Award shows always have lots of LGBTQ+ representation nowadays and the 2025 Academy Awards were no different. It was a smaller year for positive representation and winners for our community, but we’ve still got news to share.
The biggest LGBTQ+ news of the night was Emilia Pérez’s wins and losses. Very few trans stories have ever made it to the Dolby Theater stage, and the film has been called out as having problematic representation. Notably, none of the winners—who were all cisgender—mentioned the trans community in their acceptance speeches. Though nominated in multiple major categories, the film did not win most of them.
The Emilia Pérez song “El Mal” won Best Original Song over “Never Too Late” by Elton John and Brandi Carlile (we were so wronged). In perhaps the only good news about the film, Zoe Saldaña, who has openly discussed her attraction to women, won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role making her the first American of Dominican descent to win an Academy Award. Openly trans Emilia Pérez lead Karla Sofía Gascón, who has been criticized for many racist remarks, didn’t win for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Queer favorite Wicked didn’t win any of the top awards but did snag Achievement in Production Design and Achievement in Costume Design. Winners in both categories were notable. Openly gay costume designer Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win for Costume Design and set decorator Lee Sandales thanked his husband from the stage during his acceptance speech for Best Production Design.
Openly queer actress Cynthia Erivo didn’t win for Best Actress in a Leading Role (that went to Anora’s Mikey Madison) but was seen sitting with her partner Lena Waithe which was lovely to see. Cynthia also performed “Defying Gravity” with Ariana Grande and we love to see these two women’s love for each other. We also loved seeing one of our own, Queen Latifah, performing “Ease on Down the Road” from The Wiz!
Hopefully we’ll have more positive representation and wins next year!