Presenting the Winners of the 6th Annual Autostraddle TV Awards!

It’s easy to dismiss awards. Mainstream awards, especially, can often feel bought, dismissing the best for what the major networks and streaming services decide to push. But, at their best, awards provide an opportunity to celebrate the work that connects with us and our culture. No, they’re never fair. Yes, they’re often influenced by the bigotries that govern our entire world. They still have a place in our arts landscape to get great work to a wider audience.

For the past six years, Autostraddle has sought to fill in the gaps left by the Emmys. If at their worst awards are bigoted and at their best awards are celebrations, why can’t we look beyond the mainstream and celebrate more of the work ourselves? Well, that’s exactly what we’ve done. The Emmys might acknowledge a fraction of the great queer TV that gets made — we acknowledge that and all the rest.

This is even more important now that our shows are frequently getting canceled and fewer are getting made. Even if these artists deserved more time to tell their stories, we can celebrate the television that was created against all odds.

And with that, here are the winners of the 6th annual Autostraddle TV Awards.

---

Outstanding Drama Series

A League of Their Own (Prime Video)

I’ve been waiting a long time to write this tribute.

First, A League of Their Own’s 2022 late summer release meant that it didn’t qualify for that year’s TV Awards. Then the fall 2023 TV Awards landed in the middle of an incredibly necessary, and historic, labor strike in Hollywood. Which means that here we are, in the early weeks of 2024 before I could finally, officially, give A League of Their Own their well-earned and proper due.

It’s almost ironic then that 18 months later, I am still at a loss how to even put A League of Their Own into words. That time we all spent together, that first crack of a bat hitting a ball, the first whiff of fresh cut grass off the dugout? It felt like magic. That confident quirk of a smile when Greta flicked her eyes at Carson? Magic. The soft, steady hands of Uncle Bert on Max’s shoulder before their kitchen haircut? Magic. Jo stepping up the to plate like Babe Ruth? Bev pulling Jess aside to promise, “we have to take care of our own”? Lupe’s… well, everything? Magic magic magic.

Watching Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson’s sublimely queer remounting of A League of Their Own was a television moment unlike any other. And thanks to Prime Video’s decision to unceremoniously cancel the beloved series, we won’t be able to experience it again. But even if the powers at be only let them do it once, I’m so grateful they stole this base. — Carmen

Outstanding Comedy Series

Sort Of (Max)

“It’s what I want, with everybody, not just my romantic relationships but like family and friends, with all the loves I have. Just, I want that uncomplicated Rachel McAdams love. That’s doable, right?” Sabi wonders early in Sort Of‘s second season. But every time that “uncomplicated Rachel McAdams love” feels like it’s within Sabi’s grasp, the ground beneath them shifts and the hope of achieving it slips further aways. Sabi finds comfort and understanding in the arms of Olympia and then, the ground shifts, and they’re introduced to Olympia’s husband. They find a refuge in Bar Buk but then the ground shifts, it closes, and Sabi and their friends are forced to imagine something new. Sabi starts to build an understanding with her mother but then the ground shifts and their abusive father returns. And then, just as Sabi’s building some semblance of a connection with their father, he dies. The ground is always shifting beneath our feet.

Sort Of succeeds in making a very specific story feel relatable and universal. If season one of Sort Of is about discovery, then season two is about confronting a new reality, tethered to the truth and not to expectations or assumptions. Sabi, of course, takes center stage — chasing that “uncomplicated Rachel McAdams love” with a full sense of who they are and what compromises they will and won’t make — but the challenge extends to the entire cast. Paul reunites with his wife — Bessy, who spent most of the first season comatose — and has to nurse her back to health, with a full understanding of their estrangement. Violet grapples with her mother’s return and how to reconcile that with the person she’s grown into in her mother’s absence. Even Sabi’s mother, Raffo, long constrained by beliefs foisted upon her, gets to revel in her newly found independence. Sort Of remains the story about how all of us — cis, trans, queer, straight, young, old — are always evolving in our own way. — Natalie

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

The Last of Us (HBO)

When I think about The Last of Us, I am often thinking about how much I love it and how much my friends love it. I can sometimes forget how important it is that this sweeping, post-apocalyptic, high-budget, well-advertised, hugely popular, mainstream show stars a non-binary actor who plays a queer teenage girl. And yes, everyone always talk about the Bill and Fred episode, but the “Left Behind” episode was such a beautiful display of first love, and first heartbreak. With both episodes, queer love was centered and celebrated, even in such a dark world. At the end of the day, that’s what the show is about: the humanity and love that can be found, even at the end of the world. We’ve seen so much de-gaying of source material for decades — even as recently as 2020 — so it’s refreshing to see an adaptation lean so confidently into the beautiful queerness of its story. — Valerie

Outstanding Animated Series

Harley Quinn (Max)

Harley Quinn is a great example of why adult animation is so fun and important. Not being directly attached to the DCU, and not having to worry about special effects like a live-action show, this series is able to pull from the most obscure and wacky pages of DC comics. They can really run with it without having to worry as much about the big studio execs demanding ‘universal appeal’ or whatever crap makes it so that in the live-action DCU movies, Harley Quinn’s bisexuality is just briefly a hint. In this show, she is queer and proud and in love with Ivy and their relationship is the emotional arc of the entire show. This season they are solidly in love and trying to find a work/life balance, centering their relationship while trying to girlboss their various organizations. It’s fun, it’s wacky, it’s so, so gay. — Valerie

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Jasmin Savoy-Brown, Yellowjackets

Jasmin Savoy Brown really brought the fear factor to season two of Yellowjackets, portraying teen Taissa’s further descent into sleepwalking chaos and instability with chilling details. Tai was really put through the ringer this season, and she also embraced cannibalism with gusto (but apparently has no memory of it), and Brown really sells it all while also bringing dynamics to what could easily be one-note drama. The best horror performances are unsettling and alluring in equal measure, and Brown definitely delivers. — Kayla

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Lea Robinson, A League of Their Own

For me, it was always Uncle Bert. There is a world where A League of Their Own made a different choice. Where they settled for Greta and Carson’s storyline alone and considered it to be “enough.” People of color, trans people, we hear that a lot: Next time. Your turn will be next. Especially for a series set in the 1940s, it would have been so easy to hide behind the lies of what too many people assume to be “historically accurate,” instead of push for the honesty of what’s more.

But this is not about representation for representation’s sake. In Lea Robinson’s hands Uncle Bertie felt real, warm, loving. The specter of Bertie haunts the first few episodes of A League of Their Own, brought to life only in the hushed whispers of Max’s parents, worried that their daughter might turn out “that way.” When Max leaves her parents house, Bertie’s is the first place she runs.

It’s in Bert that Max finds queer family. And they are already blood relation, yes — but blood isn’t what makes our family our own. It’s Bertie who cuts Max’s hair in the kitchen, who takes her out bowling, who encourages her to flirt with girls, and who sews Max her first suit. When Max shuns Bert in public — it’s Bert who pushes back. This is not, and was not, Max’s story alone. Bert is just as deserving of a family who sees them on their own terms.

In fact, Bertie’s final scene doesn’t include Max at all. Bert confronts their sister, at last allowed to release a specter of their own. You see for some people “playing it safe” suffocates rather than frees. And by living their life out loud, Bertie gets to live in abundance. — Carmen

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Bilal Baig, Sort Of

Because they are also the co-writer and co-creator, Bilal Baig has received more praise as a storyteller than as an actor. This praise is deserved — season two built on the promise of season one and became one of the best shows on TV — but their achievement in their show as an actor should not go unmentioned.

Sabi responds to the world with a defense mechanism of remove. They’re deadpan in their humor, detached in their emotion. Baig showed the cracks in this exterior in the first season and in season two reveals even more as Sabi challenges themself to be more open. Whether in their fraught relationship with their dad or their desires in two very different romances, Sabi is trying to let their walls down while still not getting hurt. Baig plays all of this perfectly, a grounded performance that will have you laughing one moment and crying the next. It’s subtle work and subtle work this accomplished deserves all the recognition. — Drew

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Amanda Cordner, Sort Of

The “funny friend” is a trope for a reason. While the protagonist is experiencing the dramas of life, the funny friend is there for comic relief. They provide support for the protagonist and provide jokes for the audience. But lighter doesn’t mean easier. For this role to succeed, an actor needs to create a real person even with less time and focus for development.

Since season one, Amanda Cordner has been an absolute joy as 7even. She has quickness and an energy that provides a perfect foil to Bilal Baig’s more deadpan Sabi. But in season two, 7even’s character was deepened as we spent more time with her mom. While still providing comic relief, Cordner was allowed to dig into the complexities behind 7even’s outward persona. It’s the kind of thing that’s possible in a second season, but also the kind of thing only possible when a performer already established a clear and full character. — Drew

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

It’s not easy to carry a show like this on your shoulders, but Bella Ramsey did just that. While there is definitely an amazing ensemble cast in the show, when it comes down to it, the story is about Ellie and Joel. Ramsey had the challenge of making Ellie sarcastic and funny in a way that covers a layer of fear and trauma, in a way that evolves as the show goes on, and they excelled at it. At any given moment, their face is portraying fear, hurt, bravery, hope. And, in addition to being such a talented performer, it’s really special to have the lead of such a huge show openly talk about being non-binary, and being queer (or, as they sometimes put it, “not straight, a little bit wavy.”) — Valerie

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Storm Reid, The Last of Us

I remember being nervous for the episode, “Left Behind” when the TV adaptation for The Last of Us was announced. Whoever played Riley would need to get us to fall in love with the character over the course of one episode, so that when her fate was revealed, the importance of that relationship to Ellie and how it affects her would be felt. Well, Storm Reid gave all of that and more.

Riley and Ellie’s relationship has long been a fan favorite in part because of the queer undertones between them in the game. Storm managed to give Riley confidence and vulnerability with a dash of playfulness that made it easy to see why Ellie had a crush on her best friend. One of my favorite scenes from the game is when Riley and Ellie take pictures in an old photo booth, and somehow Bella and Storm punched up what was already an adorable scene. For me, the heart of Storm’s performance comes near the end of the episode, after Riley and Ellie have their fun, after they kiss, after they get bit. They’re sitting together deciding what to do now that they’re infected, and Riley says “Whether it’s two minutes or two days, we don’t give that up. I don’t want to give that up,” and she holds her best friend and cries while repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again. As far as she knows, this is the end for the two of them and all she wants to do is hold her best friend.

Not only did Storm give this performance exactly what it needed to give, but she also understands just how special this story is and what it means especially to queer Black women. After her recent Emmy win, she said, “…I think my role in The Last of Us really reinforced my love and passion to be able to tell meaningful stories and to be a representation for young women, young Black women, young, queer Black women.” — Nic

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets

Three months ago, when we were in very early stages of planning this year’s Autostraddle TV Awards, regarding the groundbreaking category of Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role, I wrote: My campaign for Melanie Lynskey starts now. Well friends, we did it. Celebrating her brilliant work as Shauna in season two of Yellowjackets, we’re here today because we’re gay — even if she is not.

In all seriousness, Lynskey really is a standout of a very stacked array of performances in this recent season of Yellowjackets. (Her monologue with a gun one of the best moments the series has delivered so far.) I think regardless of how she does or does not identify, we can all agree that Melanie Lynskey is for the gays. — Kayla

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Pedro Pascal as Joel, The Last of Us

No matter how amazing Bella Ramsey was at portraying Ellie, The Last of Us wouldn’t have worked if the Ellie and Joel relationship hadn’t worked. The thing about Ellie and Joel is that it has to be a bit of a slow process; they don’t trust each other at first, and they have to warm up to one another. The chemistry of that can be hard, because Joel can’t be so cruel to Ellie in the beginning that you never forgive him, and the energy must always be paternal. It’s not an easy feat, and yet Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal make it look easy. Pedro himself has been a fierce ally, constantly praising Bella in interviews with their correct pronouns. Considering his sister, who is trans, has spoken about how immensely supportive Pedro has always been of her, this isn’t a surprise. But it’s still refreshing to see from a cis man who has amassed such a huge fandom from shows like Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian, and Narcos. — Valerie

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

When I think about the Santana Lopez Legacy award, I think about characters who affect us queer adults, and, more importantly, characters who can impact actual teens seeing themselves represented for the first time. As a kid, I always struggled to fit in with the girls, because I was considered a “tomboy” and wasn’t into a lot of the things girls were “supposed” to be into. I also didn’t fit in with the boys (nor did I, personally, have any interest in it.) But something I’ve learned as I got older is that gender isn’t as black and white (or blue and pink) as we were raised to believe.

It would have been easy for a show like Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies to do hand wavy “it was the 50s” and not address some of the topics they explore on the show. Surely people in the 50’s were dealing with these things, but media rarely shows it. Not Pink Ladies. Instead they gave us Cynthia, portrayed by the immensely talented nonbinary actor Ari Notartomaso. Cynthia is a teen girl who wants to be one of the boys but who isn’t treated well or accepted by them. And instead of changing herself to fit in with the boys OR the girls, she finds a group of friends who accept her as she is, gender nonconformity, queerness, and all. I don’t know if the series went on if Cynthia would have ended up feeling more trans, but as she stands, she’s a queer girl who presents in “masculine” ways, and I think it’s so important to see teens accepting a butch girl as one of their own. Teens need to see that words like “girl” don’t always have a hard and fast definition. Anyone can be a Pink Lady. Even Cynthia. — Valerie

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

A League of Their Own, ep. 106: “Stealing Home”

One of my least favorite arguments is that period pieces about people who aren’t white and straight will always be about trauma. It’s used as an explanation from some for their dislike and for others to ask period pieces to disengage from the reality of when they’re set. But this argument itself is ahistorical. It’s disrespectful to our ancestors who not only fought but played, who not only suffered but celebrated, who not only died but lived.

As an entire show, A League of Their Own finds an inspired balance between history and joy. Period pieces and reboots have struggled immensely in recent years in their aspiration for inclusivity — this show does it with grace. And episode six of the show’s single season is its ultimate achievement. I’m in awe of how much queer history is told in this one episode and how well-balanced it is between joy and pain. Contrasting the Peaches’ time at the underground lesbian bar with Max’s time at her uncle’s party is inspired. Even when the former faces the harsh reality of a police raid, the latter is allowed to be a story of happiness and discovery.

I’m not as attached as some audiences to queer stories that lean toward joy. But I do care about clear perspective and tone and this episode is a masterclass in both. Anyone wanting to tell stories about queer history should study this show and this episode. We don’t have to choose between fun and reality. The reality is queer people have always found fun, have always found community, have always found ourselves. — Drew

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Devery Jacobs, Reservation Dogs

Early in Reservation Dogs‘ run, Elora and her crew — Bear, Cheese, and Willie Jack — are gathered at their hideout when Bear laments all the crimes they’ve committed and all the people they’ve (however unintentionally) hurt. Elora refuses to feel even a second of regret: They stole that money “fair and fuckin’ square,” she notes. He insists they give the money back but Elora is unmoved.
“This place is shit. Fuck this town, Bear, you don’t owe anyone anything. Fuck the village, fuck the people in it,” she spits. It was this place — this town — that killed their friend, Daniel, and she won’t allow this place to do the same thing to her. She’s getting out, with or without them.

But the first time Elora gets out — when she absconds to California with Jackie — she returns, remembering that she owes at least one person something: her grandmother, the woman that raised her after her mother’s death. Mabel’s sick and Elora returns to watch her community usher her grandmother into the next realm. Elora’s no stranger to loss but this is different. She witnesses a death that feels like its part of the natural order of things…there’s food, there’s community, there’s prayer, there’s singing, there are even jokes. Death doesn’t have to be traumatic, Elora realizes; she’s finally able to let go of the grief she’s been holding.

The beauty of that realization doesn’t happen without Devery Jacobs, who shoulders Elora’s emotional load. It feels like too much for the character but also it feels like too much for an actor…to embody all that hurt, to carry all that pain. Jacobs does it with aplomb. She carries the weight of Elora’s grief and sadness — in her words, her eyes, and her posture — and releases it all when she greets her grandmother as a spirit (“Crazy, ennit?”). In a just world, Jacobs would be among the nominees — for her acting and her writing — at the major awards but no one need tell the Rez Dogs that this world is unjust. — Natalie

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney Adamu arrives at The Beef with a pedigree that feels inconsistent to the position she’s being offered. She attended the Culinary Institute of America and she’s worked at Chicago hotspots Alinea, Avec, and Smoque. So what, her prospective boss, Carmy, wonders, is she doing here? Or, as he puts it succinctly later, “your resume is excellent and this place is not.” Sydney makes excuses but, ultimately, she’s here to learn and rebuild her confidence. Except instead of easing into a space where Sydney can rebuild her confidence, she’s tossed into a pressure cooker with a staff the resents her presence and a boss who insists on system that won’t work.

“So, like, because I’m the sous, right? Like, I just, uh, follow orders, even if it leads to tension and, uh, chaos and resentment and ultimately doesn’t work,” she tentatively explains after Carmy announces the new system.

Sydney is asked to do too much and Edebiri delivers each and every time. You see the quick wit and dexterity on full display — honed by Edebiri’s years on small comedy stages — when she exchanges quips with Richie. Edibiri volleys from eagerness to impatience to arrogance, sometimes within the space of one episode, and it is a marvel to watch. In less skillful hands, Sydney would feel like too much — too strident for the family atmosphere, too green for her Michelin-star ambitions — but Edebiri imbues her with so much light that it becomes impossible not to cheer for the young sous. — Natalie

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

What can I say about Bella Ramsey that I haven’t already said on this very website? Welp, challenge: accepted. This tiny dynamo burst onto the scene as Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones, and even then it was clear that they were something special. When they were cast in the role of Ellie in The Last of Us, I was cautiously excited. I knew Bella was good, but were they “embody the murder daughter I would protect with my life” good? The joke was on me because they somehow exceeded my expectations!

Ellie Williams might only be 14 years old, but in her short life she’s experienced more than most of us ever will. She was born into a global pandemic (okay I guess we can relate on one thing) caused by a cordyceps virus that turned anyone infected into a walking fungal nightmare. Her mother died after giving birth to her, she was raised in a government-run school, she watched her best friend turn into one of the aforementioned fungal nightmares, and because of that last thing, she learned that she was immune to the virus, having survived the same attack that claimed Riley. It makes sense that she’d have a bit of a chip on her shoulder.

Bella gave Ellie that “take no shit” attitude that we expected, and added in a dose of vulnerability always reminding us that despite all she’s been through, Ellie is still just a kid. A kid who’s been forced to grow up quickly in a violent and unforgiving world, but a kid all the same. So much of TV Ellie’s impact is in what she doesn’t say; it’s the uncertainty in her face after she kisses Riley and the relief when her friend kisses her back; it’s the flicker of understanding in her eyes when Tess gets infected. Bella breathed new life into a character I thought I knew because of Ashley Johnson’s video game portrayal. One of the most heartbreaking lines in the game is when Joel accuses Ellie of not understanding loss and she says “Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me… so don’t tell me I would be safer with someone else, because the truth is I would just be more scared.” It makes me cry every time I play, and when Bella said the same words in the show, they hit differently but just as hard. That’s the beauty of their performance; they made Ellie their own, while maintaining the spirit of a character so many people know and love. Congrats Bella, I can’t wait to see how you manage to emotionally devastate me in season two. — Nic

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director/Writer/Showrunner

Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham, A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own was a love story. I’m not talking about Greta and Carson, or Max and Esther, or even Jess and Lupe (brothers for life) — I’m talking about the immense love poured into the series, from its very inception, by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson.

Remounting a 30 year old property was never going to be an “easy” task. We often talk about the deluge of reboots and remakes in Hollywood, but the majority of those are adrenaline pumping, action-based IPs or comedies that long ago went stale — not quiet and emotional stories of sisterhood and sports kept alive for three decades on the backs of (it’s time to finally be honest here) largely queer fans. Those type of brands do not get revived every day.

And even still, Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own was not a perfect film. It had gaps around race and sexuality, some of which are tied to its 1992 release. Lesser creators would have glazed over those insufficiencies. Instead, Graham and Jacobson faced them head-on.

When A League of Their Own finally aired, there were no greater champions than Abbi Jacobson pushing hard at every red carpet and Will Graham in the trenches with the fans on social. When rumors began that Prime Video was considering cancelling the series after its first time at bat, Will Graham was there once again telling fans to reach for #MoreThanFour. They loved this series. And I mean, really, truly loved it. Right to the very end.

This homage I’m paying is small, but I hope this Thank You is mighty. — Carmen

Most Groundbreaking Representation

A League of Their Own

Our Community’s reaction to the mind-boggling volume of queer characters in A League Of Their Own was so intense that NBC wrote a whole article about it, in which they noted that the conversation around ALOTO “reached a fever pitch” after its debut weekend, with some calling it the greatest queer show of all time. I told NBC and I’m telling you now that in one mere season, ALOTO delivered more lead queer women characters than any other show not explicitly about queer women (e.g., The L Word, Lip Service), and it even gives those shows a run for their money. A League Of Their Own, much to the chagrin of so many haters, broke from its source material by daring to portray the league as it really was: full of lesbians, even though it was indeed the 1940s.

From players exploring the rich underground gay bar culture of the era to the queer Black community Max discovers through her Uncle Bertie to the casual butch fashion sported by Lupe and Jess; A League of Their Own broke ground by daring to say that yes, most of the girls on that field were gay as fuck. — Riese

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Max Chapman (played by Chanté Adams, styled by Mary Ann Valdes), A League of Their Own

It’s rare for me to quote… well, myself. Especially during an awards moment like this. But there really is no other way that I can think to talk about this moment:

“Max sits in Bertie and Gracie’s warm yellow kitchen on a stool. Three Black queer people, across two generations, creating a new family other their own, rooted in our oldest traditions. The kitchen hair salon goes back as far as Black folks. It’s on purpose that it’s here. Bertie asks if Max is sure about this.

Max inhales and licks her bottom lip before letting her teeth graze across it. Miss Toni said that Max’s hair was one of the things she liked most about her, so yes, this is the first step to Max figuring out who she is on her own. She’s sure.”

It was in Max’s queer haircut that she first got to be in her own skin, on her own terms. It was in Bert’s kitchen that Max finally gave way from what she once was in order to become who she’ll grow into. I think that when we think of Max, when we think of that haircut, those are all the things we think of first. But I’d like to point out something different.

When Bertie cuts Max’s hair, they begin humming. Max — who until that point has had her shoulders tensed up near her ears — finally takes a stuttered, but deep breath. Her mom used to hum that song. Bert smiles “Well, maybe you came here to find a piece of home.” — Carmen

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

A League of Their Own (costume design: Nancy Steiner, Trayce Gigi Fields)

Costume designer Trayce Gigi Field’s resume is stacked with sharpy stylized shows and movies like Poker Face, The After Party, Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar and Now Apocalypse. Her work on A League of Their Own was remarkable; nailing the specifics of the period and the confines of wartime clothing regulation while also dressing characters who regularly morphed in and out of properly “gendered” apparel depending on context. From factory boilersuits to Max’s self-reflection around wearing her first tailored suit to high femme jock Greta’s elevated house dresses to Jess’s scrappy workwear, Field hit it out of the park every time.

As reported by Fashionista, Field did loads of research on the era to nail every character’s socio-economic statuses and backgrounds, mixing custom pieces with sourced 1940s vintagewear. Even the classic Peaches uniform (and that of their competitors) got a light refresh, one echoed by everybody ever for Halloween 2022. (For a special treat, check out Trayce’s online portfolio from the series, which features behind-the-scenes photos and also her full-color sketches for each baseball team’s unique look and some of the lead character’s most memorable costumes.) — Riese

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Couple: Maya and Carina, Station 19

Fan Favorite Character: Sister Beatrice, Warrior Nun

Fan Favorite Out Actor: Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

Vote Now in the 6th Annual Autostraddle TV Awards!

It has not been a normal year for television. For one, the Emmys are happening in January. With dual SAG/WGA strikes lasting from May to October, release dates, production schedules, and awards seasons were shifted as creatives fought for just a small portion of what they deserve.

The strikes might be over but the reckoning in Hollywood continues. Studios and tech companies that own studios continue to chase profits to appease boards with little attention to the television itself. The streaming bubble is bursting and the boom of queer television we’ve witnessed over the last decade has started to subside. But while these trends occur, the artists themselves continue to make incredible work. When the Autostraddle TV Awards were first started as the “Gay Emmys,” the intention was to honor the queer media that the mainstream often ignores. That’s more important than ever as we fight not to lose the progress we’ve gained.

Even though many of these shows have been canceled and not given the proper recognition from the people who financed them, they deserve recognition from us. Queer TV will never be about the shareholders — it will always be about the artists and the audiences who connect with their work.

How it Works: For the past few weeks, the knowledgeable and passionate queer critics who make up our TV Team have collaborated on a lengthy process to determine the year’s nominees in each of our Autostraddle TV Awards categories. We have 21 whole categories, and while there is some overlap with the Emmys, we also feature our own original categories that celebrate LGBTQ+ achievements — including awards specifically for out performers — as well as awards for other parts of the television landscape that don’t often get love from mainstream awards systems, like genre television. We took a massive list of potential nominees and voted to narrow that down to just six nominees per category — except in cases where there were ties and there are seven nominees… and, in one case, eight.

Now, it’s your turn to help us pick the winners. Individual Autostraddle readers can vote once in each category. Your votes will be combined with the TV Team’s final votes to choose the winners.

There are also three fan-favorite categories that YOU get to decide completely yourselves! Those categories are Fan Favorite Couples, Fan Favorite Character, and Fan Favorite Out Queer Actor.

We follow the same rules as the Emmys as far as timeline, which means the shows must have aired between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 in order to be eligible. While the show’s full season does not need to have aired during that range, most of its episodes must have aired. We also follow Emmy submissions in determining what counts as a drama vs. a comedy.

Here is your official ballot!

Voting is now open and will close on Monday, January 8 at 5p.m. EST. The winners will be announced on January 12.

---

AND THE NOMINEES FOR THE 6TH ANNUAL AUTOSTRADDLE TV AWARDS ARE…

Outstanding Drama Series

A League of Their Own (Prime Video)
High School (Freevee)
P-Valley, Season 2 (Starz)
Yellowjackets, Season 2 (Showtime)
Dead Ringers (Prime Video)
Bad Sisters (Apple TV+)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Sort Of, Season 2 (HBO Max)
Poker Face (Peacock)
XO Kitty (Netflix)
A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 4 (HBO Max)
Reservation Dogs, Season 2 (FX)
Heartbreak High (Netflix)
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

The Last of Us (HBO Max)
Paper Girls (Prime Video)
Willow (Disney+)
Motherland: Fort Salem, Season 3 (Freeform)
First Kill (Netflix)
Warrior Nun (Netflix)

Outstanding Animated Series

The Owl House, Season 3 (Disney Channel)
Pinecone & Pony, Season 2 (Apple TV)
Harley Quinn, Season 3 (Max)
Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 3 (Paramount+)
Big Mouth, Season 6 (Netflix)
The Legend of Vox Machina, Season 2 (Prime Video)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Rachel Weisz as Beverly, Dead Ringers
Abbi Jacobson as Carson Shaw, A League of Their Own
Chante Adams as Max Chapman, A League of Their Own
D’Arcy Carden as Greta Gill, A League of Their Own
Rosanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q
Jesse James Keitel as Ruthie, Queer as Folk
Dominique Fishback as Dre, Swarm

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Lea Robinson as Bertie, A League of Their Own
E.R. Fightmaster as Kai, Grey’s Anatomy
Nabiyah Be as Simone Jackson, Daisy Jones and the Six
Roberta Colindrez as Lupe, A League of Their Own
Sabrina Impacciatore as Valentina, The White Lotus
Rosie O’Donnell as Carrie, The L Word: Generation Q

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Anna Cathcart as Kitty Song Covey, XO Kitty
Renee Rapp as Leighton, The Sex Lives of College Girls
Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
Bilal Baig as Sabi, Sort Of
Juno Temple as Keeley Jones, Ted Lasso
Jerrie Johnson as Tye, Harlem

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Amanda Cordner as 7even, Sort Of
Ashley Park as Naomi, Beef
Jodi Balfour as Jack, Ted Lasso
Gia Kim as Yuri Han, XO Kitty
Maria Bello as Jordan, Beef
Sherry-Lee Watson as Missy, Heartbreak High

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Bella Ramsey as Ellie, The Last of Us
Imani Lewis as Calliope, First Kill
Sarah Catherine Hook as Juliette, First Kill
Erin Kellyman as Jade Claymore, Willow
Ruby Cruz as Princess Kit Tanthalos, Willow
Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves, The Umbrella Academy

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Storm Reid as Riley, The Last of Us
Amalia Holm as Scylla Ramshorn, Motherland: Fort Salem
Mia McKenna-Bruce as Mia Karp, Vampire Academy
Rhian Blundell as Meredith Beckham, Vampire Academy
Daisy Head as Judy Talbot, The Sandman
Madeline Zima as Casey, Doom Patrol
Celina Martin as Hannah Moore, The Imperfects

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy, Succession
Melanie Lynskey as Shauna, Yellowjackets
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie, Poker Face
Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, Abbott Elementary
Sharon Horgan as Eva Garvey, Bad Sisters
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard, Abbott Elementary

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Pedro Pascal as Joel, The Last of Us
Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, The Bear
Tyler James Williams as Gregory, Abbott Elementary
Lionel Boyce as Marcus, The Bear
Nick Offerman as Bill, The Last of Us
James Marsden as James Marsden, Jury Duty

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q
Anna Cathcart as Kitty Song Covey, XO Kitty
Bella Ramsey as Ellie, The Last of Us
Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
Gia Kim as Turi Han, XO Kitty
Akira Akbar as Ashley Banks, Bel-Air

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

The Last of Us, episode 107: ”Left Behind”
Queer as Folk, episode 106: ”Bleep”
A League of Their Own, episode 106: “Stealing Home”
A League of Their Own, episode 105: ”Back Footed”
High School, episode 105: “Freedom”
Daisy Jones & The Six, episode 107: ”Track 7: She’s Gone”

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Ayo Edebiri as Sydney, The Bear
Jonica Blu Booth as Duke, Rap Sh!t
Renee Rapp as Leighton, The Sex Lives of College Girls
Bilal Baig as Sabi, Sort Of
Wanda Sykes as Lucretia Turner, The Upshaws
Caitlin Stasey as Saskia, Class of ’07

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan, Reservation Dogs
Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Tawny Cypress as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Aubrey Plaza as Harper, The White Lotus
Roberta Colindrez as Lupe, A League of Their Own
Liv Hewson as Van, Yellowjackets

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Bella Ramsey as Ellie, The Last of Us
Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves, The Umbrella Academy
Diane Guerrero as Kay/Jane, Doom Patrol
Rutina Wesley as Maria, The Last of Us
Erin Kellyman as Jade Claymore, Willow
Ruby Cruz as Princess Kit Tanthalos, Willow

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer / Showrunner

Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham, A League of Their Own
Devery Jacobs, Reservation Dogs
Brittani Nichols, Abbott Elementary
Annabel Oakes, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
Clea DuVall and Laura Kittrell, High School
Bilal Baig, Sort Of

Most Groundbreaking Representation

XO, Kitty (Netflix)
Sort Of (Max)
Queer as Folk (Peacock)
P-Valley (Starz)
Reservation Dogs (FX)
A League of Their Own (Prime Video)

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

E.R. Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy (hair department head: Desiree Dizard)
Chanté Adams as Max Chapman, A League of Their Own (hair department head: Mary Ann Valdes)
D’Arcy Carden as Greta Gill, A League of Their Own (hair department head: Mary Ann Valdes)
Diane Guerrero as Kay/Jane, Doom Patrol (hair department head: Melizah Anguiano Wheat)
Carmen LoBue as Dre, The L Word: Generation Q (hair department head: Christine Tagatac)
Roberta Colindrez as Lupe, A League of Their Own (hair department head: Mary Ann Valdes)

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

The Last of Us (HBO Max) (costume design: Cynthia Ann Summers)
The White Lotus (HBO Max) (costume design: Alex Bovaird)
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+) (costume design: Samantha Hawkins, Angelina Kekich)
Acapulco (Apple TV+) (costume design: Leticia Palacios)
A League of Their Own(Prime Video) (costume design: Nancy Steiner, Trayce Gigi Fields)
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO Max) (costume design: Michelle Page Collins)

---

To vote in the above categories as well as the THREE SPECIAL FAN FAVORITE CATEGORIES*, go forth and:

VOTE IN THE AUTOSTRADDLE TV AWARDS!!!

