Out 100 Diary

Attended the Out 100 gala last week and while it's possible the last 15 or so years of New York City parties have become a bit of a blur, I honestly can't remember a more fabulous event. Went with my "publishing hot" friend David, an Out 100 virgin who's actually pretty hot by nonpublishing standards too, and was immediately taken by the glam venue -- Skylight Soho --and feel of the night, which had the vibe of a post-Oscars party in Hollywood. As we made our way to the coat check, I quickly spotted Andy Cohen (racing to the VIP area) and Dan Choi (still working that uniform for everything it's worth) and my pal Derek Hartley. (I couldn't decide what was more shocking -- that Derek was wearing a suit or that he had arrived at an event before 10:30, as he's normally busy from 6 to 10 daily with his Sirius/XM show). From there, it was just one familiar face (and often bold-faced name) after the next -- equally distributed among the world of media and entertainment (for the purposes of this post, let's pretend there's a difference). Working our way toward the bar on the left, David and I then bumped into Chris Rovzar, who told me he was finally settling in at his new gig at Vanity Fair after years at New York magazine's Daily Intel blog, and his strapping lover, Cub. They introduced me to Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, who stunned the world coming out as an undocumented immigrant earlier this year in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Jose and I had a lengthy chat about his plight (hearing about my copy-editing background, he pleaded with me to urge The Associated Press to end its use of "illegal" immigrant/alien, etc.), then told me how much he'd appreciated that my brother (a longtime WaPo editor) had reached out to him during his ordeal. We then bumped into Emmy Award-winning producer Dave Grant, who could finally see how great I look thanks to his recent LASIK surgery, which he and beau Andy Towle both had done on my recommendation by my trusty surgeon. Dave started chatting up a guy with an impressive beard, which turned the conversation to Movember, and my chastising Dave for not joining the fun. (He claims he even had a fierce beard right up until the Out 100, but I didn't believe his Scandinavian ass for a minute.) Dave then led us over to where Andy was -- he half-jokingly told me he was concerned that he'd wind up with a bull's eye on his back for getting his photo taken in a Target-sponsored photo booth given the retailer's anti-gay campaign contributions -- along with their pal legendary activist (and Africa expert) David Mixner, who was holding court on a bench near the main room (sort of a pop-up "Mixner's Corner"). I haven't seen so many cute men drop to their knees at once since the back room at the Cock closed on Avenue A -- with Wilson Cruz leading the list. By this point I was feeling a little happy (my guest and I had had two pre-party drinks at EN Japanese Brasserie nearby), so I thought it might be picture time (Eric Stonestreet of "Modern Family" was easy as pie). But after getting turned down by Wendy Williams --"I don't take photos unless I absolutely have to," were her exact words, "but I will give you a 'How you doing?' she then offered, clearly sensing my lack of amusement -- I chucked my blogger hat in the garbage and decided to take the night off and just have fun. (What's most annoying is that I didn't even really want her photo in the first place but asked because Michael, a native New Yorker, has always loved her.) We then saw Larry Kramer and Kathy Griffin in the distance (I later learned her security guard elbowed a friend of mine when he tried to get close), then Jesse Tyler Ferguson and real-life lover who would never be going out with him if he weren't famous Justin Mikita (thank god I wasn't in picture mode by then -- don't need another cat fight with that red menace!). At some point, wrestler Hudson Taylor spoke against bullying and Wynter Gordon tried to bully us into listening to her perform. (Everyone just wanted to talk.) But we retreated to the back bar we kept using (home of the world's SLOWEST bartender of all time), where cutie Jake Shears (with actor Wesley Taylor) was hanging out, and where we then ran into the always-adorable Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin (better known as Ben & Dave's Six Pack) and Gawker's Brian Moylan. After getting refills, we chatted with Mike Signorile for a bit back in the main room, where we saw Alan Cumming, Daniel O'Donnell, David Millbern and Lorenzo Martone milling about. As we contemplated calling it a night, my date's evening was made with a sighting of his favorite model ("I'm still mesmerized by my visions of Andrej Pejic," David e-mailed me the morning after), who was nearly one-upped in the androgyny department by an extra-glammed-up Adam Lambert, who we had somehow missed until this point. Afterward as we got a slice at the nearby pizzeria, we both agreed we'd had a great time at what David had heard was known as the Gay Oscars. I'm not sure if the Out 100 qualifies as being the Gay Oscars or not -- aren't the actual Oscars the "gay" Oscars? -- but after so many years in the city, they felt a bit like a high school reunion of sorts, only one where I actually know -- and like! -- a lot of my classmates. And that's a missed experience I'm happy to have filled in my "out" life. Congrats to everyone at Out for putting on a truly memorable night!