VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Vincent Rodriguez III On Importance Of LGBTQ Representation In ‘With Love’

Vincent Rodriguez III discussed the importance of LGBTQ representation in the holiday series With Love in his new uInterview.

The series follows siblings Lily (played by Emeraude Toubia) and Jorge Diaz (played by Mark Indelicato) and their friends and love interests as they navigate their family throughout the holidays. Rodriguez III plays Henry, Jorge’s bisexual boyfriend.

WATCH EMERAUDE TOUBIA’S UINTERVIEW HERE!

“You’re seeing love depicted in different ways, whether it’s platonic, you know, cause you’re following Lily and Jorge Diaz and they’re brother-sister and they are tight. They are best friends. They are each other’s ride or die, you know? And to see that off the bat, like I think that’s kind of unique and refreshing, to see a sibling loving relationship,” Rodriguez told uInterview Founder Erik Meers. “Then you also obviously have the romance, but you see it with so many different kinds of couples. You see it with a trans character who’s, you know, a doctor. And you see them change, literally change, like how they choose to dress at work, how they choose to dress in life, how they choose to dress when they are with their friends, their queer friends. I mean these scenes and these realities are just rarely seen on screen. And so Gloria [Calderón Kellett], that was really important to Gloria, and I think she also recognized that it’s important to all of us.”

In one scene, Henry explains bisexuality to the older women in Jorge’s family.

“Filming that scene was a lot,” the 39-year-old actor said, “and also I felt a lot of pressure, you know. I am an out gay man and I’m Filipino. And the fact that this character was written to be a Filipino bisexual dreamboat boyfriend to Jorge Jr. I felt like ‘Aw s–t! Pressure! Jesus, let me go to the gym an extra day this week!’ It’s like it just felt like a dream come true and also something that we don’t typically see depicted on television. And so, I just felt that responsibility to make sure that this was an authentic depiction.”

“It’s been so rough the past two years,” Rodriguez III said, “and with everything that’s happened to us socially, and to our various communities and all the divide, like I think Gloria has this very beautiful like entertaining, compelling way shows us like the level of compassion that we need to have for not just ourselves, but how that can lead to having compassion for other people and it can lead to healthier conversations and open up the curiosities in the world where people don’t quite get each other. And I think that’s what that scene for my character represents.”

“We go through the awkwardness, we go through the love, we go through the acceptance,” he said, “and instead of seeing that scene play out in a horrible way, which we’d all probably say ‘Oh yeah I can imagine that on HBO Max or Netflix or any other Prime Video show, but no. In our story that’s not the way it works because there are people out there of all different backgrounds, of all sexual preferences of different generations that experience joy despite the drama or tragedy in their lives.”

With Love is streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 17. Check out the trailer below!