Apple's Tim Cook Tops Out's Power 50 List

Out Magazine today published its ninth annual ranking of the 50 most powerful LGBT people in the United States.  Taking the top spot from last year's list leader, Ellen DeGeneres, is Apple CEO Tim Cook, who formally came out six months ago. Here is this year's top ten:

1. Tim Cook
2. Ellen DeGeneres
3. Rachel Maddow
4. Sen. Tammy Baldwin
5. Anderson Cooper
6. Anthony Romero 
7. Chad Griffin
8. Mary Kay Henry
9. Laverne Cox
10. Andy Cohen

Romero is the executive director of the ACLU and Henry is the head of the SEIU. Missing from the list for the second year is closeted homocon blogger Matt Drudge, who ranked at #21 in 2013 and at #16 in 2012. Fellow homocons Peter Thiel and Ken Mehlman appear on this year's ranking at #13 and #41 respectively, with closeted Fox anchor Shepard Smith coming at #20. Also gone this year is recently retired blogger Andrew Sullivan, who ranked at #26 last year. Hit the top link for the full 2015 list.

NEW YORK CITY: At The Out 100 Party

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims and boyfriend Brandon McMullin were among the gay glitterati in attendance at last night's Out 100 party at Stage 48 in Hell's Kitchen. Also seen above are Out 100 honorees Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson with his husband Cheng He, journalist Chris Geidner, Liz Margolies, founder of the National LGBT Cancer Network, and her trans activist husband Scout, director of LGBT Health Link. Orange Is The New Black actress Lea DeLaria hosted and pop singer Mary Lambert was among the performers. I hung out for a bit with NYC Councilman Corey Johnson and Dan Pepitone (above) and caught glimpses of Jason Collins and Zachary Quinto, but didn't get a chance to grab a photo, dammit.

COVERS: The 2014 Out 100

Out Magazine Unveils 2014 Out 100 List

Out Magazine has unveiled this year's Out 100 list. The 2014 ranking features Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner (seated above) and New York Times writer Josh Barro (third from left.) Others on the list are Dan Savage, Larry Kramer, Andy Bell, Armistead Maupin, Jason Collins, Richard Chamberlain, Carmen Carrera, and the cast of Looking.  See the full list.

Michael Sam For Out Magazine

Out Issues Power 50 Ranking

Out Magazine today published its eighth annual ranking of the 50 most powerful LGBT people in the United States.  Here's a bit of the list.

1. Ellen DeGeneres
2. Tim Cook
3. Rachel Maddow
4. Sen. Tammy Baldwin
5. Glenn Greenwald
6. Ryan Murphy
7. Neil Patrick Harris
8. Andy Cohen
9. Michael Sam
10. Robin Roberts

Homocon billionaire Peter Thiel is #13. Former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman is #18. Andrew Sullivan is #26. New to the list is DOMA attorney Roberta Kaplan at #47. Curiously missing from this year's ranking is closeted homocon blogger Matt Drudge, who ranked at #21 last year and at #16 in 2012. Since there's no obvious reason for Drudge to completely fall off the list in one year, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody got a cease-and-desist letter.

Out's 100 Most Eligible Bachelors

Out Magazine has published its annual 100 Most Eligible Bachelors list and while bear icon/PA state Rep. Brian Sims is on the list...so is Ken Mehlman.  Also featured: Jason Collins, Mo Rocca, Nate Silver, and Ricky Martin.

UPDATE: Out is asking readers to vote on their favorites. Sims is currently in second place behind Adam Lambert.

This Year's Out 100 Covers

Anti-Gay Wingnut Calls For Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith To Come Out, Says Nothing About Matt Drudge

Noting that Out Magazine has (for several years) listed Fox News anchor Shepard Smith as one of America's "most powerful" gay people, anti-gay crackpot Cliff Kincaid is demanding that Smith come out.  But Kincaid has NOTHING to say about homocon Matt Drudge, who has also appeared on the list for years.  Kincaid works for the hilariously named Accuracy In Media, which earlier this month published a 40,000-word report declaring that Fox News has gone pro-gay. That report was authored by....Porno Pete.

Robbie Rogers, OUT Coverboy

Robbie Rogers tells Out Magazine what he considers to be the best part of now being openly gay:

The biggest thing for me was being in the locker room, again, with a group of guys. Because those are the guys you’re with every day; they become like brothers, guys that you fight and train with every day. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I was a total outcast, where people would be walking on eggshells around me, talking behind my back. They haven’t, but that possibility scared the shit out of me. It was like, I don’t want it to be like that, I don’t want to live my life that way.

