Among the many memorable moments from season two of Pose is the funeral of Candy Ferocity, portrayed by actress Angelica Ross, after she is murdered and found in a hotel room. Throughout the episode, as various main characters process their grief, Candy appears to them, confronts them, and lovingly, tells them to let go. The most moving of these conversations is with her parents, who were reluctant to attend Candy’s funeral because of their transphobia. Always her father’s favorite, he says to her, “I can’t let you go. We’re just getting started.”

Part of Candy Ferocity’s funeral takes place in the ballroom as her ghost syncs to a crowd of her chosen family and Pose’s strongest theme is cemented — that the love of family, chosen or not, can help us move forward and grow.

Pose has the largest trans cast as series regulars on a scripted show in television history. It has broken barriers for its stars, like the show’s lead, MJ Rodriguez who became the first openly trans woman to win Best Actress in Television at the Imagen Awards. For many young LGBTQIA+ people today, Pose is a pathway to understanding queer histories through conscious representation and empowering emerging generations to find their passions. Upon the show’s season two finale, Teen Vogue talked to young LGBTQIA+ people of color on the show’s impact.

“As a Latino, my family would watch lots of novelas together,” Federico Rogelio Yñiguez, a 20-year-old college student in Long Beach, California tells Teen Vogue. “None of them had accurate or even positive queer representation. Some didn’t have any at all.” Federico started watching Pose after the 1991 documentary, Paris is Burning, made him curious about ballroom culture and learning about other aspects of queer history, like prominent trans rights activists, Sylvia Rivera.

"Learning about the House of Xtravaganza and Sylvia Rivera led me to Pose," Federico says. "I continued to watch it because the show renews my love for myself as a gay person. It’s hard sometimes when society and people around you don’t fully accept you. Pose also leads me back to appreciating my queerness in general. I feel more powerful and less alone."

Briannah Hill, a 22-year-old non-binary femme in Boulder, Colorado, was compelled to watch Pose after seeing the series trailer prominently feature black queer folks. Despite their love for the show, they took issue with how Candy’s death was portrayed and the backstory of her family being revealed at her funeral. "We never got the humbling backstory for Candy until after she’s dead, which is problematic because it centers everyone else’s grief instead of hers," Briannah says. "I understand that they wanted to shed light on what’s happening to black trans women in America, however, they missed it and made their small problem worse. I still love Pose though and will continue to leave space for them to grow and make mistakes."

When Damon (Ryan Jamaal Swain), asks Helena St. Rogers, his black dance teacher, for permission to audition for a show during the season she responds by revisiting a moment in her early dance career. “My teacher at the time thought I was crazy to drop my studies and go dance for [Lester Horton], but she also knew that those audiences needed to see me — a strong black woman taking up space in those white concert halls and auditoriums,” Helena says. Adding, "The world needs to see you, Damon, a man who knows who he is.”