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Ben Platt and Lucy Boynton on Sexual Fluidity in The Politician

Ben Platt and Lucy Boynton on Sexual Fluidity in The Politician

Lucy Boynton and Ben Platt

The Politician's stars spoke with The Advocate about just how queer Ryan Murphy's satirical Netflix series is. 

Unbridled ambition collides with social liberalism in Ryan Murphy's satirical The Politician. In the new Netflix series, Tony-winner Ben Platt is Payton Hobart, an upper-crust Santa Barbara, Calif., teen who forged his plan to become president of the United States when he was a child. First, he must first win his high school class presidency and gain entrance to Harvard before he can make his way to the White House.

Bohemian Rhapsody's Lucy Boynton plays his nihilistic political rival, Astrid, in his run for the presidency. The series also stars Jessica Lange, Zooey Deutch, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bob Balaban, Judith Light, and Bette Midler.

In an interview with The Advocate, Platt and Boynton chatted about the show's inherent queerness and how many of the characters in the series are sexually and/or gender fluid.

"To do [this project] with Ryan, who always makes sexuality and gender fluidity a part of the backdrop and the tapestry of the piece but never the subject matter or the narrative -- it's just an assumed part of reality, particularly in this show," Platt says. "Everyone is kind of all over the map in a really beautiful way, which is where everything is headed anyway, and he's always very much ahead of the curve."

The Politician's eight-episode season is available in full beginning today.

Watch the interview below.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.