OUT100 Unveils Special Issue Covers

Today, OUT unveiled four separate covers of its highly anticipated OUT100 issue. Celebrating the issue's 17th Anniversary, the four covers feature comedienne and LGBT ally, Kathy Griffin; actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson; model Andrej Pejic; and legend and activist Larry Kramer. 

Featuring stunning portraits by photographer Gavin Bond, the OUT100 pays homage to the men and women who have made 2011 a year to remember.

In the issue, Kathy Griffin is named "Entertainer of the Year." When famous women flaunt their relationships with gays, it can have a disingenuous aura - with Kathy Griffin, it's another story entirely. "We have each other's back," she says. Kathy's affinity for the LGBT community started in school. "I was beyond a nerd. I was that girl who went to the dance with a gay guy, but he didn't know he was gay yet. I asked four guys to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and they all said ‘No.' Do you know how embarrassing that is? And then, one adorable gay man who just happened to be in Fiddler on the Roof with me said ‘Yes.' We've been friends ever since," she tells the magazine.

Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson is named "Artist of the Year," by OUT100. Ferguson kicked off 2011 by introducing his boyfriend of a few months, lawyer Justin Mikita, to the press. The couple was heading into Elle's Women in Television event, where they hadn't planned on making any pronouncements. "We were holding hands as we went around the corner, and suddenly we were on the red carpet," said the actor. "I wasn't going to stop holding his hand." As the year comes to a close, Ferguson and Mikita are still going strong. On being named OUT's "Artist of the Year," he jokes, "Jane Lynch must have said, ‘I don't want it this year, stop showering me with praise, please give it to someone else. And I was, like, fourth on the Someone Else list." Hardly. As the real-life gay half of TV's most lovable gay couple, Ferguson is in a unique position, "To have job security and to have it on a show that people are looking to as a cultural touchstone for gay marriage - that's extraordinary."

Nominated for an Academy-Award in 1969 for his screenplay of Women in Love, it was Larry Kramer's 1978 confrontational novel, Faggots, that truly announced his voice. He co-founded Gay Men's Health Crisis in 1982. Then, when that didn't seem sufficient, he went on to create ACT UP in 1987. But it was his play, The Normal Heart, first produced in April 1985 at The Public Theater, for which most will remember. A successful Broadway revival this past season, directed by fellow OUT100 honoree George C. Wolfe and Joel Grey, gave people a reason to reconsider the man of letters, allowing the work to transform from agitprop into sensitive historical drama.

As previously announced model Andrej Pejic has been named OUT100's "Stylemaker of the Year." Pejic is the embodiment of intersections. Australian and Serbo-Croatian, he walks in both men's and women's shows, and famously closed Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring 2011 couture show in a fur-trimmed dress. 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 90's Sharon Stone look. The palace was beautiful: I felt right at home."

For a sneak-peak of the issue, which will be available on November 22nd, and behind-the-scenes exclusive content, please visit OUT.com (www.out.com/OUT100).

The OUT100 Presented by Buick culminates with an exclusive, star-studded celebration in New York City on November 17, 2011. The VIP, invite-only event will be held at Skylight Soho. Additional proud sponsors of the OUT100 event are Target, (BELVEDERE) RED, AT&T, and Peroni Beer.

OUT is currently available to consumers as a monthly print publication found on newsstands and at select retailers or via subscription. OUT can also be accessed digitally at www.out.com or on Apple mobile devices through the Zinio application.

For updates on the OUT100 list and exclusive content, please visit www.out.com/OUT100.