Nico Tortorella has been an outspoken advocate for the gender non-binary experience, coming out as genderfluid in 2017 and preferring the pronouns them/they to be used when addressing them. So when Tortorella was asked to be on Lip Sync Battle this week against fellow Younger star Molly Bernard, Tortorella made sure to have producers shine a light on their experience as a gender non-conforming person… and did they deliver!
Tortorella got up in the gig as Ariana Grande for one of their battles, for a performance of the singer’s hit song “God is a Woman.” Tortorella, wearing a sky high pony tail and thigh high golden boots, was joined by RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Jessica Wild, Ongina, Morgan McMichaels and Mariah Balenciaga, adding some extra glamour and glitter to the already dazzling production number.
Tortorella got sky high themselves by the end of the song, riding some sort of silhouette of a woman that was holstered up above the stage.
They ended up winning the night, and donating their $10,000 cash prize to the Trans Law Center, an organization that “does what it takes to keep trans and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.”
On Instagram, Tortorella wrote of the experience:
“When @llcoolj asked me one word to describe this feeling… NON-BINARY. last night was the ultimate public artistic healing expression of my journey through gender and its multitudes. and it motherfuckin paid off. but real talk, the winner last night was @bollymernard. baby girl, my little shaky leaf is now a tree rooted and thriving and fruiting! i am so proud of you, to see how far you’ve come, to bear witness to how far you will go. thank you @lipsyncbattle for trusting us, giving us this platform to be loud and queer and political. i mean you asked me and molly on, what did you expect? thank you @rupaulsdragrace for creating space and the queens who joined me on stage last night @ongina @morganmcmichaels @mug4dayz @jessicawild88. thank you to all the dancers, the @selahgospelchoir, and to the entire team who makes the whole gig run. thank you @bethanycmeyers for always being by my side, especially on that day. thank you to all my friends who came to the taping. i love you. this is truly one of the most epic proud moments of my career thus far and just downright the most fun i’ve ever had. lastly, thank you to all my queer, non-binary, gender variant and trans siblings who inspire me every single day to be more. do more. fight more. last nights win resulted in a $10,000 donation to the @translawcenter center – thank you for all that you do, we need you more than ever. happy pride y’all, we still have so much work to do, but today i celebrate. #allofitisyou #spacebetween oh and @arianagrande… call me. x. GOD IS NON-BINARY.