Costume Designer Qween Jean Becomes First Openly Trans Tony Award Winner

That’s one for the history books: Qween Jean, whose costume design for Cats: The Jellicle Ball just won a Tony Award, is the first openly trans woman to every win a Tony Award.

While several non-binary performers have won Tonys in the past, Qween Jean is the first trans winner. She could also make score another Tony rarity later tonight: She’s nominated in a second category: Best Costume Design for a Play for her work on Liberation.

Taking the stage in a ruffled lavender gown, Qween Jean got the night’s ball rolling with a shouted “Happy Pride!”

Calling theater makers the “architects of imagination,” she continued, “This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people…We have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So, I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor.”