*When voting in the fan favorite categories, please keep the eligibility guidelines in mind and only nominate couples/characters/actors who appeared in shows that aired between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023. Otherwise your vote will be wasted!

Javicia Leslie, Other Bisexual, Queer, Lesbian Celebrities, Celebrate The Autostraddle TV Awards

Since 2018, the Autostraddle TV Awards has been designed to recognize and celebrate the very best of queer television — the television shows, writers, makers, and performers who might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream institutions like the Emmys.

Evaluating the best of our stories is a job that the Autostraddle TV Team, a group of eight queer television and film critics amassing together years in the industry, takes seriously — it’s not enough to only feature a surface level gay character on television anymore. We look to honor complex, meaningful, fully developed queer storylines and performances across all genres. In our voting process, we also solicit votes from our readers, because we believe that queer storytelling should connect directly with queer audiences. Now in our fifth year, the Autostraddle TV Awards may not have an in-person ceremony, but when so many other awards continue to overlook groundbreaking LGBTQ+ series and performances, we hope to shine light on queer creators in this industry who deserve to have their work recognized.

Which is why we were so moved today to see that Javicia Leslie, lead actor of the CW’s Batwoman, which ended earlier this year after three seasons, take the spirit of our awards to heart! Dressed to the nines in a burgundy gown from the comfort of a living room, and using an amethyst crystal as a makeshift trophy (talk about gay), she filmed a full acceptance speech for her multiple Autostraddle TV Award wins.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiQoYQHjrw2/

Leslie, who is bisexual, created the role of Ryan Wilder over Batwoman’s second and third seasons, embodying the first lead Black lesbian superhero on television with signature wit, charisma, and impeccable range. With Leslie at the helm, for the past two years Batwoman received a clean sweep of all Sci-Fi/Fantasy categories (outstanding series, outstanding lead actor playing an LGBTQ+ character — Leslie; supporting actor playing an LGBTQ+ character — Megan Tandy as Sophie Moore; and performance by an LGBTQ+ actor — also to Leslie). It was also a runner up for Outstanding Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes for episode 311, “Broken Toys.”

In her acceptance speech, Leslie thanked Autostraddle, “I didn’t expect this, thank you guys so much. This is so dope. Shout out to Autostraddle for always holding us down, always seeing us, and I’m not just talking about Batwoman, I’m talking about all of us that are in our community, out here trying to tell authentic stories. I thank you so much. I honor you and appreciate you.”

She then thanked her mama (Black girls, I love us so much) for surrounding her in protection, abundance, and light. She also thanked her fans, the cast and crew of Batwoman. And yes, we are so grateful that Javicia Leslie took time to share some love back to our small team, but also it’s about something so much bigger — it is about all of us. Our stories, the ones that creep deep inside us and light a candle, the ones that other people may not see the value or importance of, the hours that go into the craft, because it’s not straight. It’s not cis. It’s not white. But we do, and that’s what matters. We don’t have to look to straight, white, cis institutions to give merit and value to our stories. We get to do that on our own.

Sepideh Moafi, The L Word: Generation Q’s Gigi Ghorbani, winner of Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama, also took to her Instagram today to celebrate her award win. In it was a screenshot of one of our writers, Drew Gregory’s, words honoring her performance. As Gigi, Sepideh Moafi’s performance has captured lightning in a bottle. We get to decide what’s important and create our own little bit of magic.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sepideh Moafi (@sepidehmoafi)

---

In addition to wins from Javicia Leslie and Sepideh Moafi, other actors and talent celebrated their nominations for the fifth annual Autostraddle TV Awards. Every year that we’ve mounted these awards, we are always so grateful to see nominees share their excitement, but I have to say — this year the engagement surpassed even our own expectations.

It means so much to see the TV Awards, created to take seriously the work that goes into queer storytelling, being honored by queer talent. It’s a reminder that sometimes we really do have to do it for ourselves, because if not, who else will? And that awards that come directly from within the community they are meant to serve, queer audiences, don’t have to come with trophies to be meaningful. (Though we are seriously working on trophies for next year!)

We’ve been rounding these up in our virtual office — and you may have seen these shout outs across our social media over the last few weeks — but we wanted to share them all with you.

Kausar Mohammed (Soraya Khoury, 4400) Nominee for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

LOVING THIS WHOLE queer femme lineup let's go https://t.co/V6IiK47ZGJ

— Kausar Mohammed (@kausartheperson) August 29, 2022

Sepideh Moafi (Gigi Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q) Nominee and Eventual Winner for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Wow, thank you @autostraddle 🙏🏽💓 https://t.co/HGO6j8VB3I

— Sepideh Moafi (@SepidehMoafi) August 29, 2022

Hailey Kilgore (Laverne “Jukebox” Ganner, Raising Kanan) Nominee for Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

https://twitter.com/haileykilgore/status/1564379971962998789?s=21&t=2Yu6IFYkv-S38dymRtmlMghttps://twitter.com/haileykilgore/status/1564379971962998789?s=21&t=2Yu6IFYkv-S38dymRtmlMg

Nicole Maines (Nia Nal, Supergirl) Nominee for Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

https://twitter.com/nicoleamaines/status/1564452799152238592?s=21&t=wo04VOBHSQZKkXttkcWe_A

Mae Martin (Feel Good) Nominee for Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer / Showrunner and Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

These noms are so nice @autostraddle thank you 🙂 https://t.co/2whDPJ6ZSJ

— Mae Martin (@TheMaeMartin) August 30, 2022

E.R. Fightmaster (Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy) Nominee for Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Listen 😈. We love it.

https://twitter.com/GenderlessGapAd/status/1564648629893095425

Steven Krueger (Ben Scott, Yellowjackets) Nominee for Outstanding Cis Male Character

Any time my name is on a list with these guys, it’s one hell of a day. This is very cool. Thanks @autostraddle!

— Steven Krueger (@stevenakrueger) August 30, 2022

The Batwoman Writers’ Room (Episode 311, “Broken Toys”) Nominee for Outstanding Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

#Batwoman, @JaviciaLeslie , AND @meagantandy nominated???

We love to see it. https://t.co/UIopJaMEPX

— Batwoman Writers Room (@BatwomanWriters) August 30, 2022

Victoria Cartagena (Renee Montoya, Batwoman) Nominee for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

https://twitter.com/VickiCartagena/status/1564762247188172801

Jasmin Savoy Brown (Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets) Nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series, Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character, and Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Jordan Hull (Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q) Nominee for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series and Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

On behalf of all the queer TV/Film critics behind the Autostraddle TV Awards — we are so honored that our annual awards, created out of a deep love for LGBT storytelling on television, is being met in return with an abundance of joy and care by the very artists whose work make our stories come alive.

Read about all of our winners! Celebrate our queer television! We’ll keep this article updated with any new social media posts as they become available. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! Thank you for making television that matters.

Presenting the Winners of the 2022 Autostraddle TV Awards!

Autostraddle’s annual celebration of the best of LGBTQ+ television had a major makeover this year as we rebranded from “the Gay Emmys” to the Autostraddle TV Awards. It might seem like a small, surface-level shift, but it’s significant to us. It signals an overall push for our annual awards to be taken seriously. We might not come with a fancy in-person ceremony or physical trophies, but as mainstream awards continue to overlook groundbreaking LGBTQ+ series, we vitally fill a gap in the television awards pomp and circumstance. We celebrate the shows and performers most important to queer, lesbian, bisexual, and trans viewers.

And perhaps the greatest difference between our approach and the Television Academy’s is not just that we specifically highlight LGBTQ+ achievements but that we involve you, the viewers and our readers, in the voting process. After the Autostraddle TV Team narrowed down each of our categories to six nominees, we opened up the floor to you to weigh in. For the 21 main categories, the TV Team’s votes weigh more than the fan votes — though there were multiple instances where fan choices swayed the vote. For the three special fan favorite categories, the winner was determined 100% by readers with no input from the TV Team.

Now, here are the winners of the 2022 Autostraddle TV Awards, accompanied by words from our seriously talented, smart, knowledgable, passionate TV Team.

---

Outstanding Drama Series

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Runner-Up: Gentleman Jack (HBO Max)

Other Nominees: Station Eleven (HBO Max) // The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) // Euphoria (HBO Max) // Killing Eve (AMC)

The last two decades have shown us that television holds endless possibilities. A 10-episode all-at-once binge! An 18-episode movie(?) sequel of an old show! A limited series that’s so popular it gets a second season! Personally, I love it all. And yet there’s something special — retro? 90s? — about a show with a killer pilot, self-contained episodes, a full-season arc, and questions left unanswered for years to come. There’s a reason Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson’s Yellowjackets has become an obsession for countless queers — in the purest sense, it’s just fucking great television.

Kind of like Lost meets Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves meets lesbian night at the dive bar, Yellowjackets is as delicious to discuss as it is to watch. It’s a mystery show, a horror show, a trauma show, a teen drama. Each half — a high school soccer team stranded in the woods, their older selves reckoning with that past — holds its own puzzles, its own delights. The present storyline has career-best work from 90s faves Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis — along with equally stunning work from Tawny Cypress — and the 90s storyline has an exceptional, largely queer, young cast that holds their own alongside the legends. With these performers, a directing team that includes Karyn Kusama, Daisy von Sherler Mayer, and Deepa Mehta(!), and sharp, layered writing, this is a TV show that moves through its twists with total confidence.

The year is 2022. We’re still living through a pandemic. Our favorite queer show has as much horror as humor, as much trauma as nostalgia, as much pain as delight. And this first season is just the beginning. Here’s to Yellowjackets, a show that feels both classic and fresh. May it consume us completely for many years to come. Stingers up! — Drew

Outstanding Comedy Series

Hacks (HBO Max)

Runner-Up: Dickinson (Apple TV)

Other Nominees: Sort Of (HBO Max) // We Are Lady Parts (Peacock) // A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO Max) // Sex Education (Netflix) // Reservation Dogs (FX)

You know how they say “laughter is the best medicine”? Well, I am an American so even though unfortunately I don’t always have access to it, medicine is the best medicine — but laughter is a close second. The winner for best comedy this year is the incredibly funny and honest intergenerational comedy, Hacks. I’ve been in love with this show since it’s debut, screaming about it in Slack and waxing poetic about it with friends. Now, I’m no Christina Tucker, but I can still say that I love Jean Smart who plays Deborah Vance. She is a fucking comedic genius who has been part of some of my favorite now-forgotten series: The Oblongs, Samantha Who?, and of course cult queer classic series Designing Women. Then we have the irl bi-babe and high-key hilarious Hannah Einbinder playing Ava Daniels, and she kills it in her evolution from entitled millennial creative, to still-a-bit-entitled-but-more-aware and incredibly dope millennial creative.

Hacks does that thing that queers are always saying they want but never actually try for, and that’s have an intergenerational friendship — of sorts. Like, yes, it’s obviously boss and worker, but there is obvious friendship present — AND IT’S NOT ALL WHINY, SAPPY, AND AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL! It’s mean, it’s raucous, it’s got real moments that cut pretty deep, and it’s FUCKING FUNNY. The writing is layered and witty, but the actors’ comedic timing and portrayals of these sometimes shitty people are what bring it home. So congrats to the show, the cast, and the writers and let’s all celebrate by going on a dykey day cruise! — Shelli Nicole

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Batwoman (CW)

Runner-Up: The 4400 (CW)

Other Nominees: Naomi (CW) // Astrid & Lilly Save the World (SYFY) // Supergirl (CW) // Riverdale (CW)

Let me just count the ways Batwoman deserves this Autostraddle TV Award. Number one, just the sheer number of LGBTQ+ characters on-screen. There were at least six during this 2022 Autostraddle TV Awards time-frame, including heroes, villains, bisexuals in dresses, lesbians in suits, and whatever Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley was wearing. A green leotard? Number two, Black lesbian Batwoman  — the most famous LGBTQ+ superhero of all-time — played by bisexual star Javicia Leslie during one of the most sustained uprisings for Black lives in United States history. Number three, an epic slow-burn enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance between two queer Black characters, which almost never happens on-screen. The swooniest queer romance I’ve seen on TV in many moons. Number four, the engaging storytelling which featured some of the most original, heartfelt, emotionally fraught, action-packed, successfully paid-off comic book stories in TV history. And, finally, number five, the image at the top of this blurb, which pretty much says it all. — Heather

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets

Runner-Up: Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria

Other Nominees: Tawny Cypress as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets // Suranne Jones as Anne Lister, Gentleman Jack // Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria // Jodie Comer as Villanelle, Killing Eve // Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve

Taissa Turner is the kind of girl I would have had a life-ruining crush on in high school. Jasmin Savoy Brown brings an effortless charm to her, while still showing flickerings of the teen anxieties under the confident facade as she’s pressure-tested, first during an intense soccer game, then while stranded in the wilderness. A character that easily could have been a basic jock archetype instead has nuance and layers in Jasmin’s hands.

I’m not surprised Yellowjackets — and specifically Jasmin/Taissa — won a few Autostraddle TV awards this year. There was something really authentic about the show, despite being a hyperreality of murder mysteries and cannibalism. It captured the “real people in unreal situations” vibe that a lot of shows aim for, but not all achieve. And I think a not-small part of that is because you can tell that ‘own stories’ were being told. Queer people were involved in the creation of the queer characters, and Jasmin Savoy Brown has talked about how she had a part in Taissa’s iconic hair cutting scene and making sure it was clear that Taissa still took care of and wrapped her hair up until that turning point. It all just adds to the fact that Taissa isn’t a broad-strokes character, and her queerness and her Blackness aren’t just boxes the show is checking off, they’re authentic and inextricable parts of her character. And clearly that resonated with viewers, especially queer viewers. — Valerie

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Sepideh Moafi as Gigi Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q

Runners-Up, Tied: Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q // Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Stranger Things

Other Nominees: Liv Hewson as Van Palmer, Yellowjackets // Sherry Cola as Alice Kwan, Good Trouble // Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson, The Morning Show

Part of being a star is making it look easy. A natural charm, a natural beauty. But in reality the industry is filled with charming, beautiful actors. Having it is different. Having it is a skill. Sepideh Moafi has it.

Moafi’s Gigi Ghorbani was one of the standouts of Gen Q’s first season. She had us all wondering how anyone could decide to downgrade from throuple to couple when she was the casualty. But unlike Alice and Nat, the Gen Q writers staff didn’t let Gigi go. And with the wise decision to bump Moafi up to series regular, she and Gigi were able to steal the show and our hearts and our, um — well let’s keep this PG — even more.

Of all the actors in the Gen Q ensemble, Moafi achieves the tone best. She can do the melodrama, she can do the comedy, she can do the sexy. She’s such a magnetic presence that she had the fanbase rooting against Bette Porter. Now THAT is an achievement in gay television. — Drew

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson

Runner-Up: Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob, Sort Of

Other Nominees: Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good // Alia Shawkat as Dory Sief, Search Party // Jonica T. Gibbs as Hattie, Twenties // Hannah Marie Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks

I will never be able to sum up how much Hailee Steinfeld’s Emily Dickinson means to me. It never would have occurred to me to think of Emily Dickinson as such a chaotic, energetic character, but I’m so glad that’s how Hailee played her. Hailee always brings a casual, relatable vibe to characters she plays, while still making each one unique. Like there are similarities between Emily Dickinson and Kate Bishop that never would have existed on paper because of the quippy and curious nature of Hailee Steinfeld’s acting style. But it works, especially in the case of Emily Dickinson; of course someone whose writing was so passionate and prolific would be larger than life. Especially in her youth, as she’s just experiencing love for the first time. And even if it’s nothing like the real Emily Dickinson’s life, it was a fun exploration of what it could have been. Seeing the world through Emily’s eyes, and through her imagination, including but not limited to her undying love, her all-consuming passion, her overwhelming desire for Sue. Hailee Steinfeld brought such humanity and fun to this character, and it was a joy to watch her, whether she was writing furiously about the love of her life, imagining meeting Sylvia Plath, or just being her brave, messy self. The show may be over, but I have a feeling we’ll be talking about Hailee’s performance for a while. Perhaps even forevermore. — Valerie

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Dua Saleh as Cal Bowman, Sex Education

Runners-Up, Tied: Ashley Nicole Black as various, A Black Lady Sketch Show //
Ashly Burch as Rachel, Mythic Quest

Other Nominees: Sophina Brown as Ida B., Twenties // Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert, Dickinson // Rebekah Murrell as Cam, In My Skin

Trans actors rarely get to just be actors. Even on the best cis-run sets — aka almost all sets — trans actors end up as consultants, teachers, even writers, while still being expected to do the emotional and intellectual work of any other actor. It’s a tough challenge for a seasoned pro, even tougher for a newcomer. That’s why musician Dua Saleh’s turn as Cal on Sex Education is so special. They managed to join an ensemble cast as a trans actor and not only fit in — but stand out.

Cal is not an outwardly emotional character. And Sex Education doesn’t traumatize them like weaker shows often do to trans characters. The conflicts Cal faces are severe but understated. Cal approaches them with a confident shrug and a hit from a joint. And yet Saleh manages to capture the feelings underneath. We feel Cal’s pain, the unfairness of their circumstances, even as Cal themself hides this vulnerability. It’s a nuanced, subtle performance from Saleh. Their charisma and sense of humor may be obvious, but they deserve just as much praise for adding the emotional layers that helped create one of the most three-dimensional trans characters on TV. — Drew

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman

Runners-Up, Tied: Kaci Walfall as Naomi McDuffie, Naomi // Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Other Nominees: Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Peacemaker // Taylor Hickson as Raelle Collar, Motherland: Fort Salem // Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe, Legends of Tomorrow

Much of Batwoman‘s second season was about a transition: the transfer of the cowl from Kate Kane to Ryan Wilder. A new addition to DC Comics lore, Ryan Wilder needed time to settle in, to build her backstory, to connect her to the existing canvas, to take the baton from the show’s legacy hero. But Batwoman‘s third season? It belonged to Ryan Wilder. It belonged to Javicia Leslie and it thrived because of her.

Batwoman‘s third season asked more of its star. Need a fight scene, in ankle deep water, against Poison Ivy? Javicia delivered. Need an emotional reaction to finding out the biological mom you thought was dead actually wasn’t? Javicia’s got that too. Need the honesty of a black woman, challenged to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, to just admit that she’s tired? Javicia offered it with level of candor that resonates in the deepest part of your soul. And when she’s asked to shed the armor of the batsuit and just be vulnerable with the woman she’s slowly (and unexpectedly) come to love? Javicia conveys every heartfelt moment, turning us all into WildMoore shippers. The show asked for so much more and Javicia Leslie gave…and gave…and gave.

I am not sure we were ever deserving of any of it — she was the manifestation of a dream we had not dared to have — but I am so grateful that we got it. — Natalie

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman

Runners-Up, Tied: Kausar Mohammed as Soraya Khoury, 4400 // Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl

Other Nominees: Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya, Batwoman // Tig Notaro as Commander Jett Reno, Star Trek: Discovery // Ireon Roach as Keisha Taylor, 4400

Comic books are littered with the girlfriends of superheroes, most of whom are damsels in distress who constantly need saving. The superhero rushes to their rescue and we fall in love with them even more for their heroics. And, for a while, it felt like Sophie Moore would be that for Batwoman: in season one, Kate returns to town because Sophie’s been taken. But slowly but surely, Sophie comes into her own power….as a hero and as a black woman and as a queer woman. By the end of Batwoman‘s run, it’s clear: Sophie Moore is no one’s damsel in distress. It’s Sophie’s evolution that, as Carmen once noted, is the true bedrock of the show…and it’s to Meagan Tandy’s credit that the audience feels every bit of that messy evolution.

I’ve watched Tandy in two shows before this — UnREAL and Survivor’s Remorse — and in both, she was a recurring love interest and the quintessential “girl next door.” It felt like Hollywood had decided what kind of box they wanted to put her in. But then came Batwoman and Tandy broke out of that box and demanded that the world see her as more. It wasn’t just Sophie Moore’s evolution that we were watching, it was Meagan Tandy’s. — Natalie

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard, Abbott Elementary

Runner-Up: Melanie Lynskey as Shauna Sadecki,Yellowjackets

Other Nominees: Danielle Deadwyler as Miranda Carroll, Station Eleven // Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, Hacks // Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, Abbott Elementary // Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov, Russian Doll

There are these rare unifying moments in pop culture where — no matter who we are or where we’re from — that we’re all consuming the same thing. The same sporting event, the same movie, the same show. For this brief period, we’re sharing the same moment, experiencing this beautiful synchronicity and, suddenly, we don’t feel all that different from one another. But those moments are rare. What’s more common is the reminder that’s come with Sheryl Lee Ralph’s star turn as Barbara on Abbott Elementary: Most of the time, we live in very different pop culture ecosystems and, rarely, do we try and venture out.

You see, Sheryl Lee Ralph’s been an icon in my house for as long as I can remember. Denna Jones in the original Dreamgirls? Linda in To Sleep with Anger? Eddie Murphy’s sidekick in The Distinguished Gentleman? Moesha’s stepmama? Lauryn Hill’s disapproving mama in Sister Act 2? My dad even made me watch her first movie role, opposite Sidney Poitier. She was a fixture in my life and in the pop culture that I consumed…and you couldn’t tell me she wasn’t legendary. But we live in very different pop culture ecosystems and a 45-year career wasn’t enough to earn her the plaudits she deserved.

That is, until Abbott Elementary, when pop culture ecosystems aligned. Barbara Howard is a hardworking Philadelphia school teacher, grizzled by the years of a bureaucracy that continues to fail her and her kids. She’s serious about her work — and Ralph plays it so straight — that some of Abbott‘s most hilarious moments come when she leans into the funny. It’s been months and her delivery of “Sweet baby Jesus, and the grown one, too! My desks have been desked!” still makes me laugh so hard, I start crying.

I’m thrilled to see Autostraddle join the ranks of those finally giving Sheryl Lee Ralph her flowers. — Natalie

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, Ted Lasso

Runners-Up, Tied: Himesh Patel as Jeevan Chaudhary, Station Eleven // Taika Waititi as Blackbeard, Our Flag Means Death

Other Nominees: Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie, Abbott Elementary // Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso // Steven Krueger as Ben Scott, Yellowjackets

In the opening episode of Ted Lasso‘s second season, Keeley and Roy find themselves on a double date, opposite Rebecca and some unassuming bloke. Rebecca liked him enough — they’d been out a few times — but after her divorce, she doesn’t fully trust her instincts anymore, so she invites her friends to join them and give their two cents. Keeley soft peddles her reaction, focusing on everything that’s appropriate about him, but Roy can’t hold back.

“He’s fine. That’s it,” Roy offers, in a way that let’s you know “fine” is definitely not a compliment. “…Why the fuck [do] you think he deserves you? You deserve someone who makes you feel like you’ve been struck by fuckin’ lightning. Don’t you dare settle for fine.”

It is, at once, something you’d never expect to hear from someone like Roy Kent — with his omnipresent scowl, intimidating appearance and foul mouth — and yet it’s everything we’ve come to expect from the character. He treats the women in his life like prizes: from his girlfriend to his boss, to his niece, Phoebe, to the group of older women with whom he does yoga. It is a beautiful thing to behold.

“He’s here! He’s there! He’s every-fuckin-where! Roy Kent! Roy Kent!”…and I can’t help but think that if there were Roy Kents, every-fuckin’-where, the world would be a much, much better place. — Natalie

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets

Runner-Up: Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q

Other Nominees: Hailey Kilgore as Laverne “Jukebox” Ganner, Raising Kanan // Liv Hewson as Van Palmer, Yellowjackets // Alycia Pascual-Peña as Aisha Garcia, Saved By the Bell // Kaci Walfall as Naomi McDuffie, Naomi

As a Capricorn lesbian of teen soccer playing experience, I immediately fell for Taissa Turner. Even before our lovable band of possible cannibals crash in the woods, Taissa is brutally slide tackling her own teammate and breaking her leg. She’s determined, she’s confident, she thinks she’s always right, and, even better, she basically is always right.

Queer teens on TV have mostly fit into two categories: vicious caricatures and wholesome models. The namesake of this award, Santana Lopez, was one of the few on a long-running show to defy this binary. Santana was vicious and a model. She sometimes had a mean-spirited wit, but she still fit into Ryan Murphy’s vision of wholesome queerness. Taissa takes it a step further. As played by Jasmin Savoy Brown, she’s able to be vicious and caring, a complicated and grounded queer teen with just as much charm as she has bite. Sure, she was a little fucked up before the crash and she’s absolutely fucked up after. We know she’ll continue to be fucked up as an adult! And yet when she’s not blacking out and eating dirt in the middle of the night, she’s having a cute romance. When she’s not breaking the leg of her own teammate, she’s the only one another teammate can turn to about her pregnancy. And that’s not all! She leads the team to water. She leads them to the cabin that provides them shelter. She’s the reason they have a gun! As an adult she runs for state senate, but as a teen she was president of the woods. I know she’d have my vote. — Drew

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

Hacks Episode 204, “The Captain’s Wife”

Runners-Up, Tied: Dickinson Episode 308, “This Was a Poet” // Batwoman Episode 311, “Broken Toys”

Other Nominees: The 4400 Episode 104, “Harlem’s Renaissance” // Sex Education Episode 306, “Episode 6” // Sort Of Episode 105, “Sort of a Party”

Hacks has this way of being equal parts hilarious, deep, and uncomfortable at any given moment and “The Captain’s Wife” is no exception. Deborah Vance thinks she’s going to perform on a gay men’s cruise and is thrilled because “the gays” love her. But then much to her horror and Ava’s delight, Margaret Cho informs them that it’s a lesbian cruise. And turns out those aren’t “the gays” Deborah was talking about. This episode has everything; the good, the bad, the ugly. More specifically, deep conversations about the nuance of sexuality and hot hookups, biphobic lesbians, and a truly tragic stand-up set. It has everything that makes Hacks great, from over-the-top goofs to serious topics, and it’s beautifully acted by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. It also perfectly demonstrates how standup isn’t well-received by the communities you’re punching down on, no matter how many positive one-on-one interactions you have with people in that community. (People like to be included in jokes, not the butt of them! Go figure.)

Of course I couldn’t help but be reminded of The L Word‘s lesbian cruise episode, and honestly it made me think “lesbian cruise episode” should start being a standard trope TV shows lean on, like bottle episodes, road trip episodes, etc. — Valerie

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Ashley Nicole Black as various, A Black Lady Sketch Show

Runners-Up, Tied: Megan Stalter as Kayla, Hacks // Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan, Reservation Dogs // Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert, Dickinson

Other Nominees: Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob, Sort Of // Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress

At this point, it feels like it’s less a question of will Ashley Nicole Black win a Gay Emmy and more a question of: for which of Ashley Nicole Black’s fifty-eleven jobs will she win a Gay Emmy? Writer/Producer on Ted Lasso? Actor/Writer/Producer on the forthcoming Apple TV+ show, Bad Monkey? Or whatever she yields from her development deal for Warner Bros. Television? Whatever role we’re celebrating Black for next, you can guarantee it’ll be thoughtful…and probably hilarious.

This season on A Black Lady Sketch Show, Black expands the repertoire of characters she plays: Chef Lourdes, one of the country’s best and brightest bullshitters; Harlan, one half of lesbian couple that’s just adopted a grown-ass woman three year old; Jamilah Clark, the girl who will make a deal with the devil to escape ridicule for her ashy feet; Fatima, the Door Dash awaiting security guard turned bomb tech; and Autumn, the college student whose coming out gets thwarted by some uninvited guests. It’s all another step in Black’s quest to bring the stories of the unseen to our screens.

“One of the characters I play on A Black Lady Sketch Show is The Invisible Spy,” Black told TVLine back in February. “My thing is just taking all of those people who have been invisible — the sassy best friend character or whatever — and turning the camera onto them, putting them at the center of the story.”

If those portrayals are even a fraction as funny as Black was during ABLSS‘s third season, we’re all in for a real treat. — Natalie

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

E.R. Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy

Runner-Up: Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets

Other Nominees: Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria // Rosanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q // Sherry Cola as Alice Kwan, Good Trouble // Juani Feliz as Isabela Benitez-Santiago, Harlem

There is a lot to be said about a romantic lead. The ability to create a fire with just the flick of an eye towards your costar, the surgical precision with which to deploy the dimple tucked into your cheek, a well placed chuckle that riptides like an ocean. To pull it off well, it has to appear effortless, but it’s a study of skill as old as, well, filming people on screen.

In the realm of recent television, few romances have had the permanence of Grey’s Anatomy, and after 18 seasons in walked E.R. Fightmaster’s Dr. Kai Bartley, the first nonbinary doctor in the show’s history, cut directly out of the finest of Shondaland’s heartthrob cloth. Yes, as Dr. Bartley, Fightmaster has the perfect McDreamy hair and a smile so symmetrical you could graph it on a calculator (if you’ve ever watched the show, you know exactly what I mean) — but what makes the role stand out are the small queer details that only Fightmaster could put into it, the quiet sexiness of how they carry Kai’s mannerisms. They’ve taken the large stage of a primetime network romance, known best for its high stakes drama and twists, and instead turned it into a performance where its subtly makes it riveting.

In other hands, watching as Dr. Bartley and Amelia Shepherd figure out Bartley’s comfortability with Amelia’s motherhood and how a child would fit into their life would be a bore, but instead watching them navigate the heartbreak of adult expectations was appointment television. Kai swooping down to kiss Amelia in the rain was a moment instantly recognizable, every bit as swoon worthy as all the Grey’s greats — which given the pedigree, is no small feat. And it’s made all the better, because it’s ours. — Carmen

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman

Runner-Up: Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Other Nominees: Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Riverdale // Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl // Ireon Roach as Keisha Taylor, The 4400 // Kausar Mohammed as Soraya Khoury, The 4400

It’s a bittersweet feeling, seeing Batwoman win so many Autostraddle TV Awards this year. Because on one hand: fuck yes! They deserve it! But on the other, it’s a slap-in-the-face reminder that the show was taken from us too soon. It obviously resonated with queer viewers, but the powers that be don’t seem to think our queer eyeballs or dollars count. But I digress. We’re not here to complain about corporate bullshit, we’re here to celebrate Batwoman.

Javicia Leslie was a breath of fresh air in smog-filled Gotham; to us as an audience, but also to everyone else in Gotham, on and off screen. Ryan Wilder was a funny, sarcastic smartass, breaking the always-grumbling stereotype of most people who had worn a bat cowl before her. Her smile is contagious, and even if it took their characters a little longer to warm up to her, it was instantly clear the cast loved having her around; the vibe of the live-tweets was joyful. This most recent season of Batwoman was its best, with Ryan feeling comfortable in the cowl and behind the wheel of the Batmobile, literally and figuratively. The sexual tension between Ryan and Sophie was palpable and electric and a damn joy to watch. I’ll be forever bitter they took this show away from us, but grateful we can still celebrate Javicia’s amazing work here.

(And special shoutout to runner-up Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, just because it’s the last time I’ll be able to do that. *wipes tear*) — Valerie

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer / Showrunner

Mae Martin, Feel Good

Runner-Up: B Nichols, Abbott Elementary

Other Nominees: Lena Waithe, Twenties // Abby McEnany, Work in Progress // Dana Terrace, The Owl House // Bilal Baig, Sort Of

The second season of Feel Good was a tremendous accomplishment across the board. Well written, well acted, and well directed, it just simply stuck the landing in so many arenas, yielding one of the best depictions of trauma and its reverberations I’ve ever seen on television. Mae Martin is a singular voice in television right now, and while season one of the series was already impressive, I just think season two is a near-perfect masterpiece. A little stranger, a little more ambitious, it takes what works in the first season and dials it up, evolving and shifting in the ways I wish more comedies did. The queer sex scenes on the show remain some of my favorite, and the writing of complicated relationships allows so much room for nuance and depth. Mae’s double duties as creator and star here are impressive, and Feel Good has such a distinct comedic and dramatic voice of its own, helmed skillfully.

I can’t wait to see what Mae does next. — KKU

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show)

Sort Of (HBO Max)

Runners-Up, Tied: Reservation Dogs (FX) // We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)

Other Nominees: Heartstopper (Netflix) // The 4400 (CW) // In My Skin (BBC)

In her interview with Vogue announcing her retirement from the game of tennis, Serena Williams bumps against the word “transition.” She’s sensitive about using that word, recognizing that the word “means something very specific and important to a community of people,” and instead settles on “evolution” to describe the moment she’s in. Perhaps, if Williams had asked Bilal Baig, the nonbinary creator, writer and star of Sort Of, about her word choice, they would’ve advised Williams to embrace the word transition for herself. It was, after all, the word that convinced her to collaborate with Fab Filippo on the show.

