It's come to the end of the year, and OUT Magazine has unleashed it's 17th Annual OUT 100 list featuring the most powerful gay movers and shakers in the business. While I have had my issues with Out mostly putting straight people on the cover of a gay publication to sell magazines, I do applaud them for their extensive research into highlighting some of entertainment's most creative and unapologetic contributors. Once again I just wish we could get more black, latino and asian LGBT artists out there to get in the magazine, who are making moves in other genres besides reality TV and white media. Yes a few made the cut but not enough.
Jared Eng, Blogger
Founder of the Just Jared blog, Eng’s enthusiastic tone has secured him a following to rival Perez Hilton. “I’ve always celebrated celebrities,” he says. “I’d never want to tear them down.”
Brad Goreski, Stylist
The 2008 premiere of Bravo’s The Rachel Zoe Project introduced the world to Brad Goreski, Zoe’s meticulously groomed, energetic assistant. Since then, he’s parted ways with the celebrity stylist and branched out on his own. Up next for the dapper front-row fixture — known for his signature dandy-prepster lewk — is his own reality TV endeavor, Its a Brad, Brad World, also on Bravo. “You’ll get to see the Brad you’re familiar with, and then a Brad you don’t really know,” he says, before adding, “but you’ll see a lot of outfits.”
Andy Cohen, TV Executive
Andy Cohen is executive vice president of original programming and development at Bravo and host of the late-night Watch What Happens Live, where a lot actually does happen. For Cohen, it’s important to show that being gay is not the only thing that defines us. “There’s a cavalcade of people on Bravo who just happen to be gay, but they’re also really good at something. They’re not on because they’re gay. I think that’s really important.”
Daniel O’Donnell, New York State Assembly Member
The fact that New York passed same-sex marriage is partially because of the tireless efforts of key politicians. The first openly gay man in the New York State Assembly, O’Donnell has represented various neighborhoods of Manhattan known for their liberal views (and happens to be Rosie O’Donnell’s brother), but his years of diligence finally paid off in the landmark legislation for equal rights.
Adam Lambert, Pop Icon
Though Adam Lambert admits he felt “a little uncomfortable” with his role model status early on, the flamboyant singer has since taken a major stand for gay rights, lending star power to causes like Equality California, PFLAG, and The Trevor Project. Lambert’s second album, which he is executive producing, is due out next year, and he promises it will be “even more personal than the last.”
Gareth Thomas, Rugby Player
In the brutal contact sport of rugby, Gareth Thomas proved time and again to be one of the most ferocious (and decorated) players on the field. Thomas is one of only a handful of out professional athletes. It’s apt that his current team is the Crusaders, as Thomas is certainly breaking barriers and opening up a world of possibility for other gay athletes. And who else could play this Welsh badass in an upcoming biopic but tough-guy actor Mickey Rourke?
Tim Gunn, TV Personality & Fashion Guru
For nine seasons, Tim Gunn has acted as the fastidious, no-nonsense mentor on Project Runway, encouraging contestants with his now-signature missive to “make it work.”” Gunn honed his discerning eye during a nearly 25-year tenure on staff at Parsons. His blend of fussy but compassionate guidance charmed audiences and catapulted him into a Bravo makeover spin-off, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, and a trio of bestselling books, the most recent of which, Shaken, Not Stirred, was released earlier this year.
Geri Jewell, Comedian, Actor & Writer
Jo might have been the butchest of the girls on The Facts of Life, but Geri Jewell, who played Cousin Geri, was the real-life lesbian. A comedian with cerebral palsy, Jewell broke ground as the first person with a visible disability to have a regular role on a primetime network series. She was also a regular on HBO’s Deadwood, and this year, released her autobiography, I’m Walking as Straight as I Can. “I wrote it to tell my truth and a part of my truth is being gay. If I didn’t tell that part of who I am, it would be like writing an autobiography and not saying I have cerebral palsy.”
