Emily Zemler
View all posts by Emily Zemler June 8, 2026
Costume designer Qween Jean Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images Qween Jean, costume designer of Broadway’s Cats: The Jellicle Ball, made history as the first openly trans person to win a Tony Award. Jean received the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical during the pre-show on Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall, which was hosted by Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess.
“This experience has been monumental,” Jean said in her acceptance speech. “We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people. We are taking up space in ways 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. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
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Jean, who is one of the founder of Black Trans Liberation, continued, “Pride is a protest. In this moment, we are seeing all across the city people, queer people, young folks, parents are being detained. They are being at the Newark Delaney Facility, it not only needs to be shut down, but there needs to be serious investigation. The police cannot investigate the police. It doesn’t make sense that billions are being poured into an institution of destruction when resources can be used to help people, can get them a lawyer, the human rights care they deserve.”
She concluded, “As a queer person, a leader, a mother, I will never stand quiet. If any woman is in pain, even if her shackles are different from mine, let’s get unshackled.”