“There was such a power in a cis person using the word transition, without any sort of taboo, stigma,” Baig told Complex last November. “There was also an understanding that, of course, our transitions are different…There was a real power in acknowledging that it’s a human experience to evolve. And we, the more we all embrace it, the better we all are.”

Yes, Sort Of is groundbreaking because Baig is the first queer South Asian Muslim actor to lead a Canadian primetime TV series, but if we reduce it to just that, we’re missing the point. Sort Of understands that we’re all “sort of” striving to be the person we’re meant to be. We’re all “sort of” transitioning and if we can accept that — even if your transition looks more like Paul’s than Sabi’s — perhaps we can build more empathy for trans and nonbinary folks. — Natalie

Outstanding Animated Series

The Owl House (Disney Channel)

Runner-Up: Arcane (Netflix)

Other Nominees: Pinecone & Pony (Apple TV) // Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Netflix) // Blue’s Clues (Nickelodeon) // Rugrats (Nickelodeon)

If my TikTok FYP is right, I spend a lot of time trying to heal my inner child. And The Owl House is one of my favorite ways to do it. It’s the kind of show I would have eaten up as a kid (Magic! Girl with purple hair! Adorable demon dog!) and it would have changed my entire life to see a young girl have a full-on girlfriend and having her found family and friends support her. It’s not even a thing, really. Just a cute side plot. And by the time we got to that point with Luz and Amity in the most recent season, it felt so earned. There was angst, there was growth, there was character development, and longing, and then there was girlfriends. And that’s not even the only queer thing about this show! Gender and sexuality seem like a non-issue in general in the Demon Realm, and everyone uses they/them pronouns for Eda’s ex Raine without any fuss or fanfare.

On top of being the cutest queer witch, Luz is also so fun to watch. She’s ambitious and curious and clever but not flawless; in fact, quite often she stumbles in her attempts to help and makes things worse. And has to face those consequences! Including but not limiting to not listening to her girlfriend and learning about boundaries and communication. Things aren’t just magically perfect all the time, and it’s just another added layer of greatness to this adorable show. — Valerie

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

E.R Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy

Runner-Up: Vanessa Williams as Pippa Pascal, The L Word: Generation Q

Other Nominees: Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve // Rosanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q // Sepideh Moafi as Gigi Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q // Sara Ramirez as Che Diaz, And Just Like That…

It was an ordinary Tuesday when Heather slacked me to ask, “E.R. Fightmaster is Alex Vega’s doppleganger, right?” I was initially unclear on how Autostraddle co-founder Alex Vega could bear a resemblance to the short-haired actor I remembered (crushing on) from Shrill, but then I journeyed into E.R.’s Instagram and discovered myriad similarities between the two, such as “playing the drums” and “overall aura.” But mostly — it was the hair. And this paragraph is about the hair on the head of the character of Kai (E.R. Fightmaster) on Grey’s Anatomy, not Alex Vega, I do know that, but the reason I’m dwelling so extensively on Alex is because back when she worked at Autostraddle full-time we got a lot of questions about Alex’s hair. It was often suggested to us that we write an entire article on how, exactly, Alex did her hair, from how she pitched her cut to the hairdresser to how she styled it and with which products. This plea often came from self-identified “long-haired butches” (aka LHBs) seeking something new for themselves.

The look hit a sweet spot, you know? And now Kai on Grey’s Anatomy is really blowing up that sweet spot with their volume and style and shine. When they first entered the program, there was chatter regarding Link’s old haircut and its resemblance to Kai’s current haircut, but that was incorrect. Link could never. He didn’t have the volume. But it’s true that at least Amelia still has something to grab onto.

Kai masters (LOL) an elusive look, a way of styling and surrounding (often-longer-than) shoulder-length hair that, despite popular associations with that cut and length, is somehow “masc” or “androgynous.” Is it the flip? The far-side part that can create the illusion of a swooshed-over bang? Kai’s Alternative Lifestyle Haircut is somehow nonbinary all on its own, is an automatic entry to the Pantheon of Queer Hairstyles, so often dominated by super-short dos. Kai elevates the layered bob. I mean the cut is basically a Rachel, and yet it looks nothing like a Rachel at all. It looks like a short haircut, except somehow long. And when Kai and Amelia are in bed together, it’s so choppy and tousled and it glimmers almost honey-blonde beneath occasional wedges of light. 

E.R. Fightmaster is my current style icon, and every time I look at my own hair in the mirror I am thinking about their hair, and how to make mine look like that. I haven’t figured it out yet but in the meantime, I’m happy just to watch. — Riese

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

Killing Eve (AMC)

Runner-Up: Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Other Nominees: The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) // And Just Like That… (HBO Max) // We Are Lady Parts (Peacock) // A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO Max)

The series finale of Killing Eve was controversial to say the least. The sudden — spoiler alert — death of Villanelle caused an uproar online with people decrying what they saw as another case of “Bury Your Gays.” (More than one post insisted that Villanelle was the first person some queer women were able to see themselves in!) At first this confused me, because there has been such a wide array of queer stories since that trope was first named and because Villanelle is literally a sociopathic assassin. But as I trudged through the online mayhem, I realized this response was a mark of the show’s success. Villanelle had seduced all of us just like she seduced Eve.

I’m here to discuss costumes, and the fact is Villanelle would not be Villanelle without her clothes. Killing Eve would not have succeeded so well in its seduction without its fashion. From Villanelle’s iconic pink dress in season one to her practical tank in her last moments, Villanelle was an ever-shifting delight of disguises and queer fashions. Season three and four costume designer, Sam Perry, built on the work of previous designers Phoebe De Gaye and Charlotte Mitchell, continuing to develop these characters through what they wore. Killing Eve was a spy show and while that genre may be known for its intrigue, gadgets, and, yes, fashion, the best work uses all that flash to serve a story that grapples with the darkness in government. For better or worse, that was the reminder of Killing Eve’s final moments — when the clothes come off, death is soon to follow. — Drew

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor: E.R. Fightmaster as Dr. Kai, Grey’s Anatomy

Runner-Up: Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Fan Favorite LGBTQ+ Character: Maya Bishop, Station 19

Runner-Up: Carina DeLuca, Station 19

Fan Favorite Couple: Maya Bishop and Carina DeLuca, Station 19

Runner-Up: Raelle Collar and Scylla Ramshorn, Motherland: Fort Salem

Vote Now in the 2022 Autostraddle TV Awards!

Since 2018, Autostraddle’s TV Team has hosted what we previously called the Autostraddle Gay Emmys. The name, a cheeky queering of the Primetime Emmy Awards, reflected one of the core goals of the project, which was to recognize, celebrate, and evaluate television shows, episodes, writers, makers, and performers who might otherwise be overlooked by a mainstream institution like the Emmys. This year, we head into the project with the same goal but a fresh, new name that really solidifies the awards as ours. Welcome to the Autostraddle TV Awards.

These awards are meant to celebrate the best of television — through a lens of LGBTQ+ representation. To merely feature a gay character no longer feels like enough. We want complex, meaningful, varied queer storylines across genres, narratives, and themes. We approach voting for these awards from two vantage points: the overall quality of the show as well as the quality of the queer and/or trans stories told within. Some of the shows nominated by the Primetime Emmy Awards this year overlap with some of the shows below — many do not. For example, while the Emmys remain very enthusiastic for Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, several members of our TV Team have been disappointed by the way the show skirts around Susie’s sexuality. We put queer and trans characters and stories first with these awards, and within the extremely patriarchal and heteronormative machine of Hollywood, that matters.

How it Works: For the past couple weeks, the knowledgeable and passionate queer critics who make up our TV Team have collaborated on a lengthy process to determine the year’s nominees in each of our Autostraddle TV Awards categories. We have 21 whole categories, and while there is some overlap with the Emmys, we also feature our own original categories that celebrate LGBTQ+ achievements — including awards specifically for out performers — as well as awards for other parts of the television landscape that don’t often get love from mainstream awards systems, like genre television. We took a massive list of potential nominees and voted to narrow that down to just six nominees per category — with two exceptions. Due to the fact that after two rounds of voting there were still ties for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series, those categories feature a seventh bonus nominee. The team was genuinely split, so it felt the most accurately reflective of our opinions to go with this slight rule change!

Now, it’s your turn to help us pick the winners. Individual Autostraddle readers can vote once in each category. Your votes will be combined with the TV Team’s final votes to choose the winners.

There are also three fan-favorite categories that YOU get to decide completely yourselves! Those categories are Fan Favorite Couples, Fan Favorite Out Queer Actor, and Fan Favorite Character.

We follow the same rules as the Emmys as far as timeline, which means the shows must have aired between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022 in order to be eligible. (Yes, that means we have to wait until 2023 to nominate A League of Their Own!) While the show’s full season does not need to have aired during that range, most of its episodes must have aired.

Here is your official ballot!

Voting is now open and will close on Wednesday, August 31 at 5p.m. EST. The winners will be announced on September 7.

---

AND THE NOMINEES FOR THE 2022 AUTOSTRADDLE TV AWARDS ARE…

Outstanding Drama Series

Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Station Eleven (HBO Max)
The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
Euphoria (HBO Max)
Killing Eve (AMC)
Gentleman Jack (HBO Max)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Sort Of (HBO Max)
Hacks (HBO Max)
We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO Max)
Sex Education (Netflix)
Dickinson (Apple TV)
Reservation Dogs (FX)

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

The 4400 (CW)
Batwoman (CW)
Naomi (CW)
Astrid & Lilly Save the World (SYFY)
Supergirl (CW)
Riverdale (CW)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Tawny Cypress as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Suranne Jones as Anne Lister, Gentleman Jack
Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria
Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria
Jodie Comer as Villanelle, Killing Eve
Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Sepideh Moafi as Gigi Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q
Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q
Liv Hewson as Van Palmer, Yellowjackets
Sherry Cola as Alice Kwan, Good Trouble
Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson, The Morning Show
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Stranger Things

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good
Alia Shawkat as Dory Sief, Search Party
Jonica T. Gibbs as Hattie, Twenties
Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob, Sort Of
Hannah Marie Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks
Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Dua Saleh as Cal Bowman, Sex Education
Sophina Brown as Ida B., Twenties
Ashley Nicole Black as various, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Ashly Burch as Rachel, Mythic Quest
Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert, Dickinson
Rebekah Murrell as Cam, In My Skin

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Peacemaker
Taylor Hickson as Raelle Collar, Motherland: Fort Salem
Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe, Legends of Tomorrow
Kaci Walfall as Naomi McDuffie, Naomi
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman
Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya, Batwoman
Tig Notaro as Commander Jett Reno, Star Trek: Discovery
Ireon Roach as Keisha Taylor, 4400
Kausar Mohammed as Soraya Khoury, 4400
Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Danielle Deadwyler as Miranda Carroll, Station Eleven
Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, Hacks
Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, Abbott Elementary
Melanie Lynskey as Shauna Sadecki, Yellowjackets
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard, Abbott Elementary
Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov, Russian Doll

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Himesh Patel as Jeevan Chaudhary, Station Eleven
Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie, Abbott Elementary
Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso
Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, Ted Lasso
Taika Waititi as Blackbeard, Our Flag Means Death
Steven Krueger as Ben Scott, Yellowjackets

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard, The L Word: Generation Q
Hailey Kilgore as Laverne “Jukebox” Ganner, Raising Kanan
Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Liv Hewson as Van Palmer, Yellowjackets
Alycia Pascual-Peña as Aisha Garcia, Saved By the Bell
Kaci Walfall as Naomi McDuffie, Naomi

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

The 4400 Episode 104, “Harlem’s Renaissance”
Hacks Episode 204, “The Captain’s Wife”
Sex Education Episode 306, “Episode 6”
Sort Of Episode 105, “Sort of a Party”
Dickinson Episode 308, “This Was a Poet”
Batwoman Episode 311, “Broken Toys”

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Megan Stalter as Kayla, Hacks
Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan, Reservation Dogs
Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob, Sort Of
Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress
Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert, Dickinson
Ashley Nicole Black as various, A Black Lady Sketch Show

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

E.R Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy
Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa Turner, Yellowjackets
Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria
Rosanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q
Sherry Cola as Alice Kwan, Good Trouble
Juani Feliz as Isabela Benitez-Santiago, Harlem

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl
Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Riverdale
Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl
Ireon Roach as Keisha Taylor, The 4400
Kausar Mohammed as Soraya Khoury, The 4400

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer / Showrunner

Lena Waithe, Twenties
Mae Martin, Feel Good
B Nichols, Abbott Elementary
Abby McEnany, Work in Progress
Dana Terrace, The Owl House
Bilal Baig, Sort Of

Most Groundbreaking Representation

Heartstopper (Netflix)
Sort Of (HBO Max)
The 4400 (CW)
In My Skin (BBC)
Reservation Dogs (FX)
We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)

Outstanding Animated Series

The Owl House (Disney Channel)
Pinecone & Pony (Apple TV)
Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Netflix)
Blue’s Clues (Nickelodeon)
Rugrats (Nickelodeon)
Arcane (Netflix)

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

ER Fightmaster as Dr. Kai Bartley, Grey’s Anatomy
Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve
Rosanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q
Sepideh Moafi as Gigi Ghorbani, The L Word: Generation Q
Vanessa Williams as Pippa Pascal, The L Word: Generation Q
Sara Ramirez as Che Diaz, And Just Like That…

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
Killing Eve (AMC)
And Just Like That… (HBO Max)
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO Max)

---

To vote in the above categories as well as the THREE SPECIAL FAN FAVORITE CATEGORIES*, go forth and:

VOTE IN THE AUTOSTRADDLE TV AWARDS 2022!!!

*When voting in the fan favorite categories, please keep the eligibility guidelines in mind and only nominate couples/characters/actors who appeared in shows that aired between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022. Otherwise your vote will be wasted!

Presenting the Winners of the Fourth Annual Autostraddle Queer TV Awards!

Last night, when the Autostraddle TV Team was scrambling to finish all of our various writing for this year’s awards before the deadline, Drew Gregory said, “I love the Gay Emmys and am so glad we’re still doing them!!”

And the fact that we’re still able to pull off this titanic ship four years in, two years into a pandemic, is no small feat. Carmen organized the voting and these posts, Heather Hogan made the graphics, Natalie helped with formatting, if you follow us on Twitter than you’ve seen what Valerie’s done to promote our annual virtual awards show this week (and if you know social media, then you know it’s art). When we had a tie in one of the categories — an actual tie, even after THREE rounds of voting — Kayla and Drew both stepped up to write extra on top of their duties. And then there was all of you, 14 thousand of you who voted in under 48 hours! We love queer television because television brings us together, and nothing better defines that spirit than this little homegrown awards contest.

The Autostraddle Gay Emmys began with a relatively simple goal: To honor the very best in lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans television. To celebrate the stories and talents and creators that the mainstream Television Academy still misses year after year. We wanted to help change the conversation, and highlight who’s pushing the boundary and what’s moved us most. So we spent weeks together pouring over what mattered to us, reliving this past year, and voting for what we believed in. Then, when we were down to our top six nominees in each category, we opened up the field to you. We believe that television only works if it’s connecting to its audience, and so we wanted to make sure that our audience had their say. For regular categories, the individual TV Team votes were weighted heavily alongside our reader votes. For fan favorite categories, the winner was 100% determined by reader votes.

And without any further ado, here are the winners of Autostraddle’s Fourth Annual Gay Emmys!

PS: Goodbye Pose! We’re going to miss you. Thank you.

---

Outstanding Comedy Series

A Black Lady Sketch Show

Runner-Up: Dickinson

Other Nominees: Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix) // Girls5Eva (Peacock) // Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix) // Hacks (HBO Max)

Back in 2010, Edie Falco stepped onto the Emmy stage, exasperated. She collected her trophy — her first for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, her fourth overall — and confessed, “Oh, this is just the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened… I’m not funny!” It was the culmination of a changing comedy landscape: one where writers weaved dramatic elements into comedic narratives and, later, where the Emmys mandated that all 30 minute shows were comedies, irrespective of content. But over the last few years — and, particularly, throughout this pandemic — it feels like audiences are looking for content that skews towards the more traditional role of a comedy. Simply put, we want to laugh…and few shows make us laugh more than A Black Lady Sketch Show.

In its second season, ABLSS revisited some of its classic characters — Dr. Haddassah (pre-PhD), Trinity, the Invisible Spy and the Coral Reefs Gang — while also crafting an expansive playground for its main cast. My personal favorites? The Post-Date Presser and The Last Supp-her. Just try to keep yourself from laughing. — Natalie

Outstanding Drama Series

Veneno

Runner-Up: The Wilds (Amazon Prime)

Other Nominees: Killing Eve (BBC America) // P-Valley (Starz) // The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) // Pose (F/X)

The Gay Emmys exist to celebrate shows that the Straight Emmys have wrongly ignored. But with Veneno, it’s not the Emmys — international shows aren’t eligible — but Hollywood we’re correcting. Yes, the last half a decade has brought a wave of progress within the mainstream. It’s exciting and should be celebrated. But there’s still nothing like Veneno. Hollywood is, once again, behind.

What makes Veneno so special isn’t just its representation — more on that later — it’s the show’s quality. This is arthouse television. The technical achievements of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi and their team are remarkable. The writing is naturalistic and fantastic all at once. And the actors within don’t just do this work justice — they elevate it. The three women who play Veneno, Paca la Piranha as herself, and Lola Rodríguez who plays Valeria are the heart of a show with so much of it.

Veneno is a masterful work of art. It means as much to me as an artist and a viewer as it means to me as a trans woman. And it means a lot to me as a trans woman. It’s the best drama of last year — according to the team and all of you — and one of the best shows of all time — according to me. — Drew

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Batwoman

Runners-Up, Tied: Wynonna Earp (SyFy) // Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+)

Other Nominees: The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix) // Legends of Tomorrow (CW) // Supergirl (CW)

There’s no way season two of Batwoman should have worked. It definitely shouldn’t have been significantly better than the first season. Batwoman’s origin story is more well known than any woman superhero at this point, in large part because it has been so groundbreaking and therefore widely publicized (or derided, depending on where you hang out on the internet). The loss of Ruby Rose, the show’s biggest name, was also the loss of Kate Kane, the only Batwoman we’ve known since she burst out of the closet in 2006. But Batwoman‘s writers took an enormous chance that paid off in shockingly delightful ways. They created a new Batwoman, a Black Batwoman, and they cast a Black bisexual actress to pay her. Season two didn’t get everything right — it’s never going to stop being traumatizing to see violence against Black bodies, Kate Kane being alive does undermine the character of Ryan Wilder — but the writers room brought in queer Black writers and they worked dang hard to tell a variety of queer Black stories. Even Sophie had to reckon with her place in the police state!

In addition to retelling an origin story, Batwoman found a way to organically, effortlessly introduce Ryan into everyone else’s lives in ways that made the show so much more compelling. And then, of course, there’s Javicia Leslie, whose charm and on-screen chemistry with basically everyone made Ryan’s relationships with every single character more fun, more fraught, with more potential for different pairings to find there way to each other and just see what happened. (Sophie and Alice? That shouldn’t work! But it does!) Plus Batwoman introduced even more LGBTQs into the mix, with recurring love interests and even villains. Javicia Leslie IS Ryan Wilder and Ryan Wilder IS Batwoman, and it has been a revolution and a joy to watch her own the cape and cowl. — Heather

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Mj Rodriguez as Blanca Evangelista, Pose

Runner-Up: Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria (HBO)

Other Nominees: Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria (HBO) // Danielle Savre as Maya Bishop, Station 19 (ABC) // Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched, Ratched (Netflix) // Nicco Annan as Uncle Clifford, P-Valley (Netflix)

In every season of Pose, Mj Rodriguez has given a stellar, layered performance, harnessing humor, drama, pathos, and spectacle all at once—sometimes just in one scene alone. The final season of Pose leans all the way into her strengths, honoring Blanca as the emotional core of the series. She shines on her own, obviously, but she’s so fun to watch in scenes with Billy Porter; the two are impeccable scene partners. Rodriguez knows how to deliver a damn good monologue, and she knows how to make us cry. But she also brings a warmth and coziness to the show. I can’t wait to see what she does next. — Kayla

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Dominique Jackson as Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour, Pose

Runner-Up: Daniela Santiago as Veneno, Veneno (HBO Max)

Other Nominees: Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Ratched (Netflix) // Angourie Rice as Siobhan, Mare of Easttown (HBO) // Stefania Spampinato as Carina DeLuca, Station 19 (ABC) // Samira Wiley as Moira, The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

There’s a scene, in the third season of Pose, where Elektra Abundance Evangelista is forced to confront the bigotry of the manager of a bridal boutique who refuses to serve them. She tries to reason with him, at first — appealing to him, from one businessperson to another — but when he refuses to relent, she unleashes a torrent of abuse on his head. Elektra’s always been quick and cutting with a quip but this is pure savagery. She reads him for absolute filth. And while there’s joy in watching Elektra verbally dismantle someone, it shouldn’t eclipse her character: Elektra has always been about more than a rhetorical jab and in Pose’s final season we get the full breadth of her character.

It’s “The Trunk,” the third episode, that gives us the greatest insight into how Elektra Abundance Evangelista came to be. The episode shows us Elektra at her highest and lowest… and requires a tour de force performance by Dominique Jackson to bring it all to life. — Natalie

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson

Runner-Up: Chase Sui Wonders as Riley Luo, Genera+ion (HBO Max)

Other Nominees: Naomi Ackie as Alicia, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix) // Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks (HBO Max) // Paula Pell as Gloria, Girls 5Eva (Peacock) // Haley Sanchez as Greta Moreno, Genera+ion (HBO Max)

As silly as it may sound, this wacky, comedic retelling of Emily Dickinson’s life is one of the places I’ve felt most represented in all my years of watching queer TV. Emily’s internal monologue being dramatic and her external energy being chaotic feels so familiar to me, and Hailee Steinfeld brings every layer of this wild-hearted teenager to life with exquisite talent. The first season was a whirlwind of getting to know Emily but the second was a slow journey of Emily getting to know Emily, and it was beautiful to behold. Hailee is able to dig deep and express Emily’s wells of sadness as easily as she opens up to show off her flights of fancy or locks in to display her passion and love for her muse, her Sue. For a long time I thought of Hailee Steinfeld as “that girl from Pitch Perfect 3” but she was handed the reins to this show and has been deftly steering it since day one and has proven that she is so much more than anyone bargained for, in the best way possible. — Valerie

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Ella Hunt as Susan Gilbert, Dickinson

Runner-Up: Sasheer Zamata as Denise, Home Economics (ABC)

Other Nominees: Lolly Adefope as Fran, Shrill (Hulu) // Cole Escola as Chip Wreck, Search Party (HBO Max) // Patti Harrison as Ruthie, Shrill (Hulu) // Nava Mau as Ana, Genera+ion (HBO Max)

Dickinson suffered no sophomore slump; in fact, season two arguably bests the first season of the funny, strange, gorgeously shot show. And one of the highlights of that great second season is easily the new layers we get of Sue. Ella Hunt brings depth to the character, playing the comedic and dramatic sides of the show with equal heft. In season two, we get the Sue Emily loves but also a complicated, flaw-stricken Sue. That final steamy scene has stayed with me. Equal parts messy and intimate, it’s one of my favorite sex scenes to air in recent years, and a big part of that is the performances from both leads, who fittingly have won in tandem in their respective categories. Hunt and Steinfeld’s chemistry oozes in every frame. — Kayla

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman

Runner-Up: Victoria Pedretti as Dani Clayton, The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix)

Other Nominees: Kat Barrell as Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp (SyFy) // Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl (CW) // Dom Provost-Chalkley as Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp (SyFy) // Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce, Black Lightning (CW)

It’s hard to imagine an actor this year who had more stacked in front of her than Javicia Leslie. Batwoman is already an iconic lesbian character in comics lore. Her original iteration, Kate Kane, was brought to television by a queer actor who is already iconic their own right — Ruby Rose. When Ruby left the role, Javicia stepped into an entirely new caped crusader, Ryan Wilder, and a fandom that was already on edge. She was going to become the first Black Batwoman, at a time of historic racial protest and an ongoing fight for humanity of Black lives. Oh, and she had to do it all during a once-in-a-century pandemic. HA! No big deal.

I list out all these challenges because you deserve to know what Javicia was up against — but also because Javicia has made it all look so good, that it’s easy to forget. With every charming, cocky smile. With every snark. With every twinkle in her eye, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Ryan Wilder. Javicia not only has stepped into the responsibility of the moment, but she hasn’t forgotten that comic book stories should be fun. They can be dark (and both metaphorically and literally, Gotham is dark), but never without joy. A superhero should have chemistry. They should be a star.

And you can’t possibly find a bigger star than what Javicia Leslie has already lifted on her mighty shoulders. — Carmen

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman

Runner-Up: Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning (CW)

Other Nominees: Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+) // Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl (CW) // Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl (CW) // Lachlan Watson as Theo Putnam, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)

When we were deciding who got to write about which show, I saw that Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy series were taken and for a second I was bummed I wouldn’t get to write about Batwoman… then I kept scrolling and saw the well-deserved SWEEP and so I’m thrilled to be here to talk to you about Meagan Tandy. Over these first two seasons of Batwoman, we’ve watched Sophie Moore grow, but in this second season especially, I feel like I’ve watched both Sophie and Meagan absolutely BLOOM. From the way her acting feels brighter to the way she is talking about the show on Twitter, I think having Javicia at the helm has suited her as well as it has suited the show as a whole (which is very well, as you know.) Sophie went from being a closeted crow to being a vigilante with two ex-girlfriends who may or may not be evil now, plus a flirtationship with Batwoman herself. She got tougher and softer all at once, and also her outfits and overall looks set the Autostraddle TV Team slack channel on fire week after week.— Valerie

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Michaela Coel as Arabella, I May Destroy You

Runner-Up: Renee Elise Goldsberry as Wickie Roy in Girls 5Eva (Peacock)

Other Nominees:Brandee Evans as Mercedes, P-Valley (Starz) // Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision (Disney+) // Punam Patel as Kim Laghari in Special (Netflix) // Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca, Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

For so much of the last year, the urge has been to escape… for television to give its audience some refuge from the storm that ravages outside… but I May Destroy You is not that. Rather than offering a port in the storm, it takes us inside it. Not literally, of course — I May Destroy You grapples with sexual assault, boundaries and consent, not the pandemic — but the show captures the last year on a micro level: social media, the fleeting nature of memory, trauma and our capacity to find joy and laughter in the midst of it all. The show is a call for introspection, no matter what we’ve been through.

It is hard to say which of Michaela Coel’s roles in I May Destroy You contribute most to its success — she is, after all, the show’s star, writer, director and producer (and has earned Emmy nominations for each) — but it is her turn as Arabella that cuts most deeply. It’s hard to explain what it feels like to be a survivor… to go on living in the aftermath of an assault… but as Arabella, Coel makes survivors feel seen in a profound way. — Natalie

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso

Runner-Up: Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Pose (F/X)

Other Nominees: Angel Bismark Curiel as Esteban “Lil Papi” Evangelista, Pose (F/X) // Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) // Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya, Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) // Justice Smith as Chester Morris, Genera+ion (HBO Max)

Everyone I know — including me — watched Ted Lasso begrudgingly. I can’t think of a harder sell in 2021 than: a cis white guy gets a job he’s unqualified for and becomes celebrated against all odds. Yet, somehow, Jason Sudeikis makes a small-time football coach from Kansas who moves to London to coach European football not just palatable, not just likable, but actually lovable. Ted Lasso is the guy who brings cookies to work every morning, who makes endless dad jokes, who curses like “heck” and “shoot,” and says bonkers motivational quotes like “I believe in ghosts, but more importantly, I believe they need to believe in themselves.” He’s a walking, talking human embodiment of a JUST HANG IN THERE poster with a cat on a tree limb. And it works. His earnestness, his genuine kindness, his willingness to admit what he doesn’t know and when he messes up, his genuine belief in the ability of the people around him — it all starts to rub off on his team, his team’s fans, and even the owner who hired him to fail. Ted Lasso — the character and the show — is good and wholesome and nurturing and kind. And in a world that feels less and less like those things every day, he is a welcome relief. — Heather

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria

Runner-Up: Eris Baker as Tess Pearson, This Is Us (NBC)

Other Nominees: Bre-z as Tamia “Coop” Cooper, All American (CW) // Haley Sanchez as Greta Moreno, Genera+ion (HBO Max) // Chase Sui Wonders as Riley Luo, Genera+ion (HBO Max) // Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria (HBO)

Euphoria is less a TV show than it is a cultural moment. Its cast of hot, stylish, and largely queer Gen Z-ers are taking over magazines and red carpets and the thoughts of so many. (Me.) And while Zendaya may be the show’s most famous star and Sydney Sweeney next behind, it’s Hunter Schafer and her character Jules who embody the Euphoria spirit.

During its first season, I joked that Jules was a Manic Pixie Trans Girl. But that’s not inherently negative. There’s a magic to a character placed on our protagonist’s pedestal. Jules is magic. She’s charming and chaotic and impossible to contain. Schafer shows her to be tender and harsh, grounded and ethereal. The tension between who she is and how she’s perceived crackles in every moment.

This year’s special episodes showed these two sides of Jules. In the Rue episode, she is literally a fantasy. But in her own episode, we get to see more of who she really is. Schafer herself got a writing credit on this episode and the more she becomes Schafer’s creation, the more she becomes her own. She’s a face of a generation. She’s a trans teen just trying to survive. — Drew

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

“CLICK WHIRR,” Genera+ion

“Chapter 4” , Master of None Presents: Moments in Love

Other Nominees: Euphoria: “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” (HBO) // Girls5Eva: “Cease and Desist” (Peacock) // Harley Quinn: “Something Borrowed, Something Green” (DC/HBO Max) // Pose, “The Trunk” (F/X)

This is a bittersweet win after this week’s cancellation. Genera+ion really found its voice in its backhalf of episodes and it could have done so much more. The show thrived when it showcased its entire ensemble, but it also thrived when honoring one character’s minute experiences. This episode, focused entirely on Chase Sui Wonders’ Riley, was the show at its riskiest and most transcendent. “CLICK WHIRR” is marked by hours Riley has been awake since failing to sleep the night before. As the day continues, Riley’s descent continues. Her behavior becomes more erratic and the show mirrors this disorientation in its sound design and visual landscape.

I know I’m prone to hyperbole, but this episode is the closest I’ve ever seen to my teen years on screen. Not in the specific circumstances — that honor goes to Sex Education or Perks of Being a Wallflower — but in the emotion. That feeling of being trapped, that lack of awareness of the world beyond, that confused anger, that depth of loneliness.

We may not be getting any more Genera+ion, but follow Chase Sui Wonders and director Anu Valia wherever they go next. It’s sure to be special. — Drew

Master of None: Moments In Love had an uneven run, but its finest episode is hands down “Chapter 4,” which tells the story of Alicia’s rollercoaster of a pregnancy journey. Heartfelt and heartbreaking, it’s a tremendous, self-contained narrative that shows how difficult a queer path to pregnancy can be (on systemic and personal levels). Naomi Ackie deserves all the accolades for her performance, which is nuanced and potent throughout, the full weight of Alicia’s frustration, despair, and determination effectively portrayed. I hope we start to see more queer pregnancy/parenting stories on television. This one is unforgettable. — Kayla

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Paula Pell as Gloria, Girls 5Eva

Runners-Up, Tied: Cole Escola as Chip Wreck, Search Party (HBO Max) // Humberly González as Sophie Sanchez, Ginny & Georgia (Netflix)

Other Nominees: Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks (HBO) // Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (NBC) // Wanda Sykes as Lucretia Turner, The Upshaws (Netflix)

Paula Pell is the least famous member of Girls5eva, the show and the seemingly cursed girl group. Maybe you saw her act in Amy Poehler’s lukewarmly liked Wine Country, but probably if you know her at all you know her from her work as a longtime writer on Saturday Night Live during the Pohler/Tina Fey era. But oh she shines as divorced, dejected lesbian Gloria McManus in Peacock’s freshman comedy. Pell plays Gloria with just the right mix of ridiculousness (“I power walk to ‘WAP!'”) and vulnerability. She’s thrilled in a super-charged way to be back on stage with her bandmates, especially since she can now be out, which wasn’t the case 20 years ago. But dang, she’s also just really sad! She’s also self-aware enough to be at least slightly embarrassed about working with the parasites in the music industry as Girls5eva make their way back into the spotlight. It’s not easy to hold your own on camera with Renée Elise Goldsberry, but Pell’s Gloria is as memorable as she is lovable.

