September 16 2025, 08:15 
LGBTQ+ nominees made a strong showing at Sunday night’s 77th Annual Emmy Awards, with queer performers taking home four of the evening’s 12 acting trophies.
The show opened with out Saturday Night Live cast member and four-time Emmy nominee Bowen Yang appearing in a sketch alongside host Nate Bargatze about the “invention” of television. The actors joked about networks that cater to specific interests and identities, though the sketch included no mention of the various LGBTQ+-focused networks that have cropped up (and more or less floundered) in recent decades.
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Early in the ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, out actor Tramell Tillman took home his first Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role in Apple TV+’s Severance. As Gay Times notes, Tillman’s win makes him both the first Black man and the first openly gay Black man to win the award.
On a night when many winners seemed to shy away from overtly political statements in favor of vague gestures toward unity, Hacks star Hannah Einbinder delivered a pair of fierce, unapologetic messages after winning her first Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
“F**k I.C.E. and free Palestine!” the openly bisexual actor and comedian said at the end of her acceptance speech.
Einbinder commented to reporters backstage on her support for the Palestinian people amid Israel’s brutal ongoing war in Gaza. “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long-standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state,” she said.
Einbinder’s win after having been nominated three times for her role in Hacks was greeted with glee on social media, as was out Somebody Somewhere star Jeff Hiller’s first-time win for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — including by fellow out nominee Colman Domingo.
In his speech, Hiller thanked the executive producers, brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, “for writing a show of connection and love in this time when compassion is seen as a weakness.” He went on to thank his husband, artist Neil Goldberg, and co-star Bridget Everett.
The Traitors host Alan Cumming made a more subtle statement in support of transgender rights. He took the stage to accept the Emmy for Best Reality Competition Program on behalf of the Peacock series for the second year in a row while wearing a pink and blue pin created by jewelry company Tatty Devine to benefit UK trans rights organization Not a Phase. Speaking to Variety about the pin on the red carpet, Cumming noted that “it’s got trans colors, and it says ‘not a phase,’ because it’s not.”
“I just feel that when you come to things like this, you know, you’re here to celebrate your work… but to do something decorative that also draws attention to something you actually feel is much more important than all of this… that’s why I do it,” he explained. “I feel I have a duty to sort of speak out for people who are less fortunate than me – and especially right now, with trans people in this country, who are being persecuted so unnecessarily and unfairly.”
Alan Cumming explains his pin for Not a Phase, which raises money for trans people: "I have a duty to speak out for people who are less fortunate than me. Especially right now, as trans people in this country are persecuted." https://t.co/YotjgEvPzj pic.twitter.com/BTqnu7ekHN
— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025
Cumming wasn’t the only celebrity to make a statement on the red carpet. Out Hacks and Too Much star Megan Stalter carried a bag that read “Cease Fire,” likely referring to the war in Gaza, while White Lotus star Natasha Rothwell voiced her support for the night’s LGBTQ+ nominees.
“I’m always rooting for everybody Black, I’m always rooting for everybody who’s a lady out there. My LGBTQIA — ally, I’m there for you guys, always,” Rothwell told Billboard.
And while RuPaul’s Drag Race may have lost the Emmy for Best Reality Competition Program to The Traitors for the second year in a row, Season 17 contestants Kori King and Joella owned the red carpet dressed as Michael Jackson (King) and a Labubu (Joella).
Later in the evening, one of the show’s biggest winners, Netflix’s searing drama Adolescence, scored another win when out British actress Erin Doherty took home the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In her speech, Doherty, who may be most recognizable to American audiences from her turn as Princess Anne in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown, shouted out partner Sinéad Donnelly, thanking her “for making me the happiest person in the world. I love you with everything I’ve got.”
Elsewhere during the ceremony, straight Hunting Wives stars Brittany Snow and Malin Åkerman nodded to their characters’ same-sex romance while presenting the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. “I don’t mind waiting for you to come out…” Åkerman said after Snow joked that she was “really slow to come out” onto the stage.
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