The Academy Awards STILL refuses to acknowledge and honor nearly all of the remarkable queer talent that work in cinema today. (Sorry Andrew Scott but you were ROBBED) . However the theatrical community fortunately has no qualms at all, as this years TONY AWARDS clearly showed
The event was hosted for the third year running by openly queer Tony Winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story). She is also the first Afro-Latina and the first openly queer person to win an Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actress)
One of the first up to the stage was Sarah Paulson who won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a play for Appropriate.. It was an amazing win considering the competition included Jessica Lange and Rachel McAdams In the audience was Paulson’s girlfriened of several tears. the Emmy Award winning actress Holland Taylor.
It was third time lucky for openly gay actor Jonathan Groff (Looking, Glee) who had previously been nominated for his performances in Soring Awakening and Hamilton. Now he won for leading actor for his role in the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along.
New York City Ballet Choreographer Justin Peck won his second Tony Award for Best Choreography for Illinoise a 2023 dance revue musical that follows some friends relating stories around a campfire about their childhoods and growing up. Peck is a avid LGBTQ+ ally , as is the outspoken Daniel Radcliffe who won the award for best performance by a featured actor in a musical for Merrily We Roll Along.
Merrily We Roll Along also won Best Revival of a Musical for the late Stephen Sondheim (and George Furth) and he was probably laughing fro beyond his grave as in his lifetime the show had only ran for a mere few weeks
In a historic first for the trans and non-binary community, the awards saw the first-ever wins for openly non-binary performers, in the still-gendered Featured Actor in a Musical and Leading Actor in a Musical categories. Alex Newell took the former for their performance in Shucked, and J. Harrison Ghee won in the latter for their performance in Some Like It Hot. Both actors gave powerful, moving speeches, directly addressed to LGBTQ, trans and non-binary youth.
that’s Tony winner Alex Newell to you!!!
“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here, as a queer, non-binary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts. To anyone who thinks they can’t do it…you can do anything you put your mind to.”#TonyAwards pic.twitter.com/DaQtK7vAIL
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) June 12, 2023