It looks like she really is gonna be famous 5eva, cuz 4ever’s too short. — Heather

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Mj Rodriguez as Blanca Evangelista, Pose

Runner-Up: Lola Rodriguez as Valeria Vegas, Veneno (HBO Max)

Other Nominees: Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher, The Crown (Netflix) // Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, The Crown (Netflix) // Dominique Jackson as Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour, Pose (F/X) // Samira Wiley as Moira Strand, The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

What an honor it is to give Mj her things.

For years we’ve been saying it. Not only is Mj Rodriguez an impeccable talent behind the mic, on stage, and on screen — but Blanca Evangelista is the beating heartbeat around which Pose revolves. If it’s a show that’s defined this cultural moment (and it is!), then absolutely zero of that has been possible without her. Finally this year, even the “straight” Emmys paid attention, landing Mj with a historic nomination. But no matter what happens on Sunday, I’m glad that we get to honor Mj Rodriguez here, first. Family to family. At its core, Pose has never been about the glamorous mirrorballs and ballroom runways. It’s about making a home for others out of seemingly nothing except your belief in each other, family dinners of $5 pizzas and take out on a card table in a warm, worn down apartment in The Bronx. I won’t lie to you, our little Gay Emmys comes out of a similar home grown spirit, so it feels fitting to celebrate Mj this way, full of queer heart and spirit. Thank you Mj Rodriguez for reflecting back the very best of us. Thank you for being our heart. — Carmen

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman

Runner-Up: T’Nia Miller as Hannah Grose, The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix)

Other Nominees: Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+) // Dom Provost-Chalkley as Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp (SyFy) // Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl (CW) // Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning (CW)

It’s all been already said perfectly, the obstacle course of a job Javicia walked into this season and how well she exceeded every challenge thrown at her. As Carmen said, and as Nic has said, and as we’ve all been singing from the hillside every week since Ryan Wilder came to Gotham, Javicia is exactly what the show needed; she IS Batwoman. When the role was being recast, it was announced that the new Batwoman wouldn’t be Kate Kane at all, so there were concerns that the network would use it as an excuse to de-gay the show. We were all thrilled when Javicia was cast, a Black bisexual babe with a contagious smile. Her whole vibe is just so good, on and off screen, and she has an approachability about her that is magnetic, like you can’t help but think Javicia would fit in seamlessly in your queer friend group. Her queerness is important to the role, and it’s part of the reason the role is so important to her, which is just one of the many reasons (most of which have been mentioned at various points in this post) that she’s the perfect person for the job. — Valerie

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer  / Showrunner

Ashley Nicole Black and Lauren Ashley Smith, writers, A Black Lady Sketch Show

Runner-Up: Emily Andras, showrunner, Wynonna Earp (SyFy)

Other Nominees: Tina Mabry, director, Pose (“The Trunk”) (F/X) // Janet Mock, director, Pose (“Take Me to Church”) (F/X) // Hunter Schafer, writer, Euphoria (“Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob”) (HBO) // Lena Waithe, writer, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix)

LET’S GOOOOO 🎵 Black Lady Emmys * clap clap 🎵 Black Lady Emmys *clap clap 🎵

I am DELIGHTED to be able to deliver this award to two of the strongest, funniest, paradigm breaking writers around. There is no one else working right now like Lauren Ashley Smith and Ashley Nicole Black. To try and quantify their talent actually leaves me dumbfounded. Which I hate! Because they deserve all their flowers. And unlike these two powerhouses, I’m failing to rise to the occasion.

Just this week Robin Thede, who has received so many of the (well deserved) accolades of creating ABLSS, shone light on the true unsung hero of the show : “Lauren Ashley Smith has been an invaluable part of the ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ team since its inception, creating a dynamic comedic landscape in the writing and tapestry of the show on all levels. Her contributions to the series are immeasurable and we’re all made better by knowing her!”

Ashley Nicole Black? In front and behind the camera? SHEEESH. Unmatched. Unparalleled. And once I again I know, I know that I am not saying nearly enough. And again I am sorry. I hope they can feel the love and admiration behind these stumbling words. I want to just run around laughing and squealing because it’s so rare when you get to really celebrate the right person for their jobs — and when it comes to these two, working in the shadows and taking over center stage, I just… again. Just. Wow.. Black Lady Emmys *clap clap 🎵 — Carmen

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show)

Veneno

Runner-Up: Genera+ion (HBO Max)

Other Nominees: Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix) // P-Valley (Starz), Pose (F/X) // Special (Netflix)

Veneno is not a show with good representation — it is a show about representation.

Yes, it does quantifiable things that I’ve never seen before such as casting trans women as their characters pre-transition, portraying certain intercommunity dynamics, and prominently featuring older trans women. These are groundbreaking qualities. But what stands out most to me is its intelligence around representation itself. It doesn’t just want to tell the life story of Veneno. It wants to tell the story of how her story was told and how all of our stories are told.

Not only does it have a cast of trans actresses rivaled only by Pose — it understands the responsibility of putting these individuals on screen. I’ve started saying trans storytelling instead of trans representation, because the word representation has lost its depth. This is a show that understands that depth. This is trans storytelling at its finest. — Drew

Outstanding Animated Series

Harley Quinn

Runners-Up, Tied: One Day at a Time (“The Politics Episode”) (Pop TV) // The Owl House (Disney)

Other Nominees: Adventure Time: Distant Lands — Obsidian (HBO Max) // Blues Clues (Nick Jr.) // Magical Girl Friendship Squad (SyFy)

DC Animated Universe’s Harley Quinn finally did the thing comic book writers have been dancing around for decades: They gave Harley and her best friend Poison Ivy the on-screen romance they deserved. The second season basically plays out like an extended rom-com with Harley and Ivy dodging their feelings for each other as Harley deals with murdering her psycho ex-boyfriend and Ivy plans a wedding with her white bread current boyfriend. They’re best friends, okay? THEY’RE BEST FRIENDS. Ultimately, though, their feelings get the best of them and they hook up on Ivy’s bachelorette party weekend away — repeatedly. Ivy loves Harley but she doesn’t trust Harley with her heart, so she pushes her away and plans to go through with her wedding to Kite Man. But then! In an episode that throws it back visually to their very first meeting in Batman: The Animated Series, Harley shows how much she’s grown and what she’s willing to sacrifice for her friendship with Ivy, which makes Ivy realize she can trust Harley with her heart. And so they blow up Ivy’s wedding venue and ride off into the flames together. Picture perfect chaotic bisexual best friend to lovers love! — Heather

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Angel Evangelista, Pose

Runner-Up: Sophie Moore, Batwoman (CW)

Other Nominees: Alex Danvers, Supergirl (CW) // Denise, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix) // Nurse Ratched, Ratched (Netflix) // Veneno, Veneno (HBO Max)

This is almost too obvious. I mean Pose literally just won an official Emmy last weekend for “Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling”! So of course this was always their race to lose. The third, and final, season alone had to transverse between the two distinctly different periods of the 90s, from the late ‘80s influenced momentous, big hair to their almost-nearly Y2K counterparts. And through it all, those curls.

Throughout two decades, Angel’s curls are about as iconic as you can get. They’ll be remembered long after the last of the glitter dust settles. But part of what I’ll remember most is Indya Moore without them — that they willingly cut their hair to tell the story of a young Angel before she found her family. That they’ve been in our lives all year without them, that hair can be home, and it is almost always political, but it also doesn’t define us. Strength does. — Carmen

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

Pose

Runner-Up: Dickinson (Apple TV+)

Other Nominees: Batwoman (CW) // Genera+ion (HBO Max) // Master of None Presents: Moments in Love (Netflix) // Ratched (Netflix)

I mean props to the other nominees in this category, which are all undoubtedly visual feasts, but between its iconic, over-the-top ballroom sequences and the group wedding dress scenes at the end of its final season, Pose is the obvious winner for outstanding costume design. But it’s not just those most spectacle-driven sequences that make this show’s style stand out. The costumes are so specific to and revealing of each character, Elektra’s personal wardrobe (while obviously always luxurious) growing increasingly more lavish as her phone sex empire expands, Blanca serving cool mom chic, Pray punctuating his looks with hats and accessories. Their personal styles perfectly reflect who they are. — Kayla

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor: Dom Provost-Chalkley

Fan Favorite LGBTQ+ Character: Maya Bishop, Station 19

Runner-Up: Carina Deluca, Station 19 (ABC)

Fan Favorite Couple: Maya and Carina, Station 19

---

The Straight Emmys are this Sunday, September 19th on CBS, pandemic and all.

Vote Now In Autostraddle’s 4th Annual TV Awards

The Primetime Emmy Awards are headed our way this very Sunday on September 19th, which — in the beforetimes — was usually an exciting time of year for Hollywood “insiders,” television critics, and fans everywhere of popcorn popping and yelling at celebrities while sitting on your couch in your pajamas.

Of course, the last 18 months have been anything but normal — not for any of us, and as it relates to this specific contest, not for the television industry. There’s been prematurely truncated seasons, retroactive cancellations and strange pivots and long production delays. While network and cable tv kept trying to adjust to the sky falling, streaming networks responded by erratically churned out new content seemingly without rhyme or reason. And arguably none of us have ever spent more time at home in front of a television! There’s been weekend mini-binges of new shows we’ve never never heard and multi-season comfort re-watches, and finally, in the last six months, long anticipated returns of our favorites.

And while the Emmys may not be delivered from home this year (Do you remember last year when they literally chucked Emmys at the winners from behind hazmat suits? #NeverForget), it’s certainly not “back to normal.” Though some things do remain the same! We began the Gay Emmys to celebrate the sheer breadth and quality of queer television that’s available to us now, in larger quantities than ever before. We know the talent is out there, even if the Television Academy still overwhelming follows the whims of mostly straight white cis men. And so our annual queer tradition — now in its fourth year! A marvel! — was born.

How it Works: Over the last few weeks our TV Team of queer critics nominated and voted on shows and actors and characters and creatives in the 21 categories you see below. These official nominees are the top six vote-getters in every category. Now you get to weigh in! Every Autostraddle reader is eligible to vote once in each category. Your votes will be combined with the TV Team’s votes to choose the winner! We’ve also chosen three fan-favorite categories over which you have total control. Your winners are the winners!

To choose our nominees, we abided by official Emmys rules for timing.That means shows must have occurred between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. The majority of the show’s episodes must have aired within that time period.

Here is your official ballot!

Voting ends on Wednesday September 15, 2021 at 5:30 EST and winners will be announced on Thursday September 16!

---

And the Nominees Are…

Outstanding Comedy Series

Girls5Eva
Dickinson
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Teenage Bounty Hunters
Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
Hacks

Outstanding Drama Series

P-Valley
Killing Eve
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Wilds
Veneno
Pose

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Legends of Tomorrow
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Batwoman
Wynonna Earp
Supergirl
Star Trek: Discovery

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Mj Rodriguez as Blanca Evangelista, Pose
Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria
Danielle Savre as Maya Bishop, Station 19
Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria
Sarah Paulson as Nurse Ratched, Ratched
Nicco Annan as Uncle Clifford, P-Valley

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Daniela Santiago as Veneno, Veneno
Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Ratched
Angourie Rice as Siobhan Sheehan, Mare of Easttown
Stefania Spampinato as Carina DeLuca, Station 19
Samira Wiley as Moira Strand, The Handmaid’s Tale
Dominique Jackson as Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour, Pose

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Haley Sanchez as Greta Moreno, Genera+ion
Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson
Chase Sui Wonders as Riley Luo, Genera+ion
Paula Pell as Gloria, Girls 5Eva
Naomi Ackie as Alicia, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Lolly Adefope as Fran, Shrill
Ella Hunt as Susan Gilbert, Dickinson
Cole Escola as Chip Wreck, Search Party
Sasheer Zamata as Denise, Home Economics
Patti Harrison as Ruthie, Shrill
Nava Mau as Ana, Genera+ion

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
Dom Provost-Chalkley as Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl
Victoria Pedretti as Dani Clayton, The Haunting of Bly Manor
Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce, Black Lightning
Kat Barrell as Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning
Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, Star Trek: Discovery
Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl
Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl
Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman
Lachlan Watson as Theo Putnam, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness, WandaVision
Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton, Ted Lasso
Brandee Evans as Mercedes, P-Valley
Punam Patel as Kim Laghari, Special
Renee Elise Goldsberry as Wickie Roy, Girls5Eva
Michaela Coel as Arabella, I May Destroy You

Outstanding Cis Male Character

Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent, Ted Lasso
Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Pose
Angel Bismark Curiel as Esteban “Lil Papi” Evangelista, Pose
Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya, Ted Lasso
Justice Smith as Chester Morris, Genera+ion
Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

Eris Baker as Tess Pearson, This Is Us
Chase Sui Wonders as Riley Luo, Genera+ion
Bre-z as Tamia “Coop” Cooper, All American
Zendaya as Rue Bennett, Euphoria
Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn, Euphoria
Haley Sanchez as Greta Moreno, Genera+ion

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

“Cease and Desist,” Girls5Eva
“CLICK WHIRR,” Genera+ion
“Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” Euphoria
“The Trunk,” Pose
“Chapter 4” (the pregnancy episode), Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
“Something Borrowed,” Harley Quinn

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Hacks
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Cole Escola as Chip Wreck, Search Party
Wanda Sykes as Lucretia Turner, The Upshaws
Paula Pell as Gloria, Girls 5Eva
Humberly González as Sophie Sanchez, Ginny & Georgia

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher, The Crown
Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, The Crown
Dominique Jackson as Elektra Abundance Evangelista Wintour, Pose
Samira Wiley as Moira Strand, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mj Rodriguez as Blanca Evangelista, Pose
Lola Rodriguez as Valeria Vegas, Veneno

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl
Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning
Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, Star Trek: Discovery
T’Nia Miller as Hannah Grose, The Haunting of Bly Manor
Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
Dom Provost-Chalkley as Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Writer  / Showrunner

Hunter Schafer, writer, Euphoria (“Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob”)
Ashley Nicole Black and Lauren Ashley Smith, writers, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Emily Andras, showrunner, Wynonna Earp
Janet Mock, director, Pose (“Take Me to Church”)
Lena Waithe, writer, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
Tina Mabry, director, Pose (“The Trunk”)

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show)

P-Valley
Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
Genera+ion
Veneno
Special
Pose

Outstanding Animated Series

Harley Quinn
Blues Clues
Adventure Time: Distant Lands — Obsidian
The Owl House
One Day at a Time (“The Politics Episode”)
Magical Girl Friendship Squad

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Veneno, Veneno
Angel Evangelista, Pose
Sophie Moore, Batwoman
Denise, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love
Nurse Ratched, Ratched
Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

Genera+ion
Dickinson
Batwoman
Ratched
Pose
Master of None Presents: Moments in Love

---

Plus there are THREE FAN FAVORITE CATEGORIES —Fan Favorite Couples, Fan Favorite Out Queer Actor, and Fan Favorite Character. You will find them on the ballot when you…

VOTE NOW IN THE AUTOSTRADDLE 4th ANNUAL GAY EMMYS!

Behind The Scenes of the Autostraddle TV Awards

---

How Voting Works

How are the nominees decided?

Why did you decide to organize the voting in this manner?

---

The Vida Sweep

---

Year-to-Year Comparisons of Nominations + Winners By Show

Categories Where Readers Broke a Tie

---

Winners (and Losers) That Inspired Thoughts + Feelings

Reader Faves

---

TV Team “Fan Favorites”

---

For Your Consideration

---

Announcing the Winners of the Third Annual Autostraddle TV Awards!

Did you hear the people vote, voting the votes of TV shows? This is the voting of the people who will watch Netflix again! And now it’s time to declare winners of this year’s coolest awards, the Gay Emmys!

We created the Gay Emmys two years ago because putting together the Gay Emmys is like when I used to take out all of my baseball cards or paper dolls and lay them all out on the carpet so I could look at them and think “wow, what a bounty!” Because my friends, the past few years have been a bounty for LGBTQ+ women and/or trans people on television, but the actual Emmys remain a bit lukewarm on us. This year, we had nearly 140 shows in the 2019-2020 Voting Period from which to select our favorites.

In fact, this year, there were enough LGBTQ+ inclusive shows that we were able to add even more categories from the actual Emmys — like separating Supporting and Guest roles, adding a Limited Series category and making space to applaud excellent Costume Design. We also ditched Best Coming Out Story for Outstanding Queer Teen Character, an award dedicated to the legacy of Santana Lopez, in memory of Naya Rivera.

As usual, a few shows swept the awards like a gust of wind barreling through your door and knocking over a half-full can of Spindrift. Pose had another healthy year following a triumphant 2019, and Vida took its final bow with a lot of trophies. (There are no trophies, just a website post.) (Our presentation is more similar to the actual Emmys this year than ever!!!)

I would like to thank, first and foremost, everybody reading this introduction, because truly so few people do these days! Sometimes I write totally nonsense introductions and nobody says a word!! Maybe they’re just worried about me and don’t know what to say. Next week we’ll be giving A+ members a little peek behind the curtain of the Gay Emmys process, plus some more data for your delight, so look out for that! Pray for it, hope for it, dream of it. I will be!

---

Outstanding Drama Series: Pose

2019 Winner: Pose

Runner-Up: How To Get Away With Murder
Other Nominees: The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) // Killing Eve (BBC) // Riverdale (The CW) // Euphoria (HBO) //  Dare Me (USA) // The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Going into its sophomore season, Pose found itself in a difficult and unenviable predicament. It easily had one of the strongest first seasons of television I’ve ever seen. A true masterclass of the art form. In fact, it won in this same category this time last year. It was a beautifully written and acted, intimate portrayal of a Black and Brown trans and queer chosen family the likes of which we have literally never seen on on television before. Just an absolute stunner by any definition. How do you top coming out of the gates so strongly?

It turns out that you do so by turning inward. If Pose’s first season was exquisite in its world building, then in its second season we saw character work that was absolutely previously unrivaled. We watched as Pray Tell grappled with the realities of living with his disease and finding love in the most unexpected places; as Elecktra continued not only to be the master of The Read, but a cornerstone and matriarch of her community; as Angel reached for stardom and Blanca faced the reality of her own mortality. Of all these characters, however, it was Miss Candy (Angelica Ross) that simply will not be forgotten. Though I firmly and adamantly disagree with the violent way that Pose chose to end her life, there is no denying that in her after-life, Angelica Ross brought such warmth, wisdom, wit and care to Candy. Many critics point to the episode that handled Candy’s death and subsequent memorial (2.04 “Never Knew Love Like This Before”) to highlight the best of the show’s second season. However, I would disagree. For me, the pinnacle of both performance and writing can be found in 2.09’s “Life’s a Beach,” when Elecktra takes her daughters on a road trip. So rare do we get to see Black and Latina trans women in the splendor and joy of their own company, let alone in a romp like this one. When it’s all over, in car mirror, there is Candy — with her sisters, taking in the sun.

An absolutely a perfect moment from a still nearly perfect show. — Carmen

---

Outstanding Comedy Series: Vida

2019 Winner: Jane the Virgin

Runner-Up: One Day at a Time (Pop TV)

Other Nominees: A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO) // Sex Education (Netflix) // Betty (HBO) // Twenties (BET) // Work in Progress (Showtime) // Dickinson (Apple+ TV)

I’ve been lucky to write more words about Tanya Saracho’s brilliant Vida than anyone else on this website, and I am honored to be able to write the first summary of what is a near sweep in all Gay Emmys categories for the show takes its final bow.

In the course of three seasons, and especially this last year in its third act, Vida has been nothing short of magnificent. Each character transversing journeys that were at once hard, sexy, and incredibly beautiful — the likes of which, from a queer Chicanx and Latinx lens, have literally never been on TV in this way before. The writing, directing, cinematography, hell the acting — all of it’s immaculate. Characters and images that rip a hole in your spirit and stitch themselves in there instead, becoming a part of you long after you’ve turned off the television.

Of course it probably seems strange to award “Outstanding Comedy” to a show that began at the funeral service of a family matriarch and ends as one daughter tearfully takes ownership of the internalized homophobia she inhereited from her mother and instead sets it aflame with such power it cannot be forgotten. But ultimately, Saracho’s symphony is about finding the pockets of joy that exist within our grief, the family we create and hold on to throughout our sorrow. Life and art become one on Vida, which is perhaps yet another reason it earns its own name.  — Carmen

---

Outstanding Limited Series or TV Movie: Little Fires Everywhere

Runner-Up: Mrs. America (Hulu)

Other Nominees: Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix) //  Mrs Fletcher (HBO) // Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood (Netflix) // Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)

The Hulu adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, a project initiated by actors Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington and adapted with Ng’s support, elevates the source material, complicating its investigations of race and class and also giving two of its leads the greatest gift you can give a character: making them gay.

Little Fires is unsparing and exacting in its portrayal of a specific time and place — the late 90s, the midwest —  when brutish racism (and sexism, for that matter) had been somewhat hidden from view, replaced by a facade of We Are The World multiculturalism, whitewashed fantasies of “not seeing color” and what Ta-Nehisi Coates describes as “elegant racism” — “invisible, supple and enduring,” underpinning every aspect of American life. Where a culture like this — socially liberal-to-moderate, not particularly religious — stood on gay people can be a little fuzzier. I experienced this dissonance constantly growing up, but I’ve never seen it examined on television like it was in Little Fires Everywhere through teenage-girl Izzy’s chaotic coming out story. Mia’s story of her first queer relationship in the edgy, widely-appealing fringe of the ’80s art world was both sweet and thrilling on so many levels.

Contemporary shows set in the ’90s tend towards the comic and campy, but Little Fires was quietly realistic, showing how much more capable we are of telling an accurate 1997 story now than we were in 1997. It’s not just about social conventions — it’s that late ’90s media was an active part of denialism that characterized conversations around racism in the ’90s. Watching it was a reckoning. — Riese

---

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

2019 Winner: Wynonna Earp

Runner-Up: Batwoman (The CW)

Other Nominees: Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu) // Black Lightning (The CW) // Supergirl (The CW) // Homecoming (Amazon Prime)

If the CW DC TV Universe was a family (and it sort of is, albeit a dysfunctional one), Legends of Tomorrow is the weird gay cousin. While technically from the same bloodline, definitely the most unique of the bunch, and definitely the queerest. With bisexual badass Captain Sara Lance at the helm, and her girlfriend Ava Sharpe by her side, the Legends go on wacky adventure after wacky adventure. Sci-fi is famous for giving us queer women just to take them away, since the worlds are higher stakes and the deaths are more frequent, but Legends defies those tropes at every turn, often killing Sara Lance just to bring her back again. Giving her a Totem of Death and having her survive a run-in with an actual god. She is the anti-trope and I (and Ava) love her for it.

Having been together for a while now, Sara and Ava are just two gals in love leading a team of misfits through time and space. The creators have talked about how they’re not interested in any Sara/Ava conflict being about their relationship – they’ve been there, done that – and are finding other ways to add excitement, angst, and adventure into their lives, which is a wonder to behold. — Valerie

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama: Viola Davis as Annalise Keating, How to Get Away With Murder

2019 Winner: Mj Roriguez as Blanca, Pose

Runner-Up: MJ Rodriguez as Blanca, Pose (FX)

Other Nominees: Hunter Schafer as Jules, Euphoria (HBO), Zendaya as Rue, Euphoria (HBO), Roseanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime), Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve (BBC), Indya Moore as Angel, Pose (FX), Jodi Comer as Villanelle, Killing Eve (BBC)

I feel like I’ve said too much and also not nearly enough about Viola Davis’ turn as Annalise Keating. I remain in awe that an actor of Viola Davis’ caliber — with an Emmy, Oscar and Tony to her name — would tackle this character… and that she’d take whatever chaos the show’s writers spun and turn it into something worth watching. To have seen Davis do this, over six seasons, feels like a profound gift.

Because Annalise Keating’s character felt like the truest reflection of me that I’d ever seen on television, I found it hard not to wish her bisexuality was pushed more to the fore. I wanted her with Eve, I wanted her with Tegan, I wanted her away from the men who only ever took from her. I wanted the low-hanging fruit but, instead, the show exposed the roots of the character they’d built over six seasons. In its final standout season, HTGAWM more about reconcilitation than romance and, as is her wont, Viola Davis carried it all effortlessly. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Supporting Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama: Angelica Ross as Candy, Pose

2019 Winner: Angelica Ross as Candy, Pose

During the first season of Pose, every time Angel stepped to a car as she worked the Piers, I held my breathe. I knew the stats — of the disproportionate amount of violence that black and brown trans women face, particularly those who engage in sex work, and how that violence sometimes turns deadly — and behind my closed eyes I braced myself for the worst to befall one of our beloved characters. That moment never came. I opened my eyes and Angel, Blanca and Elektra were still standing, loving themselves and their chosen families. I thought, “well, at least, they’re safe here.”

As it turns out, they weren’t.

I’m not sure I’ll ever find peace with how Candy’s story ended but in her performance, Angelica Ross embodies the very thing that made Candy such a great character: She takes whatever scraps she’s been given and weaves them into something beautiful. She balances the seriousness and the sass as Candy helps Elektra mummify a dead client in “Butterfly/Cocoon.” She is defiant and divine in “Never Knew Love Like This Before.” Ross gives us the opportunity to see Candy as clear as we ever have, even in death. And, thanks in large part to the depth of Ross’ performance, we get to see the people who loved/hated her — Pray Tell, Angel, Lulu, Blanca, her parents — as clearly as we’ve ever seen them too… and it carries us through the rest of the season. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Guest Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama: Jen Richards as Young Anna Madrigal, Tales of the City

Runner-Up: Lauren Glazier as Kay, Mindhunter (Netflix)

Other Nominees: Daniela Vega as Ysela, Tales of the City (Netflix) // Laurel Holloman as Tina, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) // Laverne Cox as Sophia, Orange is the New Black (Netflix) // Jen Richards as Young Anna Madrigal, Tales of the City (Netflix) // Alexis Bledel as Emily, The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Last year’s Tales of the City reboot was a marker of queer television past and future. The third sequel to the landmark original series took the generational conflicts inherent in its creations and made them its subject. So, of course, Jen Richards stole the show. Anna Madrigal, for better or worse, is an iconic trans character, and while she’s played once again by Olympia Dukakis, Richards takes over for the standout flashback episode. Richards isn’t just a phenomenal performer — she’s also one of the smartest cultural critics of trans media. It’s fitting then that her skills as an actor become their very own argument for the trans television we deserve.

This hour long short movie is carried by Richards as it recreates the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and asks questions about what we owe our community and who in our community is even granted that quandary. A romance between a trans woman and a cop is something only a cis person would write, but Jen deepens what otherwise feels so wrong. In Richards’ hands, Anna becomes a woman so desperate to be who she really is that she forgets who that person should be. It’s a complicated performance for a character granted her complexity 25 years too late. It’s proof that as we move into this new chapter of trans media performers like Jen Richards should take the lead. — Drew

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy: Mishel Prada as Emma, Vida

2019 Winner: Mishel Prada as Emma, Vida

Runner-Up: Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson (Apple+ TV)

Other Nominees: Zoe Kravitz as Rob, High Fidelity (Hulu) // Kabrina Adams as Honeybear, Betty (HBO) // Mishel Prada as Emma, Vida (Starz) // Jonica T. Gibbs as Hattie, Twenties (BET) // Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good (Netflix) // Isabella Gomez as Elena, One Day at a Time (Pop TV) // Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress (Showtime)

There is no one like Mishel Prada. As Emma Hernandez, she’s created a queer character who is full of pain and resiliency, someone who’s small frame is built of steel and is unafraid to rise to the challenges around her. And yes, Emma is messy. But if we’re being real with ourselves, queerness is messy. Behind Emma’s ice cold mask is a femme looking desperately to unpack the baggage of shame left for her by her mother like it was some kind of expensive designer luggage. She’s tried to find it behind work at a corporate job, then in reinstating her family’s bar to its former glory, and in multiple choices of sex partners (some better advised than others). This year, Emma finally gets to the bottom of that suitcase — in her father, a figure who looms large both in her mother’s history and now in her own. From there what she discovers is that beneath her icy exterior is actually fire. A passion, pride, and confidence in herself that looks to even shake her to her own core.

There’s a fine dance that can be struck between performer and writer, and Mishel Prada and Tanya Saracho found it in each other. They created pure magic. — Carmen

---

Outstanding Supporting Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy: D’Arcy Carden as Janet, The Good Place

2019 Winner: Rosario Dawson as JR, Jane the Virgin

Runner Up: Roberta Colindrez as Nico, Vida (Starz)

Other Nominees: Theo Germaine as Chris, Work in Progress (Showtime) // Kirby Howell-Baptise as Taylor Harding, Why Women Kill (CBS All Access) // Lolly Adefpoe as Fran, Shrill (Hulu) // Judy Reyes as Quiet Ann, Claws (TNT) // Patricia Allison as Ola, Sex Education (Netflix) // Ser Anzoategui as Eddy, Vida (Starz)

If you haven’t read A.E. Osworth’s Non-Binary Ode to Janet, you should start there: “Janet is also continuously and profoundly misunderstood. She’s called a ‘front desk lady,’ a ‘magical slave robot.’ And she is often called a girl. Calmly and with a smile, Janet often corrects those around her. ‘Not a girl,’ ‘not a robot,’ ‘not a person.’ In season two, episode ten, she does offer two thumbs up and the phrase ‘I’m luggage!’ to explain that she counts as a carry-on when it comes to traveling through a portal to the neutral zone. Thus the character of Janet lent me a minuscule-but-fun way to defuse, respond, chuckle my way through the constant annoyance [of being misgendered].”

Janet started out as a bit character, really, but over the course of four seasons, D’Arcy Carden brought her to life. Underneath her cheerful, accommodating persona was desire, longing, fear, desperation, hope, happiness, and even, at times, barely concealed rage at the injustices humanity — especially her four humans — faced en route to a fair afterlife. Whether it was approximating human crying, baby-talking a puppy about how the void could blow up existence, barfing up quarters, begging for her life and then reassuring Chidi that it was just a failsafe to keep from getting rebooted, to broadcasting his decision — “ATTENTION. I HAVE BEEN MURDERED. ATTENTION. I HAVE BEEN MURDERED.” — Carden gave every scene everything. She was consistently the most hilarious part of a historically funny comedy, and when pathos was necessary, she stuck the landing every time.

Who else could we have trusted to find the perfect balance of humor and heart when shepherding Chidi, Eleanor, Jason, and Tahani beyond the great beyond? — Heather

---

Outstanding Guest Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy: Natalie Morales as Michelle, Dead to Me

Runner Up: Brittani Nichols as Barbecue Daddy #1, A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)

Other Nominees: Constance Zimmer as Claudia Nico, Shameless (Showtime) // Wanda Sykes as Moms Mabley, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime) // Michelle Badillo as Sam, Vida (Starz) // Patti Harrison as Ruthie, Shrill (Hulu)

You may know Natalie Morales from her time as Lucy on Parks and Recreation or her short-lived titular bisexual character on Abby’s or maybe even as Anne Garcia on Santa Clarita Diet. Somehow, you know Natalie Morales. But you’ve never seen her like Michelle on Dead to Me. In the words of Valerie Anne: “She floats in like cool silk on a hot day and even though she’s looking at Linda Cardellini the whole time you somehow feel like also she’s looking at you? I’ve never seen anyone flirt like this. It’s absolutely electric. There’s one part where she’s leaning on a doorframe and I have never wanted to be a doorframe but here I was, wishing I could be a doorframe.”

It’s weird that in 2020 it’s still so hard to believe so many actresses when they’re playing gay characters; I guess it’s a good thing Morales is herself queer! What’s great about Morales as Michelle is that she spends a lot of time doing that dance we all do, that we hardly ever see on screen, where she knows she’s got a connection with this woman — in her case, Cardellini’s Judy — but she doesn’t know if Judy likes her or just likes the attention; she doesn’t know if Judy is willing or able to act on the chemistry they obviously have with each other; she doesn’t know if making a move is going to startle her away like a baby rabbit or if not making a move is going to startle her away like a baby rabbit. When they finally do act on their feelings, it’s just as sizzling as the build-up!