Dan Savage, Journalist, Writer & Activist
Dan Savage — editorial director of Seattle’s alternative newsweekly The Stranger and the author of The Kid — exerted his influence over two decades in his internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column “Savage Love,” and now on his weekly “Savage Lovecast,” both of which offer blunt advice to people of… all sexual persuasions. Last year, Savage and husband Terry Miller created the It Gets Better campaign in response to a rash of high-profile gay teen suicides connected to bullying. As he explained in a column after the death of Billy Lucas, “I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were, however isolated and alone he was, it gets better.” This past March, he and Miller edited a book of inspiring essays (also titled It Gets Better) that made The New York Times Best Seller list. Savage is currently traveling to college campuses, taping an MTV show, Savage U, that offers students a crash course on relationships, sex, and love.
Chaz Bono, Writer & Activist
The furor directed at ABC after it announced that Chaz Bono, who underwent reassignment surgery last year, would be included in the current season of hit reality show Dancing With the Stars simply confirmed the value of the network’s bold decision. After years in which American Idol contestants were encouraged to keep their sexuality private, seeing Bono dancing with his female instructor was one of television's most inspiring images of 2011 -- and a salutary reminder of how rare such positive images are. Bono's other achievements this year include a documentary, Becoming Chaz, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered three Emmy nominations, and the publication of his third book, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man.
Dustin Lance Black, Screenwriter and Playwright
As the most visible gay person in the film industry, Dustin Lance Black hasn’t shied away from addressing difficult, often-controversial subjects. He recently returned to theater, penning 8, which addresses California’s Proposition 8. Black’s stature and influence -- such as his Oscar-winning script for Milk and his latest credit for J. Edgar -- could be attributed to his creative output alone, but he backs this up with fervent activism. “I hope that by the end of this year, we are not only celebrating marriage equality in New York, but the fruits of a federal victory in regards to the Prop. 8 case,” says Black, who’s been a leading figure in the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the sponsor of the groundbreaking federal court case to overturn the state law.
Mark Kanemura, Choreographer
It’s safe to say that one need not worry about homophobia when the boss is Lady Gaga. Mark Kanemura first danced with Gaga during the infamous bloody “Paparazzi” performance, during MTV’s 2009 VMAs, and is featured in videos for “Alejandro,” “Telephone,” “Judas,” and “Born This Way.” He’s also worked with Katy Perry, Janet Jackson, and Beyoncé, and before that, was a finalist on So You Think You Can Dance. It’s his work with pop’s current reigning queen, however, that has transformed his life. “I am living a life that I want to be living right now,” he says. “I’m not hiding in any way. The nice thing about touring with Gaga and working with Laurieann [Gibson, her choreographer,] is that they’re so supportive of you as an artist and you as a person. They allow you to be the person that you are when you’re dancing.”
Andrej Pejic, Stylemaker of the Year
The model Andrej Pejic is the embodiment of intersections. Australian and Serbo-Croatian, he walks in both men's and women's shows (famously closing Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 2011 couture show in a fur-trimmed dress). "The truth is I have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously," Pejic says, although he's stomped in high heels all over the narrow parameters of the chiseled male model. "Most male models have girlfriends, but backstage, when no one is looking, they like to pinch me," he says. In October, he met with the Queen of England as one of the most influential Australians of the year. Pejic wore a vintage leather Versace pencil skirt. "Let's face it, we all love a good queen," he says. "I went for a '90s Sharon Stone look. The palace was beautiful; I felt right at home." See the inspiration for this portrait here.
Nicola Formichetti, Creative Director
Before an artistic partnership with Lady Gaga made him a household name (the infamous meat dress was his idea), Nicola Formichetti had established himself as a driving creative force among fashion insiders and continues to work as a stylist and editor. Last year, Formichetti was also named creative director of MUGLER — the relaunch of the iconic label founded by Thierry Mugler — and is determined to democratize fashion. “I’m not an elitist,” he says. “I want everyone to share what we’re about.”
For the complete list of Out's movers and shakers, head here
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