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Annual OUT 100 includes Dustin Lance Black, Geri Jewell, Gareth Thomas and David Mixner so far

. Click to move to next slide. The most attention OUT Magazine’s annual OUT 1oo issue ever got was several years back when they featured Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster on the cover.

Neither has ever denied being gay, but they certainly don’t talk about it – although sometime after that issue, I was at a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel where Jodie did acknowledge her longtime partner from who she has since split and I was the only journalist there to report on it.

Anyway, I’m all for celebrating folks who celebrate being gay and the latest edition of the OUT 100 has that – at least so far. The magazine unveiled some of its selections and will continue to do so in the coming days.

They will include a gay intern who helped save the life of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords; a young transgender student was crowned high school prom queen; a New York City lawyer became the first openly gay man appointed to the federal bench; and an air force officer, who helped found an undercover group of 4,000 LGBT active-duty service members, was free to come out — along with tens of thousands of his colleagues.

They will also include legends such as Larry Kramer – whose 1985 play, The Normal Heart, received a stunning revival on Broadway this past season — as well as iconoclasts, like Justin Vivian Bond and Sandra Bernhard, and newsmakers, such as Chaz Bono, whose participation in the most recent season of Dancing With the Stars was as groundbreaking as it was stirring.

Here are three of the first crop of people unveiled. I’ll have more in the coming days:

Dustin Lance Black, <em>Screenwriter &  Playwright</em>. Click to move to next slide.

Dustin Lance Black, Screenwriter &
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.

Geri Jewell, <em>Comedian, Actor & Writer</em> . Click to move to next slide.

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.”

Gareth Thomas, <em>Rugby Player</em>. Click to move to next slide.

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?

To see who else who has been revealed so far, go to Out.com.

FILE UNDER: Out Stars

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One Remark

  1. Whew–love me some Gareth.

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