I’m not sure how else to say it, so: Michelle embodies 80% of the advice questions we get from queer readers. What in the world is this woman I’m into thinking? What is she doing? What does she want? And should I do something about it? We never get to see that on TV, and in Morales’ hands it is an absolute delight. — Heather

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie: Kerry Washington as Mia Warren, Little Fires Everywhere

Runner-Up: Kathryn Hahn as Mrs Fletcher, Mrs Fletcher (HBO)

Other Nominees: Judith Light as Shelli Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime) // Addison Holley as Alex Cooper Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story (Lifetime) // Amy Landecker as Sarah Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime) // Gaby Hoffman as Ari Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)

The version of Mia Warren that showed up on our Hulu screens earlier this year wasn’t a fixture of Celeste Ng’s original work. Though she considered it, Ng ultimately relented, saying, “I didn’t feel like I was the right person to try to bring a black woman’s experience to the page.”

When it came time to translate Mia Warren to the small screen, Little Fires Everywhere‘s showrunner, Liz Tigelaar, got together a writing team, including black writers like Shannon Houston, Raamla Mohamed and Attica Locke, to bring the story of a black Mia Warren and her black daughter, Pearl, to life. The change, however subtle, sharpens the edges of the class conflict that was a hallmark of Ng’s original work. The interactions between the Warrens and the Richardsons are more charged…they have more depth…and, despite the show being set in 1990’s Ohio, the change makes the show feel even more current.

But as incisive as the writing is, it’s Kerry Washington that brings Mia Warren to life. Mia suffers through one microaggression after another from Elena Richardson…and, as in life, the reactions to those are slight and nearly imperceptible…but in Washington’s adept hands, we feel each and every microaggression. The audience feels every slight pin pick until ultimately Mia breaks. Elena pushes her too far and assumes too much, Mia smirks and says, “You can’t stand it, can you? That someone would choose a different life than yours. What was it you gave up, Elena? A love? A career? A whole life? Because you’d rather stand here, disparaging my daughter, instead of seeing the truth about your own.”

That read was one of the most satisfying TV moments of the last year. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Supporting Actor Portraying an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie: Tiffany Boone as Young Mia Warren, Little Fires Everywhere

Runner-Up: Megan Stott as Izzy Richardson, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

Other nominees: Katie Kershaw as Amanda Olney, Mrs. Fletcher (HBO) // Bria Henderson as Margaret Sloan, Mrs. America (Hulu) // Ari Graynor as Brenda Feigen-Fasteau, Mrs America (Hulu) // Tiffany Haddish as Leila, Self Made (Netflix)

I thought I knew Tiffany Boone. I’d seen her in a few things before — her guest stints on Southland and Grey’s Anatomy, her arc on the short-lived Complications and, most notably, in her starring role on The Chi — but it wasn’t until Little Fires Everywhere that I truly got to see her. This show announced her: “this is Tiffany Boone and this is what she is capable of.”

It is difficult to play a younger version of a character that exists on the canvas, particularly when that older character is played by a seasoned actress like Kerry Washington. There’s a physicality to Washington’s characters — you can see it in everything from Chenile in Save the Last Dance to Olivia Pope in Scandal — and portraying it is a difficult needle to thread. But somehow, Tiffany Boone manages it…mastering Washington’s walk, the facial expressions (the lip quiver!), the mannerisms, the speech, the pacing…the resemblance is uncanny. She became Kerry Washington for hour of television and it was astounding to watch.

That Boone was not nominated for an Emmy for her performance is one of the most egregious snubs of this year and I am thrilled to see her recognized here. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie: Roberta Colindrez as Jules, Mrs. America

Runner-Up: Anika Noni Rose as Paula Hawthorne, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

Other Nominees: Paget Brewster as Tallulah Bankhead, Hollywood (Netflix) // Michelle Krusiec as Anna May Wong, Hollywood (Netflix) // Annie Parisse as Midge Costanza, Mrs America (Hulu) // Queen Latifah as Hattie McDaniel, Hollywood (Hulu)

There’s something specifically dreamy about a masculine lesbian in a period piece, all that charm wrapped around so much striving and a long history of striking out more often than they succeed in their search for love or companionship. Mrs. America isn’t the first time a Roberta Colindrez character has charmed somebody’s pants off (literally) against formidable odds. Jules, a photographer who often works with various members of The Feminist Movement, only spends an episode with us but in that brief moment we see it all — her care to respect Brenda, her desire to respect herself, her having those eyes and that HAIR HER HAIR IS SO GOOD and those moves. Regrettably, like so many women of color in the feminist movement then and now, Jules only gets a few scenes, just long enough to inspire a political/personal journey for the white woman whose name appears in the episode’s title alongside her husband’s. I would watch Roberta Colindrez do literally anything, but I’m very pleased that so far she’s showed up in so many of my favorite places. — Riese

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series: Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl

2019 Winner: Jamie Clayton, Sense8

Runner-Up: Caity Lotz as Sara Lance, Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)

Other Nominees: Ginny Gardner as Karolina Dean, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu) // Sophia Lillis as Sydney Novak, I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix) // Lyrica Okano as Nico Minoru, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu) //  Nafeesa Williams as Anissa, Black Lightning (The CW) // Hong Chau as Audrey Temple, Homecoming (Amazon Prime) // Janelle Monae as Alex, Homecoming (Amazon Prime)

Unfortunately Alex hasn’t gotten nearly enough airtime on Supergirl lately (neither has her new girlfriend Kelly) but Chyler is giving us her best and not letting one single line or glance go to waste. Besides, she channeled some of that Alex Danvers bravery and Chyler herself came out this year, which adds a little something extra to the glint in Alex’s eye. From the first season before Alex was out, to Alex’s coming out journey, to her breakup storyline, to her new girlfriend plot, Chyler has always brought something really special and dynamic to Supergirl’s super-in-her-own-right lesbian sister. — Valerie

---

Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series: Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Stranger Things

2019 Winner: Nicole Maines, Supergirl

Runner-Up: Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning (The CW)

Other Nominees: Megan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman (The CW) // Amalia Holm as Scylla Ramshorn, Motherland: Fort Salem (Freeform) // Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl (The CW) // Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl (The CW)

Whether or not Robin Buckley was given to us as an apology gift for killing off Barb before they could lean into the chemistry between her and Nancy, I have accepted it as one. Maya Hawk delivered a hilarious, energetic performance of this take-no-shit teenager, which made it all that more impactful when she quietly came out to her best buddy. I honestly wasn’t expecting such smart, thoughtful lesbian representation to appear on a show where so much else is going on (like, monsters in the mall much) and it was a damn delight to behold. — Valerie

---

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series: Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Picard

Runner Up: Christina Wolfe as Julia Pennyworth, Batwoman (The CW)

Other Nominees: Brianne Howey as Reagan, Batwoman (The CW) // Roxy Wood as Yvette, Supergirl (The CW) // Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Picard (CBS All Access) // Riley Voelkel as Freya Mikaelson, Legacies (The CW) // Lisa Kudrow as Maggie Naird, Space Force (Netflix) // Christina Wolfe as Julia Pennyworth, Batwoman (The CW)

While Star Trek has a reputation for being a boundary-pushing paragon of inclusivity from the time The Original Series launched in the ’60s, it has always been lightyears beyond on LGBTQ+ rep, especially in the sci-fi and fantasy genre, which has historically been the most gay-friendly genre on TV. (What other awards breakout sci-fi and fantasy? Just these gay Emmys!) Fans, of course, have long read Kirk and Spock as gay, to the point that they were fanfic fan ‘zines existed long before the internet. By the time Voyager arrived in the ’90s, gay fans, GLAAD, and even Gene Roddenberry agreed that it was time for a queer character — but network restrictions kept the main cast straight. Still, though, fans read Jeri Ryan’s Seven-of-Nine as a lesbian (with many fans shipping her hard with Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway). In recent years, former producers, including Jeri Taylor, admitted that they pushed hard for Seven to be a lesbian, but the networks wouldn’t budge.

Enter Picard. As soon as Ryan arrived on screen, fans were desperate to see her get the gay storyline Seven deserved. Our wish didn’t exactly come true, but it came mostly true. After killing Bjayzl, with whom she had sizzling chemistry, Seven finally made eyes at and clasped hands with Raffi while playing the kal-toh in the season one finale. It wasn’t fireworks, but it wasn’t subtext either. Ryan has been an outspoken fan of the idea that Seven is a lesbian for years, and she seemed just as excited as fans were when it finally happened.

Ryan never shied away from playing the kind of stoic, inured, battle-work borg-y women characters that were not so popular in the early ’90s, but are so beloved today. She fits right in on Picard and it’s a joy to see her getting a little bit of long-deserved love in her life. — Heather

---

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role: Justina Machado as Penelope, One Day at a Time

2019 Winner: Justina Machado, One Day at a Time

Runner-Up: Rita Moreno as Lydia, One Day at a Time (Pop)

Other Nominees: Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisolm, Mrs America (Hulu) // Melissa Barrera as Lyn Hernandez, Vida (Starz) // Issa Rae as Issa, Insecure (HBO) // Regina King as Angela Abar / Sister Night, Watchmen (HBO)

It is completely and totally BONKERS that Justina Machado hasn’t been nominated for an actual Emmy for her role on One Day at a Time. Manuel Betancourt wasn’t the only critic to wonder out loud this year: What does a Latino have to do to get nominated for an Emmy? And it’s not just the awards; it’s also, as Viola Davis said in her 2015 Emmy speech when quoting Harriet Tubman, a lack of opportunity for women of color. According to a recent report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, only 5% of the speaking roles in the top 100 movies of 2019 were Latino actors, even though Latinos make up 18% of the U.S. population! Add that Color of Change’s Normalizing Injustice report about crime on TV, which shows that American television perpetuates the propagandic lie that Black and Latino people are inherently more criminal than white people — and, hey, that’s why Autostraddle hosts our own Emmys!

There isn’t a dang thing Justina Machado doesn’t do as Penelope on ODAAT. The laughs? My god, the laughs. This season’s masturbation episode is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my entire life, and she plays Penelope’s empowerment and mortification flawlessly. The feelings? I have never seen anxiety and depression depicted with as much compassion and honesty in a comedy as it has been in Penelope’s storyline. Sexy? Yes. Ambitious and successful? Yes. A goddamn activist? YES. A mom and a daughter and a woman in the world with her own hopes and dreams and silliness and missteps and triumphs, fighting for her family’s health and happiness safety in the middle of a White House administration that has targeted and villainized them at every turn? YES! One Day at a Time is THE show of this moment, and with Justina Machado in the lead, it has risen to every occasion. — Heather

---

Santana Lopez Legacy Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character: Jordan Hull as Angelica, The L Word: Generation Q

Runner-Up: Zendaya as Rue, Euphoria (HBO)

Other Nominees: Patricia Allison as Ola, Sex Education (Netflix) // Hunter Schafer as Jules, Euphoria (HBO) // Emily Tosta as Lucia Acosta, Party of Five (Freeform) // Eris Baker as Tess Pearson, This is Us (ABC)

When Autostraddle’s CEO Riese first suggested the Santana Lopez Legacy Award for Outstanding Queer Teen Character as a new category for this year’s Gay Emmys — to be honest, I almost cried. It’s such an important memorial for Naya Rivera’s life work, and the impact that her performance left on a generation of queer people — many people on our Autostraddle staff included. The second thought I had was: Oh I am so excited for when we are able to give this award to Jordan Hull as Angelica Porter-Kennard. Truthfully, this category was full of winners — the runner up Zendaya is actually nominated for a (straight) Emmy this year for her stirring and incredibly memorable performance as Rue Bennett in Euphoria. I take nothing away from those performances when I say that it was impossible to take my eyes off of Jordan Hull in every scene that she was in.

Little baby Angie came into the sequel series as fan favorite for the last ten years of those of us who loved her mightly as a toddler, and those were already large shoes for any performer to fulfill. Instead, Jordan laced up Angie’s rainbow Chucks and ran with it! She became the emotionally mature, sweet, caring, heartbeat around which Bette Porter’s world revolved, and our world right along with it. She became the sparkle of her Aunt Shane’s eye. Her shy, teenage romance with Jordi was the stuff of the best romantic comedies. Angie is brave and a bit of a smart ass (credit her mother), but she loves fearlessly. It’s so easy to root for her, to see a bit of ourselves in her triumphs and fears. We talk a lot about “L Word origin stories,” how for many of us the show was watched in secret away from our families when we were young and in some form of the closet. I can’t help but think about the teens who are sneaking to watch The L Word now, and how excited I am that they have someone like  Angie shining back at them. What a star. — Carmen

---

Outstanding Cis Male Character: Dan Levy as David Rose, Schitt’s Creek

2019 Winner: Rogelio de la Vega, Jane the Virgin

Runner-Up: Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Pose (FX)

Other Nominees: Ben Sinclair as The Guy, High Maintenance (HBO) // Leland B. Martin as Ari Thomas, Boomerang (BET) // Ncuti Gatwa as Eric, Sex Education (Netflix) // Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Pose (FX) // Jeremy Pope as Archie, Hollywood (Netflix) // Nicholas Ashe as Micah West, Queen Sugar (OWN) // Andre Braugher as Captain Holt, Brooklyn 99 (NBC)

Not long ago — but also a million years ago, because pre-pandemic — I was at a gay press day situation where Dan Levy was going to appear alongside about a zillion other gay actors, and regardless of age or label or gender, everyone in that room was universally the most excited to meet Levy. Unlike a lot of other actors and series on this list, Schitt’s Creek and Levy have gotten their much deserved (but overdue) praise. They’re nominated for real Emmys, and they’ve already brought home Television Critics Association and GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Association awards.

David Rose has become an absolute icon. You are incapable of having an emotion he hasn’t expressed better than you and that has been GIFed. You are incapable of watching Schitt’s Creek and not falling in love with him. You are, in fact, regardless of whether or not you claim your heart is cold and black, incapable of not crying when he gets his happily ever after. — Heather

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama: Angelica Ross as Candy, Pose

2019 Winner: Mj Rodriguez as Blanca, Pose (FX)

Runner Up: Indya Moore as Angel, Pose (FX)

Other Nominees: Sarah Paulson as Alice McRay, Mrs. America (Hulu) // Jillian Mercado as Maribel, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) // Rutina Wesley as Nova, Queen Sugar (OWN) // Holland Taylor as Ellen Kincaid, Hollywood (Netflix) //  Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens, Killing Eve (BBC) // Mj Rodriguez as Blanca, Pose (FX)

There will inevitably be crossover in the general categories and the LGBTQ actor categories — the more we play ourselves the truer this will be. And I’m thrilled that Angelica Ross has won both for her portrayal of Candy on Pose. But when I think about this category I’m not just thinking about performance — I’m thinking about the visibility of that performer in their identities off-screen. Ross has always combined activism and art and it’s been thrilling as a fan and a trans woman to see what she’s accomplished in the year since Candy’s painful death. She gave a deliciously subversive performance in American Horror Story: 1984, making her the first trans woman to ever be a series regular on two shows. She executive produced and appeared in the trans web series King Ester. And just last month she inked an overall development deal with Pigeon Production Company. This is only the beginning.

“I honestly feel like the phoenix that is sort of rising out of Candy’s ashes,” Ross said. “I am Candy. Candy is me, and so the reality is that walking out of my house today, the possibility is that my story could end the same way. My story can end in violence, too. But to see the possibility which I think that people are going to get to see because I’m already working on some amazing projects is that they’re going to see a Black trans woman get her life.”

Candy’s death was controversial. I have a lot of complicated feelings about it and I know a lot of you do too. But I love everything Ross said in its aftermath. Pose isn’t Ross’ story and it isn’t Candy’s, but they both owned the narrative whenever they could. And someday it will be their story, someday it will be. — Drew

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy: Ashley Nicole Black, various characters, A Black Lady Sketch Show

2019 Winner: Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

Runner-Up: Kate McKinnon, various characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Other Nominees: Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress (Showtime) // Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good (Netflix) // Gillian Anderson as Jean Milburn, Sex Education (Netflix) // Theo Germaine as Chris, Work in Progress (Showtime)

It is hard to pick out my absolute favorite part of A Black Lady Sketch Show — trust me, I’ve tried — but if we’re honoring just one part of the show, it feels right that it’s Ashley Nicole Black.

In ABLSS‘s hilarious inaugural season, Black was part of three sketches — The Invisible Spy, parts one and two, and Annoying Woman — that focus on people not seeing her. In the latter, she’s Jackie Woodson, a social-media obsessed influencer who returns to her hometown to celebrate her 10th grade English teacher, only to realize that no one in the town remembers her…even her parents. In “Invisible Spy,” she’s Trinity, a super-secret agent able to subvert the tightest of the security by being her regular, ordinary self. The Gay Emmys were meant to bring recognition to those who often go unseen by the mostly straight white men who make up the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences… giving this award to the invisible spy feels serendiptous.

So congratulations, Ashley Nicole Black, we see you… through the tears caused by the side splitting laughter you provoke… we see you. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show: Janelle Monae as Alex, Homecoming

2019 Winner: Nicole Maines, Supergirl

Runner-Up: Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl (The CW)

Nominees: Jamie Clayton as Charlie, Roswell New Mexico (The CW) // Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie, Legends of Tomorrow (The CW) // Ariela Barer as Gert, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu) //  Ruby Rose as Batwoman, Batwoman (The CW)

The first time Janelle Monáe appears on your screen in Homecoming, she’s adrift in a lake. She wakes up abruptly, dropping her phone in the still waters, and paddles the oarless boat back to shore. You don’t know who she is…she doesn’t know who she is…but you know you want to watch.

Part of that is because it’s Janelle Monáe and, as queer women, we’re all obliged to love her but also because it’s Janelle Monáe in this space…playing in the same science fiction fantasyland that she’s been concocting for herself since the beginning of her career. It feels like a place where Cindy Mayweather could exist or where Jane 57821 would be on the run from the Nevermind. In short, this role feels made for Monáe and Homecoming is at its best when it remembers that. — Natalie

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Writer / Showrunner: Tanya Saracho, Vida

2019 Winner: Janet Mock, Pose (FX)

Runner-Up: Janet Mock, Pose (FX)

Other Nominees: Lynn Shelton, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) // Lena Waithe, Twenties (BET) // Liz Feldman, Dead To Me (Netflix) // Liz Tigelaar, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) // Katja Blichfeld, High Maintenance (HBO) // Abby McEnany, Work in Progress (Showtime)

I’ve wanted to be in this industry since before my earliest memories. Like I literally said in preschool that I wanted to direct movies. But the desire to write and direct film and television is not the same as the desire to navigate all the bullshit to get there. I love this industry and I hate this industry and some days it feels impossible and yet I know I’ll never accept that to be true. I say all this because there are a few people who give me hope, a few people who have managed to navigate this world in a way that fills me with awe. Tanya Saracho is one of those people.

Vida is the creation of someone who’s not only brimming with talent, but committed to her principles in a way that frankly shouldn’t be possible in our current climate. Throughout its three seasons, Vida had an entirely Latinx writers room. Twenty of its twenty-two episodes were directed by women of color — two by men of color. Several of those directors had never directed television before including Jenée LaMarque who directed seven episodes of the series. The show is unapologetic in its queerness with drag kings and a queerceñera and (in my opinion) the best sex scenes to ever appear in anything ever. The show is cast with actual queer and trans people who play characters, not identities. The show is explicitly political — and explicitly human in those politics — as it covers gentrification and immigration and so much more. These aren’t things to celebrate in theory. This is what is on screen. This is what Saracho knew had to happen not just to change the industry, but to make the best show possible.

So, of course, it got canceled. But first! There were three seasons! Twenty-two incredible episodes of this show that did so much that had never been done before. If every failure was this successful, we’d live in a very different world.

This was Tanya Saracho’s first show as a creator, but it certainly won’t be her last. And I know she’ll bring this same talent and these same principles to every project. She did it in the beginning — she did it when it was hardest. We are so lucky to watch TV while she’s making it. We are so lucky to have had Vida and so lucky to have whatever she does next. I’m in awe. I don’t know what else to say except that I’m in total awe. — Drew

---

Outstanding Animated Series: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)

2019 Winner: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Runner-Up: Bojack Horseman (Netflix)

Other Nominees: The Owl House (Disney) // Steven Universe: Future (Cartoon Network) //  Harley Quinn (DC Universe) // She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) // Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix)

The final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was the stuff of queer nerd fever dreams. It was like Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter but MAKE IT VERY GAY. Like the logical flight point of Legend of Kora crawling so Adventure Time could walk so Steven Universe could run so She-Ra could fly! Like literally! She had her own spaceship! The final season anchored a lot of its emotional drama on longterm gay couple Netossa and Spinnerella, and of course Bow’s gay dads made an appearance. But the main story, of course, was that Adora and Catra finally confessed their feelings for each other in the most chaotic lesbian drama way — and then saved the world together because of their love. Oh, and also: Scorpia and Perfuma!

But the queerness of She-Ra isn’t contained to the romantic storylines. There’s the joy and healing of found family, the trauma of being different in the families we’re born into, there’s pathways out of evangelical fascism, there’s guilt and shame and redemption, there’s mental illness, and good heavens the rainbows! Mostly, though, in some really dark days, there’s hope.

She-Ra isn’t without its issues, though, and the creative team, which didn’t include any Black writers, made some serious behind the scene missteps that manifested in a disastrous fan panel a few weeks ago. Showrunner and made concrete commitments to hire Black talent and staff at every level on every show she works on in the future. — Heather

---

Outstanding TV Documentary: Visible Out on Television

Runner Up: Shakedown (Pornhub)

Other Nominees: AKA Jane Roe: The Real Woman Behind Roe v. Wade (Hulu) // A Secret Love (Netflix) // Circus of Books (Netflix) // Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix)

Visible: Out on Television is the most ambitious LGBTQ+ TV documentary ever attempted — and it succeeds in so many thorough and surprising ways. Opening with the televised Army-McCarthy hearings, which was the first time the word “homosexual” was said out loud on TV, and which launched the Lavendar Scare that decimated Hollywood’s attempts at inclusivity for decades, and landing on Janet Mocks’ Pose, one of the most revolutionary shows in TV history, Visible leaves few stones unturned in its quest to examine the history of gay and trans storylines, actors, and personalities on TV. The analysis is deeply informed. Creators Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave tapped Rachel Maddow, Janet Mock, Ellen DeGeneres, Margaret Cho, Asia Kate Dillon, Lena Waithe, Billy Porter, Wanda Sykes, Wilson Cruz, and even Miss Major Griffin-Gracy to offer commentary.

What makes Visible isn’t that it’s exhaustive, it’s that it goes to great lengths to contextualize what became flashpoints on TV and examine how those moments changed our culture and our politics when they aired (or, in the case of, say, the Stonewall Riots — when they didn’t). Visible even hits up subtextual cult gay classics like Golden Girls and Xena: Warrior Princess. The documentary isn’t all celebration; it’s quick to point out that most progress achieved by TV has benefitted cis, white gays, especially men. It is rooted in the past, but it keeps its eyes on the horizon too. — Heather

---

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show): Pose

2019 Winner: Pose

Runner-Up: Batwoman (The CW)

Other Nominees: Work In Progress (HBO) // Twenties (BET) // Party of Five (Freeform) // Vida (Starz)

A recently had the opportunity to write about Pose this year, and I’m going to quote myself a little here, because it’s as true as ever:

“It is sincerely dumbfounding how good one television show can be… With skill and artistry, Steven Canals and Janet Mock have tapped into a purity and resiliency and love that beats raw at the center of so many queer chosen families for Black and Brown trans and queer folks. Then, they splashed it in our full splendor across our screens, immortalizing us the same way white cis people have been able to see themselves for years. Pose is so much more than luxurious ballroom runways; it knows we’re fucking rich. It knows that small family dinners surrounded by the people who really see you are worth more than gold. It knows even in the specter of death, queer folks don’t falter. We hold on to each other harder and stronger — and that fortitude is worth an entire crown of jewels. We’ve earned our diamonds because we withstood the pressure.”

In their second year in a row winning the achievement of “Most Groundbreaking Representation,” there’s no one better at getting 10s across the board.  — Carmen

---

Best Show That Got Cancelled: Vida

2019 Winner: Jane the Virgin

Runner Up: Dare Me (USA)

Other Nominees: Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu) // I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix) // Party of Five (Freeform) // High Fidelity (Hulu)

Earlier this week, Jeff Hirsch, the president and CEO of Starz, told investors that “women are really driving our business.” Even as other platforms try to branch out, Starz is committed to doing what it’s good at: “focusing…on a female demo with original and provocative series.” It was hard to read that reporting and not wonder why Vida, this show that focused almost exclusively on women and was as provocative as any show on television, couldn’t or shouldn’t have had a longer run. Vida is exactly the show that Starz says they wanted but now its end its run.

Vida represents the absolute best in queer television and the landscape is diminished without it. The show set a new bar for how we see ourselves and should be the standard against which future shows will be judged. — Natalie

---

Best TV Episode With LGBTQ+ Themes: Vida S3E6 “Episode 22″ (Finale)

Runner-Up: Little Fires Everywhere S1E6 “The Uncanny”

Nominees: Pose S2E9 “Life’s a Beach” // A Black Lady Sketch Show S1E1 “Angela Bassett’s The Baddest Bitch” // Euphoria S1E4 “Shook Ones Part II” // The L Word Generation Q S1E4 “LA Times” // Hunters S1E8 “The Jewish Question” // She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S5E13 “Heart Part 2″ // Dickinson S1E3 “Wild Nights” // Vida S3E6 “Episode 22″ // Killing Eve S3E8 “Are You Leading Or Am I?” // High Maintenance S4E8 “Solo” // Mrs. Fletcher S1E7 “Welcome Back”

My favorite endings aren’t endings at all. I know there are a lot of fandoms that really crave finality. I understand the desire some queer people have for an overcorrection of all our tragedy. I get it. But life has no finality except death and while Vida may have started with that exact kind of conclusion it ends with something that is open, hopeful, real.

Vida deserved more episodes, more seasons, but a show like Vida isn’t one that ends with its final episode. These characters will live on in their own imagined world and the legacy of the show will live on in its impact on Latinx, queer, and female-led television. What I love about this finale is Lyn and Emma’s growth. I love how small it is. I love how monumental it is. There’s this idea in storytelling that characters need a drastic arc to show they’ve changed. But that’s not how people change. Lyn has found something like independence. Emma has found something like interdependence. They’ve each received some closure and that closure will always be incomplete. That’s life. This is the end of a chapter, not the book.

It’s difficult to pull off something this subtle and have it hit so hard. But Vida does, because Vida is a special show. Hyperbole is lazy, so I’ll resist the urge to say Vida is the best show I’ve ever seen. But it’s special. I’ll say that. Vida is a really special show. I already miss it dearly. — Drew

---

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character: Sophie Suarez “The L Word: Generation Q”

Runner-Up: Tegan “How To Get Away With Murder“

Other Nominees: Toni Topaz “Riverdale” // Eve “Killing Eve” // Anissa Pierce “Black Lightning” // Bette Porter “The L Word: Generation Q” // Bishop “Deputy” // Nico “Vida”

There is a lot that I loved about Sophie Suarez (and her magnetic performance by Rosanny Zayas) last year, but for today let’s zoom in on the hair. The production team behind The L Word: Generation Q easily had more than a dozen uniquely queer hair and costume stylings to deal with — a tall order to for anyone! — and they outdid themselves by always paying attention to the small, authentic details first. From Finley’s armpit hair to Alice’s impeccably coifed bisexual bob, the entire community was accounted for. And then there was Sophie Suarez.

Sure, we can talk about her perfectly shaven undercut or how neat the lines of her edges really were (perfection!). We can talk about her expertly moisturized, much loved, and clearly defined curls piled messily — but also somehow always, neatly — on top of her head. But instead I want to reminisce about a small moment right at the beginning of the series, in episode 2. You could have blinked and missed it. Sophie is talking while getting ready for her day, and in the mirror she pulls out a toothbrush. She leans in close, turns her face up towards the yellow bathroom lighting, and proceeds to lay down the edges of her hair. Now using a toothbrush for bringing order to your rizos is time honored Black tradition, and for Afro-Latinas in particular it’s passed down from bathroom ritual to ritual across generations. But watching it happen so casually on my television  — I was stunned. For all the queer attention to detail that Generation Q promised, until that one tiny moment, wow I never actually expected to see all of myself on air. — Carmen

---

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters: Deidra Govan, The L Word: Generation Q

Runner-Up: Sam Perry, Killing Eve

Other Nominees: Analucia McGorty, Pose // Bina Daigeler, Mrs America // Ceci, Black Lady Sketch Show // Beth Morgan, G.L.O.W.

The other nominees in this category were flashier choices — they made costumes after all, some of the loudest costumes television calls for — costumes for drag balls, for ’70s feminists and their enemies, for sketch comedy, for lady-wrestlers in Las Vegas. But the winner and the runner-up in this category had a more subtle task to perform. The original series’ interpretation of L.A. Lesbian Chic was iconic in its own way — Bette’s giant collar shirts, Shane’s gauzy t-shirts and skinny ties, Helena’s pencil skirts, Jenny’s poofy dresses. The L Word: Generation Q‘s queer style was more deliberately positioned around grounded and often gender non-conforming glamour, managing to pinpoint that indescribable thing that makes a certain take on high fashion still feel queer. We found our beloved characters expressing themselves in Wildfang suiting, designer jumpsuits, boxer-briefs, cheeky button-ups and pants with rises as high as their wearer’s ambitions. Sleeker versions of Bette, Alice and Shane emerged in “grounded glamour” with creative takes on bright power-suits, velvet blazers, creative neckwear, bold accessories and enormous eyeglasses while our millennials looked like actual queer millennials on our best days, from casual classics like Tomboyx underwear, Vans, off-shoulder sweaters, fun prints on polos and button-ups to Dani’s more professional future-Bette tailored sets and downtime workout clothes. We love fashion.  — Riese

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Couple: Adora and Catra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

2019 Winner: Juliana and Valentina, Amar a Muerte

---

Fan Favorite LGBTQ+ Character: Villanelle, Killing Eve

2019 Winner: Valentina Carvajal, Amar a Muerte

---

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor: Sarah Paulson

2019 Winner: Katherine Barrell, Wynonna Earp

---

Fan Favorite Most Anticipated Season Two: The L Word Generation Q

---

Have you seen our 2020 LGBTQ Television Hub? 

Vote Now In Autostraddle’s 3rd Annual Queer TV Awards

Here is your official ballot!

