The Tonys awarded openly non-binary performers for the first time ever last night
Some Like It Hot's J. Harrison Ghee and Shucked 's Alex Newell became the first non-binary performers to win Tony Awards for acting at the ceremony in New York
Aux News Toby Marlow
Last night, the Tony Awards finally took heed of the diverse talent on Broadway, awarding non-binary performers for the first time in the awards’ history. J. Harrison Ghee, who won the award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Some Like It Hot, and Alex Newell, who won the award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Shucked, both identify as non-binary; Newell uses he/she/they pronouns, while Ghee uses they/them.
Newell and Ghee are the first two openly non-binary people that the Tonys have awarded for acting; last year, Six composer and writer Toby Marlow became the first non-binary Tony winner. Newell and Ghee each addressed the monumental achievement in their respective acceptance speeches.
“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts,” Newell, who accepted their award first, shared. “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.” They were met with an ovation.
In Ghee’s speech, they specifically highlighted their mother and the lessons she instilled in Ghee growing up that still guide them today.
“My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me. To use them to be effective in the world, to help somebody else’s journey,” Ghee said. “So thank you for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give. For every trans, non-binary, gender nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be, you couldn’t be seen, this is for you.”
Despite last night’s progress, the Tony Awards still haven’t taken it a step further in the way that the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Gotham Awards, and more have by digressing from gendered categories altogether. Both Ghee and Newell ran in actor-specific categories (although Newell has previously opined: “Acting is my craft. I am an actor… Actor is a genderless word.”)
The Emmys have also not made that transition. Prominent television actors like Yellowjackets’ Liv Hewson have eschewed campaigning for a nomination given the lack of a category they can confidently align with; Hewson shared in April, “I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.” As Ghee and Newell made clear last night, the queer talent that propels the entertainment industry is undeniable, and creating proper space to laud it should be a priority.
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Despite last night’s progress, the Tony Awards still haven’t taken it a step further in the way that the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Gotham Awards, and more have by digressing from gendered categories altogether. Both Ghee and Newell ran in actor-specific categories (although Newell has previously opined: “Acting is my craft. I am an actor… Actor is a genderless word.”)The Emmys have also not made that transition. Prominent television actors like Yellowjackets’ Liv Hewson have eschewed campaigning for a nomination given the lack of a category they can confidently align with; Hewson shared in April, “I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.” As Ghee and Newell made clear last night, the queer talent that propels the entertainment industry is undeniable, and creating proper space to laud it should be a priority.Yeah, I mean… it’s great that the Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards are doing that, but the concern always has generally been that people are so shitty that the larger the awards get… the more men are just going to win everything, given institutional sexism and misogyny, if the categories are combined.Asia Kate Dillon had previously submitted for Emmys under “Best Supporting Actor” using Newell’s rationale as well, before speaking out about it in later years.Interestingly, at least with the Emmys, they apparently say they let people submit under any category for any reason and they won’t check: https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/billions-star-asia-kate-dillon-emmy-awards-gender-nonbinary-1202023724/Personally… I’m not sure the best answer. I think everyone should live their own truth (of course), I just don’t know how to square that against how terrible institutionalized discrimination is still…
You don’t have to even have given institutional sexism and misogyny, just math. There are just fewer awards if you do that, so fewer performances are awarded. If the goal is to maximize the number of great performances celebrated, just degendering awards alone won’t do that.
Or do what some awards do, which is set a threshold and then award it to everyone who clears it, instead of making it a competition with only one winner [per category].
nm
I think it would be great if all awards were degendered, but I worry that if they do they will end up like the Academy Award for Best Director and very few non-males will be nominated or recognized. Part of that is just that the profession is male dominated (also bad) but that’s not all of it. Many awards are doing just fine without gender. The Hugos and Nebulas frequently nominate a majority of people who are not straight white men, but those are obviously less mainstream.The other reason it probably won’t happen is organizations like giving out more awards rather than less. Having more honored people makes it easier to elevate the profession and marketers love to be able to brag about all the people in the cast and crew involved that have been nominated or won awards when trying to sell their movies. Cutting out 2 acting awards (lead and supporting) means fewer people can be billed as “Award nominated/winning” during the trailer.
Why would anyone define themselves by their gender?
That’s lovely and philosphical, but here we’re talking practical purposes for awards that could significantly improve someone’s career and life.
If you get rid of gendered categories, you have fewer awards, which isn’t good for anyone.
If you’d said “should” I’d be on board, but “would” is obvious: Because society provides immense pressure to do so.
Looks like the real Dr. Emilio Lizardo’s imitator/stalker is back.
Just out of curiosity, how did they decide which Actor/Actress category to put non-binary performers in? Do the actors themselves decide, or do Tony people pick?
I bet there’s a dartboard involved.
Both Newell and Ghee chose to be submitted in the Actor category. Newell has said they consider “actor” to be genderless and has also said that they don’t agree with de-gendering the acting categories as it would likely limit opportunities for more inclusive and diverse winners.
What an absolutely absurd time to be alive.
FYI: The Dr
Emilio Lizardo (account: paging-doctor-parody)
imposter account posting here
in this thread is NOT the
long-established account user known in the Giz
family.
The
shriveled-soul
imposter has several accounts being used to
harass Kinja users, by posting
sexist, racist and other vileness here
, but primarily on The Root and on
Jezebel, trying to discredit the actual,
long-established account users.The real Dr Emilio posted here, under account: dremiliolizardo and is a constructive contributor.