that it is more than possible. They will see that a young Black Latina girl from Newark New Jersey who had a dream, to change the minds others would WITH LOVE. LOVE WINS. To my young LGBTQAI babies WE ARE HERE the door is now open now reach the stars!!!!! @goldenglobes”
“Number one, thank you, Golden Globes,” she said in a video post on Twitter. “This is for the LGBTQAI, Black-Latina-Asian, the many, multi, beautiful colors of the rainbow around the freaking world. This is not just for me, this is for y’all. This is the door that opens for y’all. Not me. For y’all.”
The other performers nominated for the award were Christine Baranski, Uzo Aduba, Elisabeth Moss and Jennifer Aniston.
The actor’s breakout role on Pose brought her widespread notoriety. Set in New York City, the groundbreaking FX series explored the African-American and Latino LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pose debuted in 2018 and ended in June 2021 after three seasons.
Rodriguez also made history in July as the first “out transgender actor or actress nominated in a lead acting category” for an Emmy Award, according to GLAAD.
The winners of the 79th Golden Globe Awards were announced on January 9th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. NBC refused to air this year’s ceremony in protest of the association’s absence of Black voting members.