---

Outstanding Drama Series

• The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Killing Eve (BBC)
• Riverdale (The CW)
• Euphoria (HBO)
• How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
• Pose (FX)
• Dare Me (USA)
• The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Vida (Starz)
• A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
• Sex Education (Netflix)
• Betty (HBO)
• One Day at a Time (Pop TV)
• Twenties (BET)
• Work in Progress (Showtime)
• Dickinson (Apple+ TV)

Outstanding Sci-Fi / Fantasy Series

• Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)
• Black Lightning (The CW)
• DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
• Supergirl (The CW)
• Homecoming (Amazon Prime)
• Batwoman (The CW)

Outstanding Limited Series or TV Movie

• Mrs Fletcher (HBO)
• Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix)
• Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood (Netflix)
• Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)
• Mrs. America (Hulu)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character In a Drama Series

• MJ Rodriguez as Blanca, Pose (FX)
• Hunter Schafer as Jules, Euphoria (HBO)
• Annalise Keating in How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
• Zendaya as Rue, Euphoria (HBO)
• Roseanny Zayas as Sophie Suarez, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, Killing Eve (BBC)
• Indya Moore as Angel, Pose (FX)
• Jodi Comer as Villanelle, Killing Eve (BBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character In a Drama Series

• Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale (The CW)
• Dominique Jackson as Electra, Pose (FX)
• Samira Wiley as Moira, The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
• Jamie Clayton as Tess, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Jordan Hull as Angelica, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Amirah Vann as Tegan Price, How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
• Angelica Ross as Candy, Pose (FX)
• Sepideh Moafi as Gigi, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character In a Drama Series

• Daniela Vega as Ysela, Tales of the City (Netflix)
• Laurel Holloman as Tina, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Laverne Cox as Sophia, Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
• Lauren Glazier as Kay, Mindhunter (Netflix)
• Jen Richards as Young Anna Madrigal, Tales of the City (Netflix)
• Alexis Bledel as Emily, The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

• Zoe Kravitz as Rob, High Fidelity (Hulu)
• Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson, Dickinson (Apple+ TV)
• Kabrina Adams as Honeybear, Betty (HBO)
• Mishel Prada as Emma, Vida (Starz)
• Jonica T. Gibbs as Hattie, Twenties (BET)
• Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good (Netflix)
• Isabella Gomez as Elena, One Day at a Time (Pop TV)
• Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress (Showtime)

Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

• Theo Germaine as Chris, Work in Progress (Showtime)
• Roberta Colindrez as Nico, Vida (Starz)
• Kirby Howell-Baptise as Taylor Harding, Why Women Kill (CBS All Access)
• D’Arcy Carden as Janet, The Good Place (ABC)
• Lolly Adefpoe as Fran, Shrill (Hulu)
• Judy Reyes as Quiet Ann, Claws (TNT)
• Patricia Allison as Ola, Sex Education (Netflix)
• Ser Anzoategui as Eddy, Vida (Starz)

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

• Brittani Nichols as Barbecue Daddy #1, A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
• Constance Zimmer as Claudia Nico, Shameless (Showtime)
• Natalie Morales as Michelle, Dead to Me (Netflix)
• Wanda Sykes as Moms Mabley, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime)
• Michelle Badillo as Sam, Vida (Starz)
• Patti Harrison as Ruthie, Shrill (Hulu)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

• Ginny Gardner as Karolina Dean, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)
• Sophia Lillis as Sydney Novak, I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix)
• Lyrica Okano as Nico Minoru, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)
• Nafeesa Williams as Anissa, Black Lightning (The CW)
• Janelle Monae as Alex, Homecoming (Amazon Prime)
• Hong Chau as Audrey Temple, Homecoming (Amazon Prime)
• Caity Lotz as Sara Lance, Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
• Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl (The CW)

Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

• Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi, Black Lightning (The CW)
• Megan Tandy as Sophie Moore, Batwoman (The CW)
• Amalia Holm as Scylla Ramshorn, Motherland: Fort Salem (Freeform)
• Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Stranger Things (Netflix)
• Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen, Supergirl (The CW)
• Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, Supergirl (The CW)

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

• Brianne Howey as Reagan, Batwoman (The CW)
• Roxy Wood as Yvette, Supergirl (The CW)
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Picard (CBS All Access)
• Riley Voelkel as Freya Mikaelson, Legacies (The CW)
• Lisa Kudrow as Maggie Naird, Space Force (Netflix)
• Christina Wolfe as Julia Pennyworth, Batwoman (The CW)

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie

• Kerry Washington as Mia Warren, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Judith Light as Shelli Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)
• Addison Holley as Alex Cooper, Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story (Lifetime)
• Amy Landecker as Sarah Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)
• Kathryn Hahn as Mrs Fletcher, Mrs. Fletcher (HBO)
• Gaby Hoffman as Ari Pfefferman, Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon Prime)

Outstanding Supporting Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie

• Tiffany Boone, young Mia Warren, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Katie Kershaw as Amanda Olney, Mrs. Fletcher (HBO)
• Bria Henderson as Margaret Sloan, Mrs. America (Hulu)
• Ari Graynor as Brenda Feigen-Fasteau, Mrs America (Hulu)
• Tiffany Haddish as Leila, Self Made (Netflix)
• Megan Stott as Izzy Richardson, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

Outstanding Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Limited Series or TV Movie

• Paget Brewster as Tallulah Bankhead, Hollywood (Netflix)
• Roberta Colonidrez as Jules, Mrs. America (Hulu)
• Anika Noni Rose as Paula Hawthorne, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Michelle Krusiec as Anna May Wong, Hollywood (Netflix)
• Annie Parisse as Midge Costanza, Mrs America (Hulu)
• Queen Latifah as Hattie McDaniel, Hollywood (Hulu)

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

• Justina Machado as Penelope, One Day at a Time (Netflix)
• Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisolm, Mrs America (Hulu)
• Melissa Barrera as Lyn Hernandez, Vida (Starz)
• Issa Rae as Issa, Insecure (HBO)
• Rita Moreno as Lydia, One Day at a Time (Pop)
• Regina King as Angela Abar / Sister Night, Watchmen (HBO)

Santana Lopez Memorial Award For Outstanding Queer Teen Character

• Patricia Allison as Ola, Sex Education (Netflix)
• Zendaya as Rue, Euphoria (HBO)
• Jordan Hull as Angelica, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Hunter Schafer as Jules, Euphoria (HBO)
• Emily Tosta as Lucia Acosta, Party of Five (Freeform)
• Eris Baker as Tess Pearson, This is Us (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

• Sarah Paulson as Alice McRay, Mrs. America (Hulu)
• Angelica Ross as Candy, Pose (FX)
• Jillian Mercado as Maribel, The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)
• Rutina Wesley as Nova, Queen Sugar (OWN)
• Holland Taylor as Ellen Kincaid, Hollywood (Netflix)
• Indya Moore as Angel, Pose (FX)
• Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens, Killing Eve (BBC)
• Mj Rodriguez as Blanca, Pose (FX)

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

• Abby McEnany as Abby, Work in Progress (Showtime)
• Kate McKinnon, various characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
• Ashley Nicole Black, various characters, A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
• Mae Martin as Mae, Feel Good (Netflix)
• Gillian Anderson as Jean Milburn, Sex Education (Netflix)
• Theo Germaine as Chris, Work in Progress (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

• Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Supergirl (The CW)
• Jamie Clayton as Charlie, Roswell New Mexico (The CW)
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Charlie, Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
• Ariela Barer as Gert, Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)
• Janelle Monae as Alex, Homecoming (Amazon)
• Ruby Rose as Batwoman, Batwoman (The CW)

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Writer / Showrunner

• Lynn Shelton, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Lena Waithe, Twenties (BET)
• Janet Mock, Pose (FX)
• Liz Feldman, Dead To Me (Netflix)
• Liz Tigelaar, Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
• Katja Blichfeld, High Maintenance (HBO)
• Abby McEnany, Work in Progress (Showtime)
• Tanya Sarracho, Vida (Starz)

Outstanding Cis Male Character

• Ben Sinclair as The Guy, High Maintenance (HBO)
• Leland B. Martin as Ari Thomas, Boomerang (BET)
• Ncuti Gatwa as Eric, Sex Education (Netflix)
• Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Pose (FX)
• Jeremy Pope as Archie, Hollywood (Netflix)
• Dan Levy as David Rose, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
• Nicholas Ashe as Micah West, Queen Sugar (OWN)
• Andre Braugher as Captain Holt, Brooklyn 99 (TBS)

Outstanding TV Documentary with LGBTQ+ Themes / People

• Visible Out on TV (Apple+)
• AKA Jane Roe: The Real Woman Behind Roe v. Wade (Hulu)
• Shakedown (Pornhub)
• A Secret Love (Netflix)
• Circus of Books (Netflix)
• Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix)

Outstanding Animated Series

• Bojack Horseman (Netflix)
• The Owl House (Disney)
• Steven Universe: Future (Cartoon Network)
• Harley Quinn (DC Universe)
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)
• Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix)

Best TV Episode With LGBTQ+ Themes

Most Groundbreaking Representation

• Work In Progress (HBO)
• Twenties (BET)
• Pose (FX)
• Party of Five (Freeform)
• Batwoman (The CW)
• Vida (Starz)

Best Show That Got Cancelled

• Dare Me (USA)
• Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)
• I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix)
• Party of Five (Freeform)
• High Fidelity (Hulu)
• Vida (Starz)

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Outstanding Costume Design for a Show With LGBTQ+ Characters

VOTE NOW THE AUTOSTRADDLE GAY EMMYS!

Presenting the Winners of Autostraddle’s Second Annual Queer TV Awards!

The Autostraddle Gay Emmys began with a relatively simple goal: Despite the rapidly changing television landscape, the Television Academy itself continues to heavily favor TV that’s made for and about straight cis white men. We wanted to help change the conversation. So, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

As a team, our writers spent weeks arguing and voting on what we considered to be the very best in lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans women’s storytelling. We pleaded for our favorites, we reasoned with logic, and passionately argued with each other about the depth and quality of LGBT women’s stories this year.

Then, when we were down to our top six nominees in each category, we wrote our For Your Considerations and opened up the field to you. We believe that television only works if it’s connecting to its audience, and so we wanted to make sure that our audience had their say.

Wow, did you all have a say! Over 30,000 votes worth! (That’s a new record for these awards, so thank you.)

For regular categories, the individual TV Team votes were weighted heavily alongside our reader votes. For fan favorite categories, the winner was 100% determined by reader votes.

And without any further ado, here are the winners of Autostraddle’s Second Annual Gay Emmys!

---

Outstanding Comedy Series

Jane the Virgin

Runner Up: One Day at a Time
Other Nominees: Derry Girls // Vida // The Bisexual // The Good Place

What else is there to say about the perfection that is Jane the Virgin? As a team, we’ve laughed and cried and discussed and debated as the show wrapped up its last season this summer. There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of celebration.

But there’s something special about a show that meant so much to so many, winning this award. You may be shocked to discover that Jane the Virgin’s only “Straight Emmy” nominations were in the category of “Best Narrator”… and they lost. It’s not as if this particular award never goes to women-led work (the last two years The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Veep took the top prize), but there’s something unapologetic about Jane the Virgin that denied these kinds of accolades.

Staying true to its telenovela roots, Jane the Virgin was big in its romance, big in its comedy, big in its style and plotting and feelings. This is a show about three generations of Venezuelan-American women, each with their own flaws, each with the best intentions, facing the challenges of life with the help of each other. This is a show with male characters who aren’t perfect, but who listen and learn and support the women in their life. This is a show that got gayer and gayer every season until it ended with two queer love stories to rival its straight romance.

With bright colors to match its core goodness, Jane the Virgin made an argument that serious doesn’t have to equal dark, in any sense of the word. This argument may not have played with the Straight Emmys, but it sure has with the Gay Emmys. This year’s winner for Outstanding Comedy Series was a women of color-led, queer women-dominated show that took creative risks and dealt with a range of serious topics. It was never afraid to be what it was: a sweeping romance, a tribute to women, a celebration of stories. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Drama Series

Pose

Runner Up: Gentleman Jack
Other Nominees: Killing Eve // How to Get Away With Murder // Riverdale // The Good Fight

It was enough that Pose existed in the world. A show with the largest cast of trans women — and trans women of color, most notably — in television history. The first show to have a trans woman of color in the writers’ room. The first show to have a trans woman of color serve as director and producer. If that had been it, if that had been all that Pose had done, that would’ve been historic and earned its place in the record books.

But, oh no, it had to go and be great, too. There was near unanimity among TV critics — including ours — that Pose was one of the best shows of 2018.

What separated Pose from the other nominees in this category is the unique way it balanced the darkness out with the light. They grappled with examinations of homophobia, transphobia (both from within the LGBT community and outside it), homelessness, HIV/AIDS and the seemingly omnipresent threat of violence — but none of the characters are defined by that. The characters of Pose create their own families and offer each other the tenderness, joy and love that the outside world denies them. And then there are the balls, the lavish celebrations “of a life the world does not deem worthy of celebration” that turn competition into an expression of pure joy.

As Al(aina) wrote when the show debuted: “Pose is about radical hospitality in the face of oppression, and the result is overwhelming joy.” — Natalie

---

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

 Wynonna Earp

Runner Up: Sense8
Other Nominees: Supergirl // The Haunting of Hill House // Charmed // Black Lightning //

The Gay Emmys is where Sci-Fi really gets to shine, since they don’t usually get the spotlight at other industry award shows. Luckily the Autostraddle Gay Emmys are the most important awards, and sci-fi gets its place in the sun. This Wynonna Earp win feels extra special this year, since they’ve been on an unusually long hiatus for reasons outside their control, and especially right now because the fandom is in a bit of a lull since the #FightForWynonna has been won, but filming hasn’t started up again yet. But Earpers are known for their lack of chill and sticktoitiveness, so I’m not surprised at all they pulled off this win. Besides, the show speaks for itself. With so many queer people on screen and behind the scenes, it’s no wonder the queer storylines on the show feel like they’re treated with such care. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Mj Rodriguez, Pose

Runner Up: Suranne Jones, Gentleman Jack
Other Nominees: Indya Moore, Pose // Sandra Oh, Killing Eve // Jodie Comer, Killing Eve // Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder

This Sunday, when presenters take the stage and announce the nominees for Best Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Mj Rodriguez’s name won’t be among them. It’s hard for me to fathom why that is… how Pose warranted a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series but the actor who gives the show its heart, Mj Rodriguez, did not. But what the Academy missed, the Autostraddle community recognized: Mj Rodriguez’s turn as Blanca Evangelista earned our Outstanding Lead Actor Award.

As I wrote last year, Pose asks us to see ourselves in characters who, on their face, might not be like us – to believe in our common humanity. The depth of Mj Rodriguez’s performance makes that easy: “She’s woman who, instead of being content to inherit something, someday, took a step out on a ledge, and built something of her own. She is a woman who wants to leave a legacy, to leave some proof that she was here. She is a woman who, in the face of discrimination, keeps coming back over and over again, to move us a little closer to justice. She is a woman who cares for others and works tirelessly to secure their future.” She is me, she is us.

“Do you know what the greatest pain a person can feel is, the greatest tragedy a life can experience?” Blanca asks in Pose‘s pilot episode. “That is having a truth inside of you and you not being able to share it. It is having a great beauty and no one there to see it.”

We see you, your truth and your beauty, Mj Rodriguez. Today and everyday. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Angelica Ross, Pose

Runner Up: Judy Reyes, Claws
Other Nominees: Isis King, When They See Us // Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black // Sophie Rundle, Gentleman Jack // Dominique Jackson, Pose

It’s been a big week for Angelica Ross. Earlier this week it was announced that she’s hosting the 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum on LGBTQ issues. And now she’s an official Autostraddle Gay Emmy Winner.

There’s a long history of actors who aren’t cis, straight, and/or white being involved in activism, using their platforms for change, and, sometimes, shifting their attention completely to social justice. But what makes someone a great activist and what makes them a great actor aren’t always separate. They certainly aren’t with Ross.

Candy was never the heart of Pose. She was sometimes a dramatic foil, sometimes the comic relief, sometimes, even, underwritten. But Angelica Ross made her real. She understands when portraying a character, or fighting for the community, one has to lead with humanity. Every joke, every big reaction, every moment of physicality, Ross found Candy’s motivation. Candy may not have been the star of the show, but she was the star of her own show and Ross allowed Candy a sort of meta-narrative where she fights not to be ignored in real life and in television life.

Episode four, “The Fever,” may be my favorite of the show, largely due to Ross’ performance. Determined to compete in the Body Category, Candy seeks out dangerous, low-cost implants and Ross plays her somewhere between desperate and determined. She wants to be seen by others as she knows herself to be – and Ross made sure, we, the audience, did just that. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

 Mishel Prada, Vida

Runner Up: Isabella Gomez, One Day at a Time
Other Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Yael Grobglas, Jane the Virgin // Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag // Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

Mishel Prada is a Capricorn. And while actors can certainly play characters with different birth charts than their own, I don’t think it’s a stretch to read this Capricornness in Prada’s performance as Emma on my very favorite show, Vida. Emma is stubborn and determined. She’s sometimes cold but never thoughtless. She’s hesitant to share her feelings, yet underneath she has so many. And, without fail, she gets the job done.

Prada balances all of Emma’s contradictions and her complex personal history in every moment of the show. The intimate handheld cinematography captures every shift in purpose, in feeling, every decision to maintain or stretch her boundaries. It’s all visible in Prada’s deep brown eyes and her selectively cracked smiles. As the show goes on, it’s less that Prada reveals Emma’s vulnerability and more that she redefines what vulnerability means to Emma.

Since this is a comedy category I’d be remiss not to mention that within Emma’s emotional journey, Prada finds plenty of humor. Emma may be the queer sister but up against the chaotic Lyn, she’s the obvious straight man. With just a glance or an eyeroll, Prada heightens Lyn’s absurdity, aligning the audience with Emma, and making us laugh at the whole situation. She shoots off deadpan insults with shifting humor whether they’re aimed at Lyn, a lover, or anyone on her growing list of nemeses. Emma is self-destructively intelligent and with that comes an equally destructive wit.

Within Vida’s first two seasons, Prada has created a person we can relate to, get frustrated with, and lust after. She’s created a person who is ever-changing, yet remains exactly the same. She’s created a person who feels like just that, a person. It’s a remarkable, must-see performance on a remarkable, must-see show. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Rosario Dawson, Jane the Virgin

Runner Up: Roberta Colindrez, Vida
Other Nominees: Ser Anzoategui, Vida // Yara Martinez, Jane the Virgin // Sheridan Pierce, One Day at a Time // Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

When Rosario Dawson joined Jane the Virgin it felt like the ultimate consolation prize. No, the writers weren’t going to have the titular Jane hook up with Petra, her occasional rival and sometimes friend. But they were going to introduce another character, also named Jane, and have her reveal Petra’s bisexuality. And, as if to quiet complaints that this wasn’t enough, they cast Rosario Dawson.

But what began as possible stunt casting, or a simple gift to the horny queer audience, became a reminder of Dawson’s actual talent. As Jane Ramos (a.k.a. JR) Dawson alternates between Petra’s baby gay fantasy of a dominant, experienced, and intimidating queer woman, and her own experience dating a baby gay, especially one as complicated as Petra. You can sense in Dawson’s performance the conflict between her logic and her feelings. She doesn’t want to be Petra’s experiment. She doesn’t want to trust that what they have is real only to be proven wrong. She thinks of herself as beyond that. But feelings are feelings.

Dawson is so good at making it obvious why Petra is in love with her and making it equally obvious why JR has doubts. She makes sure we understand why they might not work as a couple, all the while desperately hoping that they do. It’s a fun, sexy, deeply felt performance, and it’s a big reason why Jane the Virgin’s queer love story became more than just another subplot. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Jamie Clayton, Sense8 

Runner Up: Chyler Leigh, Supergirl
Other Nominees: // Melonie Diaz, Charmed // Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning // Kate Siegel, The Haunting of Hill House // Lyrica Okano, Marvel’s Runaways

I love to see a show win on its way out, as a sort of parting gift for all the hard work put into it. Sense8 may be over, but Jamie Clayton’s Nomi won’t soon be forgotten. A queer trans woman dating a queer woman of color, played by a trans woman – when Sense8 started in 2015, these things were revolutionary. And maybe they still are. Sense8 was always a big jumble of labelless queerness and this final season was no exception. As Kayla mentioned in her review , it was like a love letter to the fans, and this Emmy is a love letter right back. Because in 2019, we still can’t take queer happy endings for granted. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Nicole Maines, Supergirl

Runner Up: Kat Barrell, Wynonna Earp
Other Nominees:  Chantal Thuy, Black Lightning // Lachlan Watson, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina // Mayko Nguyen, Killjoys // Hannah John-Kamen, Killjoys

I never really knew what people meant when they said “breakout star” until I saw Nicole Maines playing Nia Nal in Supergirl and all I could think was: This isn’t the last we’ll see if this girl. She’s charming and cute and funny, and her social media presence is hilarious. She seems to be having fun, and that fun shows on screen. And having watched some of her talks on YouTube, she seems to be a strong, smart young woman who is a superhero in her own right; I can’t think of anyone better to play trans superhero Dreamer. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Justina Machado, One Day at a Time

Runner Up: Melanie Scrofano, Wynonna Earp
Other Nominees:  Rita Moreno, One Day at a Time // Sunetra Sarker, Ackley Bridge // Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin // Logan Browning, Dear White People

I am so honored that we get to give this sort of silly titled award to such phenomenal actress. Justina Machado is one of the most gifted comedic actresses of our time, but the fact that “mainstream” Hollywood continues its stubborn refusal to recognize her work is no laughing matter. When you watch the “Straight” Emmys this Sunday, pay attention to the Lead Actress in a Comedy Category; there is not a single person nominated that Justina Machado couldn’t go toe-to-toe with and win.

What Justina Macahdo has accomplished with the role of Penelope Alvarez is nothing short of a marvel – scripts often require that her portrayal of the single mom and Army vet living with PTSD change emotional beats at the drop of a pin. Not only can she go from a laugh to a cry faster than you or I take breaths, she does it without ever losing track of Penelope’s core honesty. Even her broadest moments never feel forced. Hollywood racism may continue to keep Justina Machado from all the bigger and fancier awards that she rightly deserves, but I hope this acknowledgement and “Thank You” from the Autostraddle community helps just a little to let her know that she’s seen. She’s appreciated.  – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Individual Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

“Love Is the Message,” Pose

Runner Up: “Touch,” The Haunting of Hill House
Other Nominees:  “Ghosts,” One Day at a Time // “Reunited,” Steven Universe // Episode 9, Vida // “Scream,” Claws

Pose’s first cabaret episode captures the true heart of the show, which is inherently joyful and celebratory of queer life, making it a rare gem on prestige television where queer and trans lives are far too often treat as tragic. Pose is a very special show, and this is a Very Special Episode without trying too hard to be one. But I’d also be remiss not to mention this category’s runner-up: the exceptional “Touch” from The Haunting Of Hill House, which captures queerness, trauma, grief, and otherness in such a beautiful, heartbreaking way. I’m thrilled that such a radiant and ultimately positive episode won this category, but I think these two episodes work beautifully in tandem and are exemplary of how diverse and nuanced this category overall ended up being this year. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Coming Out Story

Tess Pearson, This Is Us

Runner Up:  Clare Devlin, Derry Girls
Other Nominees: Eve Polastri, Killing Eve // Tamia “Coop” Cooper, All American // Alice Kwan, Good Trouble // Grace Hanson, Grace and Frankie

There is a great value in seeing our stories told on television. There is power in seeing our identities affirmed and comfort in seeing the oftentimes difficults journeys we have to take to fully live our truth showcased. And, in Tess Pearson’s coming out story, we get that: A young black girl coming out to her family on the most watched show on broadcast television? We have never seen it, and for girls who recognize their attraction to other girls at an early age, seeing Tess Pearson is confirmation that you’re never too young to embrace your own truth.

“People, um, at school have been having crushes and stuff and lots of girls have boyfriends, but I don’t want one,” Tess confesses to her parents one night. “It’s because I think I might like girls, not boys.”

But there’s something else about Tess Pearson’s coming out, particularly that scene with her parents, that makes me choke up everytime I watch it. In her, we have a possibility model. Tess’ story resonates, not because it is my story, but because it is the story I wish I had — it is the story I wish every queer person who was brave enough to share their truth had, it is the story I wish every queer person who hasn’t yet come out to their family has in the future.

With every step Tess takes outside the closet — a closet that had already become suffocating to her, as a 10 year old child — she’s met with love and grace: first from her Aunt Kate, then from her grandmother and, finally, from her parents. They will love her no matter what, they assure her, and both Tess and the audience walk away believing them. Tess’ coming out and the reaction to it should be be a model for every family in 2019. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

Runner Up: Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
Other Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Roberta Colindrez, Vida // Gillian Anderson, Sex Education // Natalie Morales, Abby’s

Last year, Stephanie Beatriz was nominated in and subsequently won so many categories in these here awards that I’m surprised we didn’t rename them as the Autostraddle Stephanie Beatriz Emmys. Once again, she has deservedly won in the LGBTQ+ actor in a comedy category. Beatriz is funny, inspiring, and compelling. She has done incredible work on and off screen for bi visibility, and it has been delightful to watch Rosa come into her own on Brooklyn 99. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

Mj Rodriguez, Pose

Runner Up: Indya Moore, Pose
Other Nominees:  Angelica Ross, Pose // Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black // Rutina Wesley, Queen Sugar // Dominique Jackson, Pose

As the kids say, “GIVE Mj HER THINGS!!” 💫💫

No, but seriously, if there is one thing that LGBT+ critics have agreed on across print and the internet, it is this: Mj Rodriguez is the most overlooked performer of the last year. The Television Academy’s biggest mistake this year was its complete shut out for the actresses Pose. In particular, Mj’s work as Blanca Evangelista is the pounding heartbeat that allows Pose to come alive in the first place.

It’s so easy to talk about all the ways that Pose breaks records – and we should! The largest trans woman of color cast in television history, the first trans woman of color TV writer in history, first trans woman of color director and producer! – but I sometimes worry that doing so allows straight critics to miss the real headline: LGBT+ creators’ work isn’t just important because it’s representational, it’s important because having honest representation makes for damn good television. (On that note, I’d like to recognize all of this category’s nominees – all six are black LGBT+ people who represent a full fabric of black queerness in a way we’ve never had the opportunity to experience before.)

I’m a black Puerto Rican with a chosen queer family of my own and New York roots, and I have never ever seen myself on television the way I have in Blanca Evangelista. That’s not something I am saying for “diversity points,” I’m saying it because it means there is a lot of Blanca’s story that I intimately relate to, and I can tell when there is a false note. With Mj there is not one.

At least once a day I have to stop myself from tweeting “I HOPE Mj RODRIGUEZ KNOWS HOW MUCH I LOVE HER!” but I think today might be the day to shout it from the rooftops – go ‘head mamí, come here and collect all your things. You deserve it. – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi Series

Nicole Maines, Supergirl

Runner Up: Jamie Clayton, Sense8
Other Nominees: Tig Notaro, Star Trek: Discovery // Kate Siegel, The Haunting of Hill House // Kat Barrell, Wynonna Earp // Ariela Barer, Marvel’s Runaways

Gosh it feels so good to give a trans actress playing a trans superhero TWO awards in these here Gay Emmys! Because I think it’s true that she deserves both; I think she deserves an award for her stellar portrayal of Nia Nal, for channeling that Season One Kara energy and making the New Superhero track her own. But she’s also, just in general, an outstanding LGBTQ+ actress. She lives her life out loud, and has since she was a kid fighting for the right to use the girls’ bathroom at her school. She’s an outstanding person, an outstanding actress, and well deserving of this and any awards thrown her way. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Showrunner

Janet Mock, Pose

Runner Up: Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe
Other Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Lena Waithe, Boomerang // Tanya Saracho, Vida // Leslye Headland, Russian Doll

Janet Mock showed the fuck up for her directorial debut (Pose’s “Love is the Message,” which already won this year’s Gay Emmy for Outstanding Episode), and I’m so excited that she ended up winning this category. As a director, Mock captures romance, trauma, growth, and complicated interpersonal relationships with equal strength. She brings an authenticity to her telling of queer and trans stories that feels meaningful. And she understands her actors’ individual strengths as well as how to make them work well together. In short, she’s a powerful director who pulls the best out of her cast and tells a visually immersive story. We should all feel thrilled about her future work as a director. Did I mention that she’s also a writer and producer on Pose? A triple threat. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show)

Pose

Runner Up: One Day at a Time
Other Nominees: Vida // Boomerang // She-Ra // The Bisexual

Pose dominates in so many of these categories, because it really is a singular show. No other show celebrates queer and trans—and specifically QTPOC—lives like this one. While it is real and sometimes devastating in its portrayal of QTPOC lives in late 80s-early 90s nyc, it’s also a strikingly joyful show. It doesn’t resort to tragedy porn and instead rather shows the full range of these characters’ lives, which include romances, evolving friendship and familial dynamics, and self-discovery. It’s as fun and spectacular as ball culture itself. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Male Character

Rogelio de la Vega, Jane the Virgin

Runner Up: Pray Tell, Pose
Other Nominees: Captain Holt, Brooklyn 99 // Evan Huang, Fresh Off the Boat // Ari Thomas, Boomerang // Lincoln Rice, Broad City

“We consume culture through television now,” Vida‘s creator, Tanya Saracho once said. “If you live in a place that doesn’t have a lot of access to Latinx people, then television becomes a great equalizer, like a normalizer, that lets you into these worlds.”

I think Saracho’s right about television’s ability to serve as an equalizing force but, particularly when it comes to the representation of Latinx men, Hollywood is increasingly normalizing a stereotype of those men as criminals. We see this trend in shows like Narcos, Queen of the South, Mayans M.C, Better Call Saul and Ozark. Without personal interactions or varied portrayals of Latinx men on television, ideas about Latinx people — like those espoused by the president — having an easier time taking root.

That’s why I’ll miss Jaime Camil’s portrayal of Rogelio de la Vega, the two-time winner of our Outstanding Male Character category, so much. Though we barely noticed it through our laughter, every time he embraced fatherhood with Jane and Baby, cheered on Xiomara, forged friendships with Michael and Rafael and chased his own dreams of American superstardom — Rogelio was undoing the damage of those harsh tropes. I regret we won’t have more years of him and his lavender shirts to serve as the normalizer we need. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Animated Series

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Runner Up: Steven Universe
Other Nominees:  Love, Death & Robots // Bojack Horseman // Adventure Time // Tuca & Bertie

The greatest compliment that I can give She-Ra is that I had not watched an original animated series in probably over a decade, and She-Ra is the one that changed all of that.

What can I say, there’s something addictive about watching queer princesses kick so much ass. She-Ra is healing and delightful for the childhood Disney Princess stan in me (seriously – once, in Kindergarten, I wore my Cinderella costume for a month straight), but it’s also supremely written and animated television. It takes its villains seriously; I’d argue that Catra and Shadow Weaver have some of the greatest anti-hero storylines written this year. It’s not afraid to teach children about darkness that looms, but also that friendship and sparkles and a willingness to just try your best and do good in this world will always be worth the fight. We joke a lot that She-Ra is the “gay agenda,” but honestly? Teaching kids to forgive, love each other, and always fight for the good is not a terrible agenda to have.   – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Alex Danvers, Supergirl 

Runner Up: Angel Evangelista, Pose
Other Nominees: Lena Adams-Foster, The Fosters/Good Trouble // Eve Polastri, Killing Eve // Nova Bordelon, Queen Sugar // Kat Sandoval, Madam Secretary

I have to give it to Chyler Leigh – this haircut is commitment. Not every actor is willing to change their hair for the part, but this hair is so pitch perfectly Alex Danvers that, from where we currently sit, it’s hard to even remember what she looked like in Supergirl’s earlier seasons. There’s the “before” and the “after.” Alex’s haircut signaled a bright, shining new day for Supergirl, accompanied by not only a new queer love interest for Director Danvers – but the first trans superhero on television with Nicole Maines’ Dreamer! And sure, maaaaybe it’s an overreach to say that a single gay haircut helped make an already gay show just that much gayer, but you know what? I’m willing to put my foot down about this. Most Import Haircut Of The YEAR.  – Carmen Phillips

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Couple

Juliana and Valentina, Amar a Muerte

Fan Favorite Runner Up: Waverly and Nicole, Wynonna Earp

---

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor

Kat Barrell, Wynonna Earp

Fan Favorite Runner Up: Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

---

Most Devastating Cancellation

Jane the Virgin

Fan Favorite Runner Up: Fleabag

---

Fan Favorite New Show

Amar a Muerte

Fan Favorite Runner Up: Gentleman Jack

---

Fan Favorite Character

Valentina Carvajal, Amar a Muerte

Fan Favorite Runner Up: Juliana Valdés, Amar a Muerte

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

---

The “Straight” Emmys are this Sunday, September 22nd on FOX. Sadly they won’t have the depth of queer roles and queer talent recognized that we already know deserve it, but hey – maybe pop a bowl of popcorn and check it out anyway?

Vote Now in Autostraddle’s Second Annual Queer TV Awards!

The Primetime Emmy Awards are headed our way on September 22, which is an exciting time of year for Hollywood “insiders,” television critics, and fans of popcorn popping and TV watching alike!

But at Autostraddle, we are also aware that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — like Hollywood itself, and mainstream TV criticism — continues to be dominated by a voting block of mostly straight white cis men. Not only has the quantity of queer women’s television significantly grown over the last few years, the quality of those programs rivals any supposed “prestige” television show or critics’ darling. Still, we’ve watched as our best and brightest continue to be sidelined by a straight white male majority that fails to pay attention to queer stories, women’s stories, stories about people of color – because they assume they cannot relate to them. Despite the fact that as TV watchers, we’ve all been expected to relate to white men’s stories for years! Well, no more my friends!

Last year the Autostraddle TV Team decided to honor our own community’s achievements with the Inaugural  Autostraddle Gay Emmys. This year, we are back at it again! For our awards, unless otherwise indicated by the name of the category, only shows with LGBTQ+ women or non-binary characters and/or behind the scenes players can earn nominations!! 

Here’s how it works: Over the last few weeks our TV Team nominated and voted on shows and actors and characters and creatives in the 20 categories you see below. These official nominees are the top six vote-getters in every category. Now you get to weigh in! Every Autostraddle reader is eligible to vote once in each category, and your votes will be combined with the TV Team’s votes to choose the winner! We’ve also chosen five fan-favorite categories over which you have total control. Your winners are the winners!

To choose our nominees, we abided by official Emmys rules. That means shows must have occurred between June 2018 and May 2019 (otherwise known as Summer 2018, Fall 2018, and Winter/Spring 2019). The majority of the show’s episodes must have aired within that time period.

