Kit Williamson stressed that now is the time to "get loud" in the face of anti-LGBTQ+ political and cultural attacks.
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The creator and star of Unconventional, a new Revry queer comedy that debuts today, took the stage at the show's L.A. premiere Monday to drive home the importance of visibility and pushing back against hate.
"We're in really uncertain, scary times, and I think that there's a tendency to get quiet, and now is not the time to get quiet. Now is the time to get loud and speak up in support of your friends and your family members," Williamson told the audience at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Renberg Theater to applause.
Williamson — a gay multihypenate known for creating another beloved queer found-family TV show, EastSiders — stressed how advocacy for the transgender community is particularly essential right now. (In its first month in power, the Trump administration made erasing and demonizing trans people a key part of its policy, targeting them in schools, the military, prisons, and beyond.)
"This is a show about a queer, unconventional family. And queer people, we need to bond together as an unconventional family to stand up for each other, to stand up for our trans siblings in this time where they are under attack," he said. "And make no mistake, they're not stopping with one of us. They're coming for all of us. So please, please have each other's back, love each other, and enjoy the show."
In Unconventional, Williamson portrays Noah Guillory, a Palm Springs-dwelling gay millennial juggling an open marriage, a PhD program, and becoming a sperm donor for his sister's wife — as well as accompanying mental health and substance use issues.
As Williamson explained in a Q&A at the premiere, "EastSiders is in many ways a show about being a gay mess in your 20s, and this is a show about being a gay mess in your 30s — all the problems and challenges that you face that are specific to that time in your life, kind of coming into the next chapter of your life when all of the traditional or conventional roads that are laid out for you by society don't apply. So, as queer people, we're very used to charting our own course, and that's really the spirit of the show."
The cast includes James Bland (Giants), Aubrey Shea (Nashville), Briana Venskus (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Willam (RuPaul's Drag Race), Laith Ashley, Jenna Ushkowitz (Glee), Kathy Griffin, and Beau Bridges.
Watch the Unconventional trailer below, and stream it today on Revry.
