2013 Tony Award Nominations: The gays and straight LGBT allies well represented this year

Plenty of gays and gay friendly folks scored Tony Award nominations today – sorry I’m just now getting around to writing about it but it’s been a busy day!

First of all, I’m thrilled to see that AIDS activist and The Normal Heart playwright Larry Kramer will be presented with the Isabelle Stevenson Award.

This is an award given to a theater artist who has “made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service, or charitable organizations, regardless of whether such organizations relate to the theater.”

Harvey Fierstein, David Hyde Pierce and Nathan Lane, all previous Tony winners – and openly gay – were all nominated for Tony Awards on Tuesday.

Lane and Hyde Pierce are competing against each other for Best Actor in a Play for The Nance and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, respectively. Their competition consists of Tom Hanks for Lucky Guy, Tracy Letts for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Tom Sturridge for Orphans.

Fierstein’s nod came in the category of Best Book of a Musical for Kinky Boots which earned a leading 13 nominations in all including one for prominent LGBT ally Cyndi Lauper for best original score.

Kinky Boots, also nominated for best musical, tells the story of a shoe manufacturer who revitalizes his business by catering to drag performers.

Another well-known straight ally to the LGBT community nominated was Judith Light in the featured actress in a play category for her performance in The Assembled Party.

After a 30-plus years television career that included two Daytime Emmys for One Life to Live, eight seasons starring in Who’s the Boss and four years as a cast member on Ugly Betty, Light has been taking Broadway by storm in recent years.

She won a Tony last year as featured actress for Other Desert Cities and was nominated in the category in 2011 for Lombardi.

Here is a LINK to the full list on Tony nominees. The awards will be handed out on June 9.