Here’s just a few examples of what that means in practical terms – We are voting based on the first season of Pose ONLY, which aired in Summer 2018 (that time period also includes the finale movie of Sense8, Season Five of Orange is the New Black, and Season Three of Wynonna Earp); both Seasons One and Two of Vida qualified; Season Two of Killing Eve ran enough of its episodes in the qualifying time period make the cut off for this year, however the most recent season of The Handmaid’s Tale did not.

Here is your official ballot!

Voting ends on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 5:00 EST and winners will be announced on September 18!

---

Outstanding Comedy Series

The Nominees: Jane the Virgin //  One Day at a Time // Derry Girls // Vida // The Bisexual // The Good Place

Looking at this category I just have to laugh. Not at the actual jokes of these six very funny shows, but with sheer glee at the incredible queer comedies on TV this year. Imagine even getting this list down to six. Now imagine picking just ONE of these shows! That’s what we have to do and it is NOT easy.

These six shows convey the range of queer comedy available to us today. We have broad comedies like The Good Place and Derry Girls – ten jokes a minute, smart, hilarious. And while neither show is at its core a queer comedy, there is still plenty of queerness to be found. Then we have Jane the Virgin, a telenovela that’s been queerer and queerer with each season. You’re guaranteed to cry as much as you are to laugh as the show matches its big style with endless big feelings. One Day at a Time is another one that blends laughs and tears. Not only does it continue to prove there are no limits to what a sitcom can do, but it also continues to reveal nuances of queerness seen nowhere else on TV.

And finally the two shows that are the most completely, specifically, overwhelmingly queer: The Bisexual and Vida. I love them so much. I love their sharp humor. I love their explorations of community. I love their messy, reckless, sometimes disastrous, but always trying characters. These shows are committed to the realities of queer lives and I’m so grateful for them. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Drama Series

The Nominees: Pose // Killing Eve // Gentleman Jack // How to Get Away With Murder // Riverdale // The Good Fight

Not too long ago, it was hard to find a queer character on television. There was something scandalous about our existence and our love…so our depictions were reserved for premium cable and special episodes of dramas that usually coincided with sweeps week. But not anymore; now, we’re getting to see our stories integrated into some of the most revered shows on television today. Pose? Emmy nominated. The Good Fight? Consistently ranked as one of the year’s best programs. Gentleman Jack? Earned rave reviews and was the BBC’s most successful new scripted series. And How to Get Away With Murder and Killing Eve? Both helmed by Emmy winning lead actresses. Even Riverdale has achieved cult status — it’s one of the most watched series on Netflix — gotten its own spin-off and changed the way we think about teen dramas.

I’m not saying that in order to join the ranks of true prestige television today you need to have a queer female character but I’m also not not saying that. The facts, after all, speak for themselves. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

The Nominees: Supergirl // Sense8 // The Haunting of Hill House // Charmed // Black Lightning // Wynonna Earp

I don’t know the exact science between why some of the best queer characters come out of sci-fi shows, but I have some theories. One is that since usually there’s already something mystical about making aliens or a haunted/superpowered/cursed family the ‘other’ in the story, then there’s more room to tell a queer story without the queerness being the focus.

While some of these shows had important coming out scenes and lines (Theo Crain’s flashback in The Haunting of Hill House and Supergirl’s Nia Nal coming out as trans privately to Kara and James, then publicly on national television are primary examples), all of their queer characters have More Important Things to worry about than their queerness, leading their stories more toward how they’ll defeat the Big Bad or learn to control their powers or deal with being psychically linked with strangers. Also, every show on this list started their most recent season with their queer characters already out and living their magical lives, and I think maybe that helped them rise to the top. Sense8 pushed the boundaries of gender and sexuality with almost all of their characters, Charmed gave Mel two separate girlfriend storylines, Theo Crain managed to develop a meaningful relationship while being actively murdered by ghosts, Waverly and Nicole on Wynonna Earp proved their relationship can survive just about anything including mind-fuck demons and identity crises, Supergirl gave us a trans hero AND gave Alex Danvers a new girlfriend, and Anissa showed the world just how powerful a queer black woman can be. So all in all, I don’t think you can go wrong no matter how you vote in this category. (PS. I am not authorized to do this in any official capacity but I would like to give a personal honorable mention to Legends of Tomorrow, whose bisexual badass has also risen to the top in her own regard.) – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

The Nominees: Mj Rodriguez, Pose // Indya Moore, Pose // Sandra Oh, Killing Eve // Jodie Comer, Killing Eve // Suranne Jones, Gentleman Jack // Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder

When Viola Davis collected her Best Actress Emmy — not to be confused with the Gay Emmy she won in this category last year, though equally as prestigious — for her role on How to Get Away With Murder in 2015, she stated the obvious: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Her sentiment echoes Sandra Oh’s experience; Oh was so used to being cast as the best friend that after reading the script for Killing Eve, she couldn’t immediately see herself as Eve Polastri. And for Mj Rodriguez and Indya Moore, in a Hollywood that’s never barely shown an interest in casting trans actors or telling the stories of trans people…. well, to quote Viola Davis again, “you cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Finally, those roles are here — and, increasingly, those roles are LGBTQ+ characters.

But those roles aren’t just challenging our perceptions of the limits of LGBTQ+ storytelling — spoiler alert: there are none — they’re challenging our notions of love, motherhood, family, goodness and villainy. Jodie Comer’s Villanelle, Oh’s Eve and Davis’ Annalise are rewriting the narrative of the anti-hero, a space consummed almost entirely by men until now. Suranne Jones’ Anne Lister embodies womanhood without any concern for the male gaze, which is virtually unheard of on television. Rodriguez and Moore’s Blanca and Angel model a family built through love, not by blood. LGBTQ+ characters aren’t just about representation… they’re about changing the whole damn game. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

The Nominees: Isis King, When They See Us // Angelica Ross, Pose // Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black // Judy Reyes, Claws // Sophie Rundle, Gentleman Jack // Dominique Jackson, Pose

Can you imagine even two years ago an Emmys category with FOUR black trans women? This year, at least at Autostraddle, it happened with ease.

Three-time “Straight Emmy” nominee Laverne Cox is joined by Pose stars Dominique Jackson and Angelica Ross and When They See Us’ Isis King. All four actresses are incredible bringing vastly different energies to vastly different characters, all helping to tell stories we’ve rarely seen before. As she has for years, Cox pushes past any burden of representation to simply be a person trying to make it through a tough situation with humor and style. Dominique Jackson finds the balance between heightened camp villainy and very real pathos. Nobody delivers a one-liner like Jackson, but she’s incredible in her quieter moments, too. Angelica Ross shows that any of us who fell in love with her in Her Story were right to stan. Her character is always fighting to be taken seriously and Ross makes it easy as a viewer to root for her.

Isis King’s performance is unique in that she plays a trans character both before and after her transition. King is given so much to do in her short screen time and she does it all so well. With this one brief performance, King not only makes an argument for her own stardom, but for the inclusion of trans stories and the centering of trans performers.

And if the category wasn’t already packed with enough talent we also have Sophie Rundle’s conflicted and heartbreaking performance in Gentleman Jack and the great dynamic Judy Reyes in Claws! – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

The Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Yael Grobglas, Jane the Virgin // Isabella Gomez, One Day at a Time // Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag // Mishel Prada, Vida // Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

This year’s Gay Emmys nominees in this category all, of course, made us laugh. But they also harnessed and radiated the full range of emotions that great comedy demands. They made us laugh, but they broke our hearts, too. They inspired us. They, sometimes, reminded us of the worst parts of ourselves.

As Leila, Desiree Akhavan carved out a place for messy queers detangling the stickiness of evolving identity and heartbreak. In Jane The Virgin’s final season, Yael Gorbglas brought a new, softer side to Petra Solano without losing that razor-sharp edge that has made this character a fantastic anti-villain-turned-hero’s-best-friend over the course of the series. Isabella Gomez injects everyone’s favorite anxious, nerdy young lesbian Elena Alvarez with so much life and nuance. Phoebe Waller-Bridge fucking knocked the wind out of us and inspired legions of queers to buy the same killer jumpsuit. On Vida, Mishel Prada’s Emma took on so many roles—sister, daughter, lover, bar owner—and explored specifically queer relationship dynamics within them. And Stephanie Beatriz had another fantastic season of sardonic one-liners as Rosa Diaz, occasionally showing glimmers of vulnerability. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

The Nominees: Ser Anzoategui, Vida // Rosario Dawson, Jane the Virgin // Yara Martinez, Jane the Virgin // Roberta Colindrez, Vida // Sheridan Pierce, One Day at a Time // Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Last year in our inaugural Gay Emmys, Rosario Dawson won this category by a near unanimous vote. It’s easy to see why. Rosario. Dawson.

But she may have met her match this year. Because, as far as I’m concerned, if anybody can beat Rosario fucking Dawson, it’s Roberta fucking Colindrez.

For anyone who watched I Love Dick or was lucky enough to see her in Fun Home (I saw her in Fun Home twice thank you very much), the announcement that Colindrez was joining the second season of Vida seemed almost too good to be true. But it was true! And she was as good as we dreamed! And trust me – this is far from a two-person race. Ser Anzoategui, Yara Martinez, Sheridan Pierce, and Alex Borstein are all so good on their shows with performances ranging from hilarious to devastating. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Lead Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

The Nominees: Jamie Clayton, Sense8 // Melonie Diaz, Charmed // Chyler Leigh, Supergirl // Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning // Kate Siegel, The Haunting of Hill House // Lyrica Okano, Marvel’s Runaways

It should come as no surprise that we’re seeing a lot of the same shows here from the Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series category. With a bonus goth witch! (And we welcome Lyrica Okano’s Nico with open arms.) What’s amazing about all of these actors, besides the superb performances that got them nominated in the first place, is that they’re all also advocates for their characters off-screen. Whether or not they’re part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves, they talk about their characters with passion and grace. Some, like Chyler Leigh and Nafessa Williams, aren’t afraid to openly talk about wishing their relationships got more screen time; they want to support us like we support them, and it shows. All of these actors have given great interviews, never letting their characters’ queerness be the sole focus of their answers while also never shying away from talking about it – a balance that isn’t always easy to achieve. (My honorable mention no one asked for in this category is Dominique Provost-Chalkley for her portrayal of Waverly Earp, especially but certainly not limited to in the episode Jolene.) – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

The Nominees: Nicole Maines, Supergirl // Chantal Thuy, Black Lightning // Lachlan Watson, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina // Kat Barrell, Wynonna Earp // Mayko Nguyen, Killjoys // Hannah John-Kamen, Killjoys

My favorite thing about this category is the sheer range of it. We have Nicole Maines as a trans superhero on Supergirl, Chantal Thuy as a queer superpowered woman on Black Lightning, Lachlan Watson as a trans teen in a witchy town in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Kat Barrell as a lesbian sheriff in Wynonna Earp, and Mayko Nguygen and Hannah John-Kamen as a queer queen (Killjoys), and a queer…goddess? in Killjoys. These characters are technically secondary when it comes to story or main cast listings but their stories are still impactful and important. And what’s more, not one of these characters exists only as they relate to their partners. Nicole Haught is more than Waverly’s girlfriend, Theo has his own story outside of (or despite) Sabrina, Delle Seyah Kendry had seasons of character development before she met Aneela, who has her own goals and struggles and relationships outside of Delle Seyah, and Nia “Dreamer” Nal could have her own show she’s so complex and charming and wonderful. A good supporting character doesn’t steal the show but always leaves you wanting more – there’s nothing worse than those B-plots that you groan when you pan to because all you care about is the main storyline. And in sci-fi shows especially, found family is often an important theme, and these families tend to be ever-growing. So while there might not ever be quite as much time with them as we’d like, these characters are still impactful and strong and the queer TV landscape wouldn’t be the same without them. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

The Nominees: Justina Machado, One Day at a Time // Rita Moreno, One Day at a Time // Sunetra Sarker, Ackley Bridge // Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin // Logan Browning, Dear White People // Melanie Scrofano, Wynonna Earp

My favorite thing about this category is that when we first created it last year, it was meant as a joke. Honestly! We thought it would be a fun tongue-in-cheek nod to performances that we loved, but otherwise didn’t have a space to honor within the broader spectrum of “Gay Emmys” – and then we started to narrow down names, everything got less funny. The truth is that for straight women characters on television, it’s incredibly difficult to carve out a space for yourself that’s unique or independent from the men around you. It’s awful, but straight women so often season after season on television without a voice of their own.

However, these women have proven that if writers will just put forth the effort, there is depth and humor and resiliency in women characters that go far beyond the men in their lives (a fact that we of course already knew)! Even more noteworthy, every performance nominated this year has also demonstrated on screen what it means to perform allyship to the queer women around you – whether they are your daughter or granddaughter, your sister, or your friend. They are truly stand out worthy, and that’s why it’s our honor to give them their due respect. – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Individual Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

The Nominees: “Touch,” The Haunting of Hill House // “Love Is the Message,” Pose // “Ghosts,” One Day at a Time // “Reunited,” Steven Universe // Episode 9, Vida // “Scream,” Claws

The following very gay episodes of television are all incredibly different—spanning genres, tones, and scopes—but they share in common exceptional storytelling that centers LGBTQ characters and their lived, diverse experiences. They all celebrate queer life in one way or another, and they all tell queer stories that are nuanced and authentic and not necessarily just your standard coming out tale.

The chilling “Touch” provides an origin story for Theodora Crain, The Haunting Of Hill House’s resident empathic lesbian whose hands hold her power. Pose throws a charity AIDS cabaret in “Love Is The Message,” allowing Blanca and Pray Tell to use music to confront their own mortal fears and reaffirm their found family – it’s also Janet Mock’s director debut!). One Day At A Time lets Elena get angry in “Ghosts,” unearthing feelings toward her father that maybe she didn’t even realize were still bubbling beneath the surface (on top of being a wonderful exploration of brother-sister dynamics). With “Reunited,” Steven Universe made history by airing a lesbian wedding. In Episode 9, Vida gets serious about the messiness of “who is included” in the queer community when Emma attends a gay vaquero wedding. Claws finally, and poetically, fleshes out Quiet Ann in “Scream.” These episodes all expertly hit a lot of different emotional beats, full of heart and character-driven stories. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Coming Out Story

The Nominees: Eve Polastri, Killing Eve // Tess Pearson, This Is Us // Tamia “Coop” Cooper, All American // Alice Kwan, Good Trouble // Grace Hanson, Grace and Frankie // Clare Devlin, Derry Girls

The most interesting thing about our six nominees for Best Coming Out story is that each of the characters are in different seasons of their lives. Tess Pearson is a young pre-teen, admitting her attraction to girls just as she becomes a young woman herself. Clare Devlin and Tamia “Coop” Cooper are both in high school but they couldn’t be more different. Clare’s perpetually scared wee lesbian who only finds confidence after coming out anonymously in her school’s newspaper, while Coop’s audacious demeanor masks the young girl inside who’s afraid to come out to her religious mother. Meanwhile, Alice Kwan is trying to find herself in her twenties, balancing her immigrant family’s expectations with her desire to have a genuine relationship. Eve Polastri’s years into her career as an MI5 security operative when she’s pulled into Villanelle’s world. And then there’s Grace Hanson, a retired cosmetics mogul, who confesses her bisexuality — which isn’t as dormant as she thinks — to her best friend.

Their stories, aside from being some of our favorites of the last year, are a reminder to us all: you’re never too old, or too young, to come out. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Comedy

The Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie // Roberta Colindrez, Vida // Gillian Anderson, Sex Education // Natalie Morales, Abby’s // Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn 99

Throughout the history of television, queer people have often been the butt of jokes. Even characters who were more developed, were still written and performed in ways that lacked nuance. The comedy was that queerness existed, not the actual humor to be found within queer lives.

This is all to say the presence of out queer performers in comedy is deeply important, whether they’re playing queer characters or not. In fact, it’s really fun that queer icons Lily Tomlin and Gillian Anderson get to be on queer shows (Grace and Frankie and Sex Education, respectively) but play (mostly) straight characters. It’s a whole new world where even the straight people are IRL queer.

The four other nominated performers are playing queer characters and they’re able to bring an easy naturalism to that aspect of the characters’ identities. The specifics of what it looks like to be queer can vary, the humor can be pushed further, because there’s a base level of understanding. Desiree Akhavan, Roberta Colindrez, Natalie Morales, and Stephanie Beatriz are all so deeply talented and their queerness is a part of that talent, not because they aren’t great actors period, but because queerness is one part of who they are.

Also… saying funny people are hot feels very much like a pickup line an improv dude says to get dates, but wow does it prove true here. This category is so, so hot. – Drew Gregory

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Drama

The Nominees: Indya Moore, Pose // Mj Rodriguez, Pose // Angelica Ross, Pose // Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black // Rutina Wesley, Queen Sugar // Dominique Jackson, Pose

I could spend a thousand years writing love letters to these women as if we were in some sort of a Gabriel García Márquez novel, and it still would never be enough. Nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than the fact this category is stacked with six (count them, SIX!) black queer and trans people gender spectrum at the top of their craft. Out of that six, five of them are black and trans – which would have been a pipe dream even just a few short years ago, thanks to persistent gatekeeping in Hollywood. But the icing on the cake is the depths of the performances represented. Black talent is so rarely showcased so elegantly and in our full range of possibility.

It’s not that black queer or trans folks should only play queer or trans roles – certainly not. But when we are allowed to embody the richness of our intersectional identities, it’s fire on the screen. It’s in the subtlety of a head tilt, the casual way certain phrases flicker off our tongue, the purposeful raised eyebrow or glance. There’s an unspoken understanding. As all six of these nominees have proven, this is  absolutely art at its finest. – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actor in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

The Nominees: Jamie Clayton, Sense8 // Tig Notaro, Star Trek: Discovery // Kate Siegel, The Haunting of Hill House // Nicole Maines, Supergirl // Kat Barrell, Wynonna Earp // Ariela Barer, Marvel’s Runaways

Assuming Ariela Barer’s Gert (Runaways) isn’t queer, we haven’t quite hit a perfect score, but at 83%, this is officially the highest percentage of LGBTQ+ actors ever nominated in this category whose characters are also queer and/or trans. Granted, this is only our second annual Gay Emmys, but it’s still a statistic and I like it so I’ll take it.

I imagine LGBTQ+ actors are probably drawn to stories that they connect to, so it makes sense that they’d want to be part of these kinds of projects. Ariela Barer isn’t playing an explicity queer character this go-round, but I’m all for not pigeon-holing queer actors into the limited pool of queer characters. On the other hand, (and this should go without saying), trans people should exclusively be the ones to play trans roles, so the fact that Jamie Clayton and Nicole Maines are both trans like their characters is not only hugely important, but both actresses are talented and charming and have earned their spot on this nominations list and then some. Tig Notaro and Kate Siegel were out before being cast, and brought an authenticity to their roles a straight person might not quite have matched. Kat Barrell only recently came out, years after starting her role as Officer Haught, and both her and Kate Siegel are combating bi erasure by talking about their queerness openly despite being married to men. So whether they came out before or after they were cast, and whether they’re playing an LGBTQ+ character or not, there’s something special about knowing we’re being represented behind the scenes as well. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Showrunner

The Nominees: Desiree Akhavan, The Bisexual // Lena Waithe, Boomerang // Janet Mock, Pose // Tanya Saracho, Vida // Leslye Headland, Russian Doll // Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe

These creators all made exceptional television this year with a keen eye for details, especially when it comes to telling LGBTQ stories. In its first two seasons, Tanya Saracho’s Vida has been a groundbreaking television moment for queer Latinx representation. Leslye Headland has been quietly making very good, underrated movies through the years, but with Russian Doll she made a splash, going high-concept and pulling memorable performances out of her cast (with some help from out director Jamie Babbit). Rebecca Sugar made Cartoon Network history with queer characters on Steven Universe, infusing the show with so much sweetness and gay joy. Janet Mock made her directorial debut with Pose and instantly proved she should be directing all the time. At this point, I’m pretty sure Lena Waithe just runs television? Her dominance in the field has been thrilling, and at this point she’s about as prolific as Shonda Rhimes. Desiree Akhavan made a singular queer show that revels in mess and flaws and features queer characters that feel very, very real in their imperfections. All of these women have carved out space for queer narratives, and the fact that this category is so stacked is a promising sign of progress. We’re here, we’re queer, we’re making television gayer. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Most Groundbreaking Representation (Show)

The Nominees: Pose // Vida // One Day at a Time // Boomerang // She-Ra // The Bisexual

This is a very exciting and dynamic category, specifically because it seems wild to even stack these shows against each other. They’re all deserving of this award for a myriad of reasons, because they all bring something very special to television. Pose centers trans lives — and specifically Black and Latinx trans lives — in a way that has never been done before. Vida shows a less white, more diverse side of queer Los Angeles than The L Word ever did. One Day At A Time is a touching family comedy that deals with very serious stories organically and features a loud and goofy nonbinary teen in a relationship with an anxious, nerdy Latinx lesbian. Lena Waithe’s Boomerang celebrates blackness and queerness with depth and nuance (and a lot of heart). The Bisexual isn’t here to make you feel comfortable; queer friend groups can be messy as fuck, and this show shows that. And rounding out remakes that are gayer than their originals, She-Ra on Netflix is a fun adventure animated series with an excellent gay agenda. – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Male Character

The Nominees: Rogelio de la Vega, Jane the Virgin // Pray Tell, Pose // Captain Holt, Brooklyn 99 // Evan Huang, Fresh Off the Boat // Ari Thomas, Boomerang // Lincoln Rice, Broad City

Since television began, it’s been a man’s game. Their narratives are centered and whatever women existed in their orbits only did so to buttress whatever story the writers were crafting about him. Slowly, but surely, that’s started to change and we’re seeing storytelling become more inclusive. Now, we’re seeing men’s stories that exist without eclipsing the stories of the women around them. FINALLY, the male characters are called on to support stories being crafted about her. Each of the men nominated in our Outstanding Male Character category are afforded depth — they are not caricatures — but never at the expense of the women that surround them… if anything, they help to make those women better.

Rogelio de la Vega, who took home this award last year for quietly rewiring our thinking about masculinity and undoing some toxic tropes about Latino men in particular, starts out as an early favorite to repeat but he’s got some tough competition. Evan Huang’s coming into his own as a teenager on Fresh Off the Boat but he’s always there to support his mom — who would very much like for him to stay a baby forever — and to lead the neighborhood’s home owner’s association. On Broad City, Lincoln Rice wants more from Ilana than she’s prepared to offer but he accepts her and never stops being the friend she (or anyone in his circle) needs. And then there are Pray Tell, Captain Holt and Ari Thomas, who represent a new generation of depictions of queer men, generally, and queer black men, specifically, on television. They defy the notion that there’s only room for one of us — one queer man or one queer woman — at the table. – Natalie

---

Outstanding Animated Series

The Nominees: She-Ra // Love, Death & Robots // Bojack Horseman // Adventure Time // Steven Universe // Tuca & Bertie

My original plan was to dedicate this entire section to telling you why you should vote for She-Ra (and you should!), but I couldn’t do that because this whole category is superb. Many adults mistakingly think of animated television as just for children. This category breaks that unfair stereotype wide open – you would be hard pressed to find a more stark exploration of depression than Bojack Horseman or a more gripping, if not reverent, understanding of adult women’s friendships than Tuca & Bertie. Love, Death & Robots became an instant classic in its own right among fans of the genre.

But also, we can’t forget that it is important than animation is for kids. It’s groundbreaking for children growing up to have She-Ra, or Steven Universe, or Adventure Time. They are being exposed to a variety of gender expressions, a variety of ways to love and to choose family – on their own terms, and in a way they can understand. When I was young, queerness was seen as “just for adults,” which is ridiculous. Everyone who is gay was once a gay kid, and I’m so glad that now they get to see even the smallest glimmer of themselves on screen. – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

The Nominees: Lena Adams-Foster, The Fosters/Good Trouble // Eve Polastri, Killing Eve // Angel Evangelista, Pose // Alex Danvers, Supergirl // Nova Bordelon, Queen Sugar // Kat Sandoval, Madam Secretary

It’s true that there is no one way to be gay, but also a lot of us really love our hair. Queer hair journeys are personal for us in ways that are distinct from straight people. How many folks do you know who first celebrated coming out by some version of chopping off their hair? (Or maybe you were that friend). How many of us have a complicated daily hair care routine that we tell ourselves is self-care and protection from the standards of straight beauty that are tied to patriarchy (Oh that would definitely be me). Whether it’s a face full of curls or a sleek buzzcut, or anything in between, queer hair is a deeply rooted part of our culture. And on a personal note, I have to say: I love that five of the six finalists in this category are women of color. So often when we see style guides for queers – they don’t include our hair textures. Today is a new day. – Carmen Phillips

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Couple

Kat and Adena, The Bold Type // Kat and Tia, The Bold Type // Nico and Karolina, Marvel’s Runaways // Waverly and Nicole, Wynonna Earp // Anissa and Grace, Black Lightning // Toni and Cheryl, Riverdale // Sara and Ava, Legends of Tomorrow // Elena and Syd, One Day at a Time //  Petra and JR, Jane the Virgin // Alex and Kelly, Supergirl // Alex and Piper, Orange Is the New Black // Arthie and Yolanda, Glow // Delle Seyah and Aneela, Killjoys // Mel and Niko, Charmed // Mel and Jada, Charmed // Ruby and Sapphire, Steven Universe //  Juliana and Valentina, Amar a Muerte // Anne and Ann, Gentleman Jack

---

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ Actor

Stephanie Beatriz (Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn 99) // Lily Tomlin (Frankie, Grace & Frankie) // Rosie O’Donnell (Tutu, SMILF) //  Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) // Sara Ramirez (Kat Sandoval, Madam Secretary)  // Rutina Wesley (Nova Bordelon, Queen Sugar) // Laverne Cox (Sophia Burset, Orange is the New Black) //  Ariela Barer (Gert, Marvel’s Runaways) // Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Amaya, Legends of Tomorrow) // Emily Tarver (CO McCullough, Orange is the New Black) // Emily Rios (Lucia, Snowfall) // Fiona Shaw (Carolyn, Killing Eve) // Gillian Anderson (Dr. Jean Milburn, Sex Education) //  Natalie Morales (Abby, Abby’s) // Abbi Jacobson (Abbi, Broad City) // Mj Rodriguez (Blanca, Pose) // Indya Moore (Angel, Pose) // Angelia Ross (Candy, Pose) // Dominque Jackson (Elektra, Pose) // Hailie Sahar (Lulu, Pose) // Kat Barrell, (Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp) // Sherry Cola (Alice, Good Trouble) // Roberta Colindrez (Vida) // Ser Anzoategui (Vida)

---

Most Devastating Cancellation

The Fosters // Fleabag // Schitt’s Creek // Abby’s // Jane the Virgin // Star // Tuca & Bertie

---

Fan Favorite New Show

Amar a Muerte // Good Trouble // Boomerang // Sex Education // Russian Doll // Shrill // Abby’s // Gentleman Jack // Rosewell, New Mexico // Vida // Pose

---

Fan Favorite Character

Annalise, How to Get Away with Murder // Eve, Killing Eve // Villanelle, Killing Eve // Kat, The Bold Type // Adena, The Bold Type // Alice, Good Trouble // Toni, Riverdale // Cheryl, Riverdale // Elena, One Day at a Time // Rosa, Brooklyn Nine-Nine // Petra, Jane the Virgin // JR, Jane the Virgin // Eleanor, The Good Place //Anissa, Black Lightning // Niko, Marvel’s Runaways // Waverly, Wynonna Earp // Nicole, Wynonna Earp // Alex, Supergirl // Sara, Legends of Tomorrow // Simone, Star // Tia, Boomerang // Sophia, Orange is the New Black //  Daddy, Orange is the New Black // Suzanne, Orange is the New Black // Nova, Queen Sugar // Ilana, Broad City // Hen, 9-1-1 // Blanca, Pose // Angel, Pose // Elektra, Pose // Candy, Pose // Emma, Vida // Eddy, Vida // Nico, Vida // Anne Lister, Gentleman Jack // Juliana, Amar a Muerte // Valentina, Amar a Muerte

---

Here is your official ballot!

Voting ends on September 17, 2019 at 5:00 EST and winners will be announced on September 18!

Announcing the Winners of Autostraddle’s Inaugural Queer TV Awards!

Riese has been talking for a long time about Autostraddle hosting its own gay Emmy Awards. It was mostly just a pipe dream, until we turned around in 20GayTeen and realized that — for the first time ever — there were actually more than enough queer characters, shows, and actors for us to really do it. Seeing them all listed out in our voting announcement post was honestly a thrill, and we know you felt it too, because you told us so in the comments:

I‘m just having a moment of gratitude for these nominations, and also, that Gillian Anderson is in the category that she’s in. — Amidola

This survey was so rude – these choices were brutal. (but also, I love that we had so many options!) — Ellie

I am THRILLED to have so many options to choose from that many of these are genuinely difficult decisions. High school me is in disbelief at how much more representation there is now compared with a relatively short amount of time ago. It’s wonderful and it makes me very happy. — rustytiffany

OK, how am I supposed to choose between all my faves? But also, such a good problem to have!!! — hiptobequeer

How can I possibly choose between my children??? But also this was great and I’m truly shocked & happy by how hard it is to choose in any of these categories. “Man we didn’t hate” made me laugh out loud (and then was ALSO super hard to choose for? what the heck). — Laura R

For regular categories, the individual TV Team Votes were weighted more heavily than those of the TEN THOUSAND readers who voted. For fan favorite categories, the winner was 100% determined by reader votes.

Without any further ado, here are the winners of Autostraddle’s inaugural Gay Emmys!

---

Outstanding Comedy Series

One Day at a Time

Runner up: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Other nominees: Jane the Virgin, Fresh Off The Boat, One Mississippi, Broad City

Before we get to this year’s Outstanding Comedy winner, we must take a moment to honor the overwhelming strength of this category. Lots of winners will tell you “It’s just an honor to be nominated.” Here’s the thing, this time it really is just an honor to be nominated. Out of the six nominees for Outstanding Comedy, a whomping three of them (One Day at a Time, Jane the Virgin, and Fresh Off the Boat) tied as our overall most nominated shows! With a record shattering SEVEN NOMINATIONS EACH! Brooklyn 99 came in just behind them, with five nominations. This category was stacked.

In the Emmys, the most anticipated race often comes from the Outstanding Dramas. Prestige dark hours about men (and, in a trend I’m excited for, increasingly women) behaving badly continue to fuel television’s “golden era.” Those type of critics’ bait television shows largely continue to ignore queer women’s stories. We find ourselves in other spaces. Spaces that often are left just outside the gates on the “Can You Believe They Got Snubbed?” list. The fact that Jane the Virgin and One Day at a Time continue to find themselves locked out of the Emmys Outstanding Comedy race year after year is more an indictment of the white, male majority of the Television Academy than it is about the quality of either of those shows.

At Autostraddle we are proud that our top three nominated series are all showrun by women. We’re even prouder that our inaugural winner, One Day at a Time, is co-run by a woman of color, Gloria Calderon-Kellett, who is helming one of the most heartfelt, funny, poignant, and diverse half hours on television. — Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Drama Series

Killing Eve

Runner up: Everything Sucks

Other nominees: Riverdale, Transparent, How to Get Away With Murder, Halt and Catch Fire

Crescendoing, relentless, all-consuming obsession fuels the narrative of Killing Eve, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sexy, smart, distinctly feminine action thriller starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer as the toxic spy-assassin duo who can’t stop thinking about each other. Watching Killing Eve feels exactly like that: seering obsession. This category was stacked with great, complex dramas, but there’s something just purely intoxicating about Killing Eve that sets it apart. Though it’s the phrase most often used to describe Eve and Villanelle’s dynamic, “cat-and-mouse” hardly covers what Oh and Comer bring to these characters or what’s even on the page. It’s never quite clear whether they want to murder each other or make out. Hunting each other, longing for each other, Eve and Villanelle might be one of the most complex queer relationships on television. But beyond that dripping subtext, it’s just a very good thriller with compelling twists and turns and sharp edges that refuse to be dulled. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Black Lightning

Runner up: Wynonna Earp

Other nominees: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Marvel’s Runaways, Jessica Jones, Orphan Black

Anissa Pierce is the first black lesbian superhero on television, on a show comprised of an entire family of black superheroes. (She’s also, as far as we collectively are aware, the first explicitly lesbian superhero on network television, period, which is a huge deal as it’s very rare for the first lesbian anything to also be a POC.) That, itself, is enough to make it a shoe-in for this category, but Black Lightning is more than just the stats; it’s a really good TV show. It takes all of the best elements of superhero stories — grappling with secret identities and their impact on relationships, how and when to use superpowers, the giant expanse between “good” and “bad” — and it does so without shying away from the fact that the Pierce family is black in Trump’s America. Black Lightning even tackled Charlottesville in season one, centering an episode on a white supremacist confederate monument on Anissa’s campus, and her struggle with containing her own fear and righteous rage (and the accidental manifestation of her powers) when she was provoked within its presence. There are few shows as relevant as this one right now, and even fewer that confront our culture with such triumph. — Heather Hogan

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder

Runner up: Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Other nominees: Judith Light (Transparent), Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Sherri Saum (The Fosters), Aisha Dee (The Bold Type)

Viola Davis is one Grammy — one small, tiny audiobook — away from being the second black woman to ever capture the EGOT; she already has an Emmy, an Oscar and a Tony to her credit. Judith Light is a celebrated actress with nearly 40 years in the business; she is one of just six performers to win back-to-back Tonys. Sandra Oh has a Golden Globe and two SAG Awards already and, whether she wins or not, her Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Drama is already etched in the history books. There was once a time when actors avoided playing gay; today well-crafted LGBT characters attract our best and brightest.

