David Hyde Pierce Upset Winner at Tony Awards

The two biggest winners of the evening were Spring Awakening, which dominated the musical categories taking home eight awards, and The Coast of Utopia, capturing a record a seven wins, the most ever for a drama.

The Tony Awards have long been a gay-friendly event, but it was nonetheless refreshing to not only see so many gay men thanking their partners, but to have television cameras show the obvious love and affection they shared.

It wasn't that long ago that gay winners were reluctant to mention their significant others, and for television cameras to avoid showing their reactions, especially if physical affection were involved. Happily, those days now seem to be far behind us.

Also adding to the gay-friendly evening was the appearance of other out actors there to present awards including Neil Patrick Harris (Cabaret), Tony Award winning actor Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray) who didn't hesitate to deliver a cheeky one-liner about how many actors he has "given" it to, Tommy Tune (The Will Roger Follies) and gay favorites Bernadette Peters (Annie Get Your Gun) and Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago).

No doubt, many gay men also took note of young Mark Indelicato who plays Justin on Ugly Betty, Kevin Spacey (A Moon for the Misbegotten) and John Mahoney (Frasier, Prelude to a Kiss).

Pierce's acceptance speech marked the actor's most public acknowledgment he is a gay man. Speculation about his sexuality had longer surrounded the Frasier star, but his only comment was to say, "My life is an open book, but don't expect me to read it to you." But never before had he made it so clear that he is, in fact, gay than he did at the Tonys.

Pierce's sexual orientation was in the news as recently as two weeks ago when he gave an interview to the AP which included one of the first mentions of his relationship with Hargrove. The comment didn't come until near the very end of the article which included the information that Pierce had moved to Los Angeles in the early 90's when Hargrove--an actor-writer-producer--wanted to write for television.

Wanting to be certain that the article's use of the word "partner" indicated a romantic relationship as opposed to a business one, AfterElton.com contacted a spokesperson for Curtains who confirmed that two men were indeed a couple.

It was gratifying to see that confirmed yet gain Sunday night with millions of Americans tuned in to watch. For a full list of the winners, check out the official site for the Tonys.