The 2023 Tony Awards was a historic night when J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell became the first openly nonbinary actors to take home a coveted trophy. Ghee won in the lead actor (musical) category for their performance as Jerry/Daphne in “Some Like It Hot.” Newell won for featured actor (musical) for their role as Lulu in “Shucked.” Before their wins, the two made history as the first openly non-binary actors to be nominated.
“My mother raised me to understand that the gifts God gave me were not about me,” Ghee said during their speech at the podium. “To use them to be effective in the world. For every trans, nonbinary, gender non-conforming human, whoever was told they couldn’t be, couldn’t be seen, this is for you. ‘Some Like It Hot’ and that ain’t bad.”
During Newell speech, the actor echoed the same sentiment. “Thank you for seeing me Broadway," they said. "I should not be up here as a queer, non-binary, fat, Black, little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
While this is certainly an incredible moment, the Tony Awards (and most other major awards) are still gendered. Both Ghee and Newell had to make the decision which category they'd like to be submitted to. “I appreciate that the categories are separate to give cis women, and women in general, an actual fighting chance to win awards in such a male-dominated field,” Newell told Variety in April. But other nonbinary actors, Justin David Sullivan chose to opt out of consideration.
“I could not in good faith move forward with denying any part of my identity to conform to a system and structure that does not hold space for people like me,” Sullivan wrote in an Instagram post. “Although this decision was difficult to make, I am hopeful that awards shows will learn from this and make the meaningful changes necessary in order to consider, nominate, and award people of all gender identities moving forward.”
Still, the actor posted celebratory Instagram posts about Newell and Ghee's wins, writing “HISTORY,” in one of the posts.
Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.