Last year when we were making our Emmy picks, Heather wrote:

Viola Davis is one of the greatest living actors in the world, and the fact that we get to see her play a brilliant, glorious, complicated, tortured, triumphant, broken, beautiful bisexual woman every week on broadcast network television is frankly unbelievable. In lesser hands, How to Get Away With Murder wouldn’t have made it a full season. She carries it all and elevates it to a place beyond anything written on a page or suggested by a director. She has deserved every award she’s ever been nominated for, and plenty that she hasn’t, and that includes this one.

Yes, including this one. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

Runner up: Madelaine Petsch, Riverdale

Other nominees: Nikohl Boosheri (The Bold Type), Sara Ramirez (Madam Secretary), Kimiko Glenn (Orange is the New Black), Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid’s Tale)

I’m almost tempted to just say, “Samira Wiley won this race in the Emmys just this past weekend, and that’s all you really need to know.”

Let’s dig deeper. One of our decisions in creating the “Gay Emmys” was to build a space for acknowledgment and critique. Acknowledgement that the quality of the stories and performances we’re finally receiving as LGBTQ+ women is growing and improving with every year, and Critique that those same performance remain woefully under-appreciated when it comes an Emmys season that’s largely dictated by the tastes of white, straight, cis men. Samira Wiley’s performance as Moira in The Handmaid’s Tale is a perfect intersection of those two competing interests. She’s one of the few actresses (along with Tatiana Maslany, Evan Rachel Wood, and Sandra Oh) who finds herself nominated in both our homegrown awards and the actual Emmy race. And get this, she won in both places! In fact, on Saturday night she made history as part of a first-time ever sweep for black actors in the Best Guest races. Samira’s take on Moira has been emotionally raw. It’s no small feat, considering how little screen time she’s given. She commands the screen and squeezes the most out of every harrowing second. — Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Runner up: Isabella Gomez, One Day at a Time

Other nominees: Yael Grobglsa (Jane the Virgin), Kristen Bell (The Good Place), Ilana Glazer (Broad City), Tig Notaro (One Mississippi)

If you follow Stephanie Beatriz on any social media, you know just how much this woman is acting when it comes to playing Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Beatriz’s energy is completely divergent from her character; she even transforms her voice for the role. But those are just really fine-tuned acting tools that most capable performers have, not necessarily the kinds of things that make one worthy of a comedic acting win, especially in a category as stacked as this one. Beatriz’s humor is sharp, often physical but also harnessed in the way she punches every syllable, as with her line reading of “That’s Nora Ephron, you idiot.” Beatriz can bring out a softer side of Rosa when she needs to, but she never fully dials down that intensity. She’s always on, even when she isn’t the focus of a scene. She makes a character full of rage and contempt extremely likable (and not despite those characteristics but because of them). — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Rosario Dawson, Jane the Virgin

Runner up: Sheridan Pierce, One Day at a Time

Other nominees: Yara Martinez (Jane the Virgin), Luna Blaise (Fresh Off the Boat), Isidora Goreshter (Shameless), Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Put a group of 50 people in a room, ask them a question and you’ll probably end up with 50 different answers, but, apparently, if you bring a bunch of lady-lovin’ women together and ask them about Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress, the answer is damn near unanimous: Rosario Dawson.

And that’s not a slight on any of the other nominated actresses here — we were positively charmed by Sheridan Pierce’s quirky portrayal of Syd on One Day at a Time; we saw ourselves in Fresh Off the Boat‘s Nicole (Luna Blaise) when she admitted she might like girls over chips with Eddie; we loved Isidora Goreshter’s Svetlana on Shameless (some of us more than others). It’s just the power of Rosario Dawson.

The moment Jane Ramos sauntered over to Petra Solano, hand extended with a cocky smirk on her face, and became Petra’s lawyer, she had us… and Petra… and this award. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Runner up: Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Wynonna Earp

Other nominees: Nafessa Williams (Black Lightning), Lyrica Okano (Marvel’s Runaways), Caity Lotz (Legends of Tomorrow), Chyler Leigh (Supergirl)

Though the industry was slow to realize it, the truth is finally out there: Tatiana Maslany is one of the best actors of her generation. Orphan Black was the perfect showcase of that truth, with Tatiana playing every Leda clone with astounding nuance. She never relied on wigs or wardrobe to differentiate them, instead giving each clone their own mannerisms, quirks and postures. She even layered those performances, having one clone mimic another, and it was always subtle and brilliant. In Cosima, we got a lesbian character who, in a pretty bleak landscape of queer rep at the time, was saying things like, “My sexuality isn’t the most interesting thing about me” and “I’m not going to apologize for my heart, okay?” Cosima’s relationship with Delphine was complicated and emotional and the strongest romantic through-line of the whole series, and Tatiana embraced it wholeheartedly, sometimes name-checking the “clonesbians” fans, and being an active, outspoken ally.

Sci-fi is too often not taken seriously, for reasons I will never understand — the “real” Emmys don’t even have it as a category at all, making it extremely rare for even the best sci-fi shows to be nominated. Luckily, Tatiana’s talent eventually broke through, and she’s nominated this year for the third time, for Orphan Black‘s final season. I’m excited to honor her for this show one last time. — Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Katherine Barrell, Wynonna Earp

Runner up: Floriana Lima, Supergirl

Other nominees: Sara Serraiocco (Counterpart), Mayko Nguyen (Killjoys), Carrie Ann Moss (Jessica Jones), Jes Macallan (Legends of Tomorrow)

Oh are you surprised it’s me, Valerie Anne, here to celebrate a Wynonna Earp win? I didn’t think so. This win is great because Nicole Haught is such a special character. She easily could have been a caricature, just Waverly’s hot cop girlfriend (I mean her name is literally a play on that) but as the episodes and seasons progressed it has become clear that she’s important to this story and this show entirely separate of Waverly. Katherine Barrell brings a softness to what could have easily been a rough exterior, and when she’s given the chance, she can give you comedy gold. The two episodes that featured Nicole and Wynonna getting drunk together (actually… both times it was Nicole getting drunk and Wynonna not so much), Kat delivered such smart comedic timing, it was truly a joy to watch. Not to mention every scene between Nicole and Waverly is crafted with such love and care, and Barrell’s performance is so engaging, that the running joke is Haught turns into a heart-eyes emoji every time Waverly is in the room. — Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin

Runner up: Rita Moreno, One Day at a Time

Other nominees: Constance Wu (Fresh Off The Boat), Kerry Washington (Scandal), Issa Rae (Insecure), Justina Machado (One Day at a Time)

“Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role” is tongue-in-cheek. When we first brainstormed this category, we doubled over a bit in laughter. Then we narrowed down the nominations, and suddenly nothing was funny. How could we choose between Kerry Washington, Constance Wu, Justina Machado, or Rita Moreno?

Every queer woman reading this knows that eye-rolling moment where you see a straight woman on television, and you just want to save her from herself. You want her to not crumple in front of lackluster men who don’t deserve her. You want her not to succumb to the pressures of patriarchy. Hell, you want her (or the actress playing her) to be a meaningful ally to the queer women in her life. More than anything, you want her to have the opportunity to be complicated, messy, emotional, but also dynamic and full and free to love.

So few women characters on television are allowed that kind of breadth. Particularly straight women on TV, who are often forced into the (haha straight and) narrow boxes of a “romantic lead.” I’m so proud to award this year’s “Best Straight” to Gina “possibly more bisexual than Jane” Rodriguez. (Although she does still identify as straight, which’s why we included her in this category.) Not only does she continue to knock it out of the park as Jane Villanueva, a straight romantic lead who never loses track of her own self-worth or compass because of men, but her directorial debut behind the scenes gave us “Chapter Seventy-Four” – an episode nominated on its own merits this year for Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes. Now, that’s how you do it! – Carmen Phillips

---

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

Fresh Off the Boat, “A League of Her Own”

Runner up: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Game Night”

Other nominees: Jane the Virgin, “Chapter Seventy-Four”; Madam Secretary, “Refuge”; One Day at a Time, “Locked Down”; High Maintenance, “Scromple”

As a 39-year-old lesbian who came of age in the ’90s when the only queer character on TV was Ellen and she was getting annihilated for it, watching Nicole casually and successfully come out in 1997 on Fresh Off the Boat was a time-traveling balm to my closeted teenage heart. She came out to Eddie a few episodes before, but “A League of Her Own” found her joining the softball team for the local lesbian bar — the Denim Turtle — and coming out to her dad and step-mom. The episode was sweet and poignant and, like the rest of Nicole’s journey to figuring out her sexuality, full of so many glorious ’90s lesbian jokes. “Come to My Window” played at least three times! It was also the episode where Jessica, who has a notoriously broken gaydar, found out “it can go the girl way.” Honey immediately supported Nicole, and it only took her dad nine innings to get there. — Heather Hogan

---

Best Coming Out Story

Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Runner up: Kate, Everything Sucks!

Other nominees: Nicole Ellis (Fresh Off the Boat), Cheryl Blossom (Riverdale), Ali Pfefferman (Transparent), Kat Edison (The Bold Type)

Ah yes, here I am, writing about Stephanie Beatriz again! But, more specifically, her character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine: the tough-as-nails and occasionally eratic (but secretly tender, especially when it comes to protecting and loving her friends) Rosa Diaz. I think it’s safe to say that most of us got queer vibes from Rosa early on (and really just a compound of queer vibes from the VERY GAY dynamics between Rosa/Gina/Amy, if we’re being honest), and there are few things more satisfying than picking up on subtextual queerness and then having the writers deliver. And wowza, did they deliver! It’s still strikingly rare for television characters to identify explicitly as bisexual, to actually SAY the word out loud. But Rosa does so. She boldly claims the identity. And Brooklyn Nine-Nine doesn’t just package this neatly in a single coming out episode and call it a day. Rosa’s coming out feels like a genuine journey, like something that ebbs and flows. It’s easier for her to come out to her friends than to her family. Ultimately, her coming out story is inspiring and hopeful, but it isn’t without its complications either. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actress in a Comedy

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Runner up: Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Other nominees: Tig Notaro (One Mississippi), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), Rosie O’Donnell (SMILF), Kiersey Clemons (Easy)

Yep!!!! It’s me again, writing about Stephanie Beatriz!!!! Honestly, it’s no surprise that she ended up dominating these super queer TV awards. It’s not every day that the stars align so that an actor’s own coming-out-narrative unfolds in conjunction with their character’s, but there’s something magical about it when it does happen. There’s something strikingly authentic about Beatriz’s portrayal of Rosa’s bisexual identity. Beatriz, in fact, had some input in the way the character’s coming out story was crafted and has vocally reiterated a lot of the points that Rosa’s story brings to the surface. Rosa pushes back against her parents when they try to deny her bisexuality by saying that she’ll probably end up with a man anyway. Beatriz has similarly called out any attempts to erase her identity, plainly stating that the fact that she recently got engaged to a man in no way negates her bisexuality. She’s making her voice heard in front of the camera and in real life, too. — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actress in a Drama

Sara Ramirez, Madam Secretary

Runner up: Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

Other nominees: Rutina Wesley (Queen Sugar), Alexandra Billings (Transparent), Laverne Cox (Doubt), Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story: Cult)

In the Comedy equivalent of this race, Stephanie Beatriz had a sweep! Yet, in the Drama category we found ourselves split between Ramirez (winning as Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actress in a Drama) and Samira Wiley (who beat out Ramirez earlier in this very post for Outstanding Supporting Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama). Clearly, both of these Julliard-trained women of color are incredibly talented.

It’s not just that Sara Ramirez uses her celebrity platform to lift up those most vulnerable in our community, trans folks and bi folks of color who are often forgotten underneath the “rainbow flag.” It’s not just that she was vocal in the crafting of her character’s coming out story this year (though as Kayla just noted, that type of behind the scenes advocacy is still critical when talking about queer and bisexual representation). It’s not just that when approached by CBS about the role of Kat Sandoval, Ramirez told them in no uncertain terms that she was coming to the table as the butch icon she’s quickly become, and not as the remnant memories of Callie Torres that they may have been holding on to. Or maybe, really, it’s all of those things. In every moment, with every fiber, whenever and however she can, Sara Ramirez makes sure we know how much she loves us. She’s triumphant. It’s only fitting that we love her back with the same fervor. After all, if we don’t take care of ourselves, who will? – Carmen Phillips

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actress in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Runner up: Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Legends of Tomorrow

Other nominees: Tessa Thompson (Westworld), Ariela Barer (Marvel’s Runaways), Aubrey Plaza (Legion), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files)

The second season of Westworld was more polarizing than the first, but there’s no denying that Evan Rachel Wood is a force to be reckoned with. A total 180 from sweet, meek Dolores, self-aware Dolores is fierce and rightfully pissed. I don’t think I will ever, for as long as I live, forget Dolores being fired at and continuing to walk forward into the hail of bullets, unflinching. It was such a powerful image. Evan Rachel Wood carried her storyline with her head high this year, and even though her body movements were always quiet and controlled, her presence on screen was deafening. She more than earned this Gay Emmy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she won an Emmy Emmy, too. Which is extra awesome because she’s so open about her sexuality and being part of our community that her full legal* name is Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual. – Valerie Anne

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Showrunner

TIE: Lena Waithe, The Chi and Nahnatchka Khan, Fresh Off the Boat

Runner up: Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe

Other nominees: Joanna Johnson, The Fosters; Katja Blichfeld, High Maintenance; Cameron Esposito & Rhea Butcher, Take My Wife

According to a recent report, more than 90% of the showrunners in Hollywood in during the 2016-2017 season were white and 80% were male. That diversity (or lack thereof) correlates strongly to who makes up writers’ rooms — showrunners hire who they know, after all — and that dictates the stories we see on television. Hiring an LGBTQ+ director/producer/showrunner is a game-changer. It means we’ll get to know more LGBTQ+ writers and see more LGBTQ+ stories being told.

Sometimes that means, we’re the story — that our lives are the central focus of the show, as with Cameron Espositio and Rhea Butcher’s Take My Wife or Joanna Johnson’s The Fosters. Then there are times we are just allowed to exist, woven into the tapestry of other’s stories, as is the case with this category’s winners, Lena Waithe’s The Chi and Nahnatchka Khan’s Fresh Off the Boat. Whether the characters are front burner or side burner, LGBTQ+ showrunners ensure that stories get told with nuance. It’s priceless.

That said, it’s possible that I’m being too critical about this, and, really, you just voted for Lena Waithe cause you’re still in your feelings about her haircut — which, I mean, SAME. — Natalie

---

Most Groundbreaking Representation

Black Lightning

Runner up: One Day at a Time

Other nominees: Steven Universe, Take My Wife,You Me Her, Transparent

In a mid-season episode of Black Lightning, Jefferson (one of the best men on TV, for sure) is forced to tell Anissa: “All it takes is one cop! One cop to see your color instead of your humanity and decide, better dead than sorry. Look, you are a black woman, you don’t have the luxury of being naive… I don’t want to lose you because you went along with something that you should have walked away from.”

What he doesn’t know yet is that guns can’t hurt her.

It’s both of these things that make this show so groundbreaking. It refuses to shy away from the realities of being a black family in a country built on and sustained by white supremacy. It comments on police violence. It comments on confederate monuments. It comments on everyday microagressions. It also features a black lesbian character who, it would appear, cannot be killed. “I’ve said before that bullet proof black people is my favorite superhero trope,” Carmen wrote in a season one recap, “but there is also something so sweet about a television lesbian who can’t be shot.” — Heather Hogan

---

Outstanding Male Character

Rogelio De La Vega, Jane the Virgin

Runner up: Captain Holt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Other nominees: Evan Huang, Fresh Off the Boat; Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, S.W.A.T.; Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning; Lincoln Rice, Broad City

It’s hard to live a day on Al Gore’s internet without seeing someone utter those three special little words — men are trash — and 99% of the time, that phrase is uniquely suited to describe men and whatever misogynistic BS they’ve done that day. But on television, as in life, there are always a select few men who prove to us: #NOTALLMEN. You can be heroic, like Jefferson Pierce on Black Lightning and still recognize that you can’t do it on your own. You can be a real leader, like Hondo on S.W.A.T. or Captain Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, who works best by empowering the women around you. Or you could be Rogelio de la Vega, the winner of our Outstanding Male Character category, who works overtime to make the world more beautiful for the women in his life.

It’s easy to get lost in Jaime Camil’s portrayal of Rogelio. When he sits and cries with Jane or when he holds Xiomara’s hand through her cancer treatments or when he builds “bro-mances” with Michael and Rafael or when he dons his favorite lavender shirt, Rogelio is quietly rewiring our thinking about masculinity and undoing some toxic tropes about Latino men in particular. We were just too busy laughing to notice. — Natalie

---

Outstanding Animated Series

Steven Universe

Runner up: Adventure Time

Other nominees: Danger and Eggs, Loud House

Steven Universe is just so many things! It’s the first animated series to show two women kissing on-screen, the first animated series to show two women getting married on-screen, the only animated series on TV to feature almost all women of color as voice actors. It’s got non-binary representation; it’s constantly messing with gender presentation; it’s forever destroying toxic masculinity; it’s dealing with actual depression and actual trauma and finding ways to validate them both. It’s also helmed by non-binary bisexual showrunner Rebecca Sugar, who we just found out is the person responsible for Princess Bubblegum and Marceline’s whole gay deal on Adventure Time. It seems like she took what little she could do there, in terms of queer representation, and multiplied it times a hundred when she got her own show. Steven Universe has changed the game for queer characters on TV forever. — Heather Hogan

---

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Sara Ramirez, Madam Secretary

Runner up: Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Other nominees: Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher, Take My Wife; Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning; Sherri Saum, The Fosters; Lyrica Okano, Marvel’s Runaways

When Sara Ramirez tweeted out this promo shot of her as Kat Sandoval on Madam Secretary, she very nearly broke the queer internet. We were talking about it in literally every single channel in Autostraddle Slack. Twitter, too, was going berserk. All of it, of course, was especially about her alternative lifestyle haircut, which she’d been sporting since she came out as bisexual.

Autostraddle reader Another Rachel said it best: “I’m sorry, but IS THAT HAIRCUT GOING TO BE ON TV? That haircut. Haircut. The way her hair is cut. On tv.” And yes, it was. And yes, it was glorious. (It’s a bonus that when asked about her infamous new hair, Sara Ramirez name-checks black queer Brooklyn barber Khane Kutzwell first.) — Heather Hogan

---

Fan Favorite Couple

Waverly and Nicole, Wynonna Earp

Runner-Up: Alex & Maggie, Supergirl

I’ve already waxed poetic about Nicole, so let me tell you a little about why Waverly Earp is great. Her coming out wasn’t one big reveal, it wasn’t an epiphany or a secret she carried for a long time. It was an evolvement, a realization; and it wasn’t JUST her queerness she was coming into as she became more herself. It was the totality of Waverly. She was realizing she was more than just a small-town gal, that she could embrace the learned-dead-languages-for-fun, bookish side of her, that she didn’t have to be what everyone expected or wanted her to be. She could just be HER. And it just so happened that as she was learning this by way of realizing she could help her sister re: the Earp curse, that she also realized she deserved more than the boy she settled for who didn’t appreciate her favorite things about herself. And it just so happened that during this realization, the hottest cop to ever grace the Ghost River Triangle strolled into her bar. And Nicole loves Waverly for Waverly, and whatever that means to Waverly is fine by her. It’s no surprise to me that these two lovebirds made their way into so many of your hearts and that they won this fan fave category. — Valerie Anne

---

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Runner-Up: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

We had joked about calling these awards The Violas (for the reasons Natalie listed above) or The Mommis (for the reasons listed in perpetuity on this website) but maybe we should have called them the Beatrizes. She absolutely swept these things! — Heather Hogan

---

Most Devastating Cancellation

Everything Sucks!

Runner-Up: One Mississippi

In the sixth episode of Everything Sucks!, Kate Messner sees her future — two women holding hands, dancing to Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” and kissing — and she knows that she wants it. At that very moment, the fear that’s kept her clinging to a fake relationship is outweighed by the desire to see that future realized.

“My whole life, I have been the freak. The girl who nobody picked for dodgeball. The girl who didn’t have a mom. The girl who dressed funny because it was her dad buying her clothes,” Kate admits. “And then, tonight I looked at these people, and I thought maybe there’s a future where I don’t have to be a freak. Maybe I can be who I am and that’s okay.”

Kate Messner gave voice to why representation is so important and, sadly, why the loss of Everything Sucks! is so profound. Kate Messner was to a Netflix audience what that Tori Amos show was to that character: a reminder that maybe you can be who you are and that’s okay. Netflix took for granted that there are still so many of us who still need to hear that message. — Natalie

---

Fan Favorite New Show

Killing Eve

Runner-Up: The Bold Type

Queer women were always going to be into Killing Eve because queer women are very into Sandra Oh, but it didn’t take long into the first season of BBC America’s breakout show for queer women to become as obsessed with Killing Eve as Eve and Villanelle are with each other. This is a story we’ve never seen before, not like this, and damn the tropes we just want more! — Heather Hogan 

---

Fan Favorite Character

Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Runner-Up: Nicole, Wynonna Earp

Surprise!

---

We’ll be live-blogging the “real” Emmys next Monday night; hope to see you there!

VOTE NOW in Autostraddle’s Inaugural Gay Emmys!

The Primetime Emmy Awards are headed our way on September 17, with a record number of queer women nominated (and a very solid number of straight women who play queer characters nominated). We’re excited for them! We’re even going to liveblog it! But we’re also aware that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — like Hollywood itself, and mainstream TV criticism — continues to be dominated by a voting block of mostly straight white men. So, for the first time ever, we’ve decided to host our own Autostraddle TV Awards to coincide with the Emmys. For our awards, unless otherwise indicated by the name of the category, only shows with LGBTQ+ women characters can earn nominations!!

Here’s how it works: Over the last few weeks our TV Team nominated and voted on shows and actors and characters and creatives in the 20 categories you see below. These official nominees are the top six vote-getters in every category. Now you get to weigh in! Every Autostraddle reader is eligible to vote once in each category, and your votes will be combined with the TV Team’s votes to choose the winner! We’ve also chosen five fan-favorite categories over which you have total control. Your winners are the winners!

To choose our nominees, we abided by official Emmys rules. That means shows must have occurred between June 2017 and May 2018 (otherwise known as Summer 2017, Fall 2017, and Winter/Spring 2018). Two-thirds of the show’s episodes must have aired within that time period. That’s why you don’t see Harlots, Humans, Vida or Pose nominated, for example; they’ll be eligible to dominate next year’s awards. Similarly, we’re talking about last summer’s seasons of G.L.O.W., The Bold Type, and Orange is the New Black; not this summer’s. Sense8′s final season aired prior to last year’s cutoff, and the finale movie, which we’re not sure even counts, would be eligible next year, not this one.

Here is your official ballot!

Voting ends on September 11, 2018 at 5:00 EST and winners will be announced on September 12!

---

Outstanding Comedy Series

One Day at a Time

Fresh Off The Boat

Jane the Virgin

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

One Mississippi

Broad City

---

Outstanding Drama Series

Riverdale

Killing Eve

How to Get Away with Murder

Transparent

Everything Sucks!

Halt and Catch Fire

---

Outstanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series

Black Lightning

Orphan Black

Marvel’s Runaways

Wynonna Earp

Legends of Tomorrow

Jessica Jones

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder

Aisha Dee, The Bold Type

Sherri Saum, The Fosters

Judith Light, Transparent

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Drama Series

Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

Nikohl Boosheri, The Bold Type

Sara Ramirez, Madam Secretary

Madelaine Petsch, Riverdale

Kimiko Glenn, Orange is the New Black

Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Isabella Gomez, One Day at a Time

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Yael Grobglas, Jane the Virgin

Kristen Bell, The Good Place

Ilana Glazer, Broad City

Tig Notaro, One Mississippi

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Comedy Series

Rosario Dawson, Jane the Virgin

Yara Martinez, Jane the Virgin

Luna Blaise, Fresh Off the Boat

Sheridan Pierce, One Day at a Time

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Isidora Goreshter, Shameless

---

Outstanding Lead Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning

Lyrica Okano, Marvel’s Runaways

Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Chyler Leigh, Supergirl

Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Wynonna Earp

Caity Lotz, Legends of Tomorrow

---

Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress Playing an LGBTQ+ Character in a Sci-Fi Series

Floriana Lima, Supergirl

Jes Macallan, Legends of Tomorrow

Katherine Barrell, Wynonna Earp

Sara Serraiocco, Counterpart

Mayko Nguyen, Killjoys

Carrie Anne-Moss, Jessica Jones

---

Outstanding Performance by a Straight Actress in a Straight Role

Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat

Kerry Washington, Scandal

Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin

Justina Machado, One Day at a Time

Rita Moreno, One Day at a Time

Issa Rae, Insecure

---

Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Game Night”

Fresh Off the Boat, “A League of Her Own”

Jane the Virgin, “Chapter Seventy-Four”

Madam Secretary, “Refuge”

One Day at a Time, “Locked Down”

High Maintenance, “Scromple”

---

Best Coming Out Story

Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Nicole Ellis, Fresh Off the Boat

Kate Messner, Everything Sucks

Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale

Ali Pfefferman, Transparent

Kat Edison, The Bold Type

---

Outstanding Performance by an Out LGBTQ+ Actress in a Comedy

Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Lily Tomlin, Grace & Frankie

Tig Notaro, One Mississippi

Abbi Jacobson, Broad City

Rosie O’Donnell, SMILF

Kiersey Clemons, Easy

---

Outstanding Performance by an LGBTQ+ Actress in a Drama

Sara Ramirez, Madam Secretary

Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale

Rutina Wesley, Queen Sugar

Alexandra Billings, Transparent

Laverne Cox, Doubt

Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Actress in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Tessa Thompson, Westworld

Ariela Barer, Marvel’s Runaways

Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Legends of Tomorrow

Aubrey Plaza, Legion

Gillian Anderson, The X-Files

---

Outstanding LGBTQ+ Director / Producer / Showrunner

Lena Waithe, The Chi

Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe

Nahnatchka Khan, Fresh Off the Boat

Joanna Johnson, The Fosters

Katja Blichfeld, High Maintenance

Cameron Esposito & Rhea Butcher, Take My Wife

---

Most Groundbreaking Representation

One Day at a Time

Steven Universe

Take My Wife

Black Lightning

You Me Her

Transparent

---

Outstanding Male Character

This category might surprise you! But here’s the deal: generally speaking, we tend to resent the involvement of cis male characters in television programs, which should only ever be about LGBTQ+ women and other trans people, obviously. Every now and then though, a man comes along who we collectively do not hate! In fact, we find ourselves… liking this man! Here we celebrate the few, the brave, the mighty.

Rogelio, Jane the Virgin

Evan Huang, Fresh Off the Boat

Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, S.W.A.T.

Captain Holt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning

Lincoln Rice, Broad City

---

Outstanding Animated Series

Steven Universe

Adventure Time

Danger and Eggs

Loud House

---

Outstanding Hairstyling for an LGBTQ+ Character

Sara Ramirez, Madam Secretary

Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher, Take My Wife

Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Sherri Saum, The Fosters

Lyrica Okano, Marvel’s Runaways

---

Fan Favorite Categories

Fan Favorite Couple

Kat and Adena, The Bold Type // Nico and Karolina, Marvel’s Runaways // Waverly and Nicole, Wynonna Earp // Anissa and Grace, Black Lightning // Stef and Lena, The Fosters // Toni and Cheryl, Riverdale // Sara and Ava, Legends of Tomorrow // Elena and Syd, One Day at a Time // Tig and Kate, One Mississippi // Petra and JR, Jane the Virgin // Kate and Emaline, Everything Sucks // Alex and Maggie, Supergirl // Cosima and Delphine, Orphan Black // Alex and Piper, Orange Is the New Black // Ruby and Sapphire, Steven Universe // Keelin and Freeya, The Originals

---

Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ Actor

Stephanie Beatriz (Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn 99) // Lily Tomlin (Frankie, Grace & Frankie) // Rosie O’Donnell (Tutu, SMILF) // Tig Notaro (Tig, One Mississippi) // Kiersey Clemons (Chase, Easy) // Lea Delaria (Big Boo, Orange is the New Black) // Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) // Sara Ramirez (Kat Sandoval, Madam Secretary) // Samira Wiley (Moira, The Handmaid’s Tale) // Rutina Wesley (Nova Bordelon, Queen Sugar) // Sarah Paulson (Lana Winters, American Horror Story: Cult) // Holland Taylor (Ida Silver, Mrs. Mercedes) // Cherry Jones (Holly, The Handmaid’s Tale) // Alexandra Billings, (Davina, Transparent) // Laverne Cox (Cameron, Doubt) // Ali Liebert (Nickole, Ten Days in the Valley) // Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores, Westworld) // Tessa Thompson (Charlotte, Westworld) // Ariela Barer (Gert, Marvel’s Runaways) // Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Amaya, Legends of Tomorrow) // Emily Tarver (CO McCullough, Orange is the New Black) // Emily Rios (Lucia, Snowfall) // Fiona Shaw (Carolyn, Killing Eve) // Gillian Anderson (Scully, The X-Files) // Alia Shawkat (Dory, Search Party) // Wanda Sykes (Daphne, Black-ish) // Natalie Morales (Anne, Santa Clarita Diet) // Abbi Jacobson (Abbi, Broad City) // Emily Tarver (CO McCullough, Orange is the New Black), Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia) // Kate Moennig (Lena, Ray Donovan) // Rhea Butcher (Rhea, Take My Wife) // Cameron Esposito (Cameron, Take My Wife) // Zoie Palmer (The Android, Dark Matter) // Anna Paquin (Annie, Bellevue)

---

Most Devastating Cancellation

Everything Sucks! // One Mississippi // Take My Wife // The Imposters // The Arrangement  // Life Sentence // Famous in Love // Rosewood // Dark Matter // Gypsy // Survivor’s Remorse // Halt and Catch Fire

---

Fan Favorite New Show

Marvel’s Runaways // 9-1-1 // Black Lightning // Counterpart // Collateral // The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel // G.L.O.W. // Mindhunter // The Bold Type // Killing Eve // Grown-ish

---

Fan Favorite Character

Annalise Keating, How to Get Away with Murder // Eve, Killing Eve // Villanelle, Killing Eve // Kat, The Bold Type // Adena, The Bold Type // Stef, The Fosters // Lena, The Fosters // Toni, Riverdale // Cheryl, Riverdale // Elena, One Day at a Time // Rosa, Brooklyn Nine-Nine // Petra, Jane the Virgin // JR, Jane the Virgin // Eleanor, The Good Place // Tig, One Mississippi // Nicole, Fresh Off the Boat // Anissa, Black Lightning  // Cosima, Orphan Black // Niko, Marvel’s Runaways // Waverly, Wynonna Earp // Nicole, Wynonna Earp // Alex, Supergirl // Sara, Legends of Tomorrow // Kate, Everything Sucks // Emaline, Everything Sucks // M-Chuck, Survivor’s Remorse // Baldwin, The Counterpart // Izzie, You Me Her // Emma, You Me Her // Simone, Star // Soso, Orange is the New Black // Suzanne, Orange is the New Black // Big Boo, Orange is the New Black // Nova, Queen Sugar // Chris, S.W.A.T. // Ilana, Broad City // Wendy, Mindhunter // Nola, She’s Gotta Have It // Hen, 9-1-1 // Freya, The Originals // Keelin, The Originals // Sophia, Orange is the New Black

---

Here is your official ballot!

Voting ends on September 11, 2018 at 5:00 EST and winners will be announced on September 12!