Out Hates Voice Cover On Quinn

"Take a look at that illustration. No, really take a look. What is that fleshy redhead doing holding that puny penis in between her index and thumb? Is she about to put it in her mouth? Take a deep, mouth-filling drag of that cigar-cum-phallus? Chew on the tobacco stick? Or is she about to flick it away, stomp on it, crush that symbol of power, decadence, and privilege? It all depends on how you look at it. But it was the decision of the once-respected free weekly alternative newspaper to portray the New York City Council Speaker and mayoral frontrunner in one of the most sexist illustrations that I have seen on the most (once-perceived) left-leaning periodicals in the country." - Jerry Portwood, writing for Out Magazine. Later in the piece, Portwood add that he doesn't see how the Voice isn't trying to make Quinn look like a "man-hating bull dyke."

Apple CEO Tim Cook Tops Out's Power 50

Via press release:

Tim Cook, number 1 on this year’s Power 50 list, took charge of tech giant Apple as CEO in 2011 and has guided the company through significant upgrades on all of its product lines and helped the brand increase its market share to 20% of all money spent on U.S. consumer technology. This year marks the first time Anderson Cooper (No. 5) is publicly out on the list. Meanwhile, Nate Silver, a newcomer to the list, proved to be a wunderkind statistician, prognosticating the 2012 presidential election with, at final count, 100% accuracy on his New York Times blog, FiveThirtyEight.

R&B star Frank Ocean makes his list debut at #10. Closeted homocon Matt Drudge is #21. See the full list.

Michelangelo Signorile Named To Out 100

Out Magazine is teasing out the names on their 18th annual ranking of the most 100 influential LGBT Americans. In the first batch of names is my pal and SiriusXM host, Michelangelo Signorile. Our congrats to Mike!  Hit the link for more names.

Chris Kluwe: Out Cover Star

Fantastic.

Out Lays Off Entire Staff

Capitol New York reports that Out Magazine has laid off its entire editorial staff.

The editorial staff of the influential gay lifestyle magazine Out is being laid off with one month's severance as of Friday, Capital has learned. But according to Out editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin, it's more complicated than that. Hicklin said he will hire back an unspecified number of editors on a contract basis into a new company he is founding called Grand Editorial. It will operate the magazine as a contractor for Here Media, a subsidiary of Regent Media, which acquired Out in 2008. Hicklin told Capital there will be no reduction in the frequency of the magazine or other major changes to the content. "This was not a cost-cutting measure," he said.

Not a cost-cutting measure?

Out is Hicklin's first, and so far only, client. He said he plans to offer long-term contracts at Grand to "most" of his 12 editorial employees at Out. Should any of them take it, he said, the gig will come with flexible hours and the opportunity to work on other projects in the Grand stable, but not full-time salaries or benefits. (They will be contracted freelancers.) [snip] Hicklin said he doesn't have any outside investors and that revenue at this point will be project-based, a prospect that has been met with gentle skepticism from some Out staffers: Here Media has had problems paying its freelancers and vendors over the past several years.

RELATED: In November 2009 it was announced that The Advocate would henceforth be shipped only in combination with sister publication Out, ending after 40+ years the stand-alone status of the nation's most highly regarded LGBT news source.

Out Magazine

Architect Of Anti-Gay State Amendments Named To Out Magazine's "Out 100"

Because Ken Mehlman finally came out as a millionaire gay banker and then played a "quietly instrumental role" in New York's marriage equality battle, the folks at Out Magazine have forgiven his days as the head of the Republican National Committee, where he orchestrated numerous successful statewide campaigns to demonize and make illegal the lives and loves of LGBT people.

For all those millions of people made miserable by Ken Mehlman? Forgiven. The kids who killed themselves because of relentlessly vicious campaigns spawned by Ken Mehlman? Forgotten. The anti-gay politicians funded last year by Ken Mehlman? Ignored.

UPDATE: On their blog, Out Magazine notes this post and asks for feedback.

"We also announced Tom Duane and Daniel O'Donnell, two politicians essential in the fight for same-sex marriage in New York State. Should we only recognize the steadfastly positive and not the ones who may have a more complicated track record?"

UPDATE II: The Advocate (Out's sister publication) notes this post and quotes Out editor Aaron Hicklin.

Hicklin contends that Mehlman, and people like him, are necessary to advance marriage equality nationwide. "He is a savvy political operator, and we need people with his experience and influence to help our fight," Hicklin said. "I expected his inclusion to elicit some protests, but ultimately it’s up to readers themselves to decide how they feel about his record. The media’s role is to provoke conversation, and in this we clearly succeeded."

Out Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Gays

Out Magazine has issued this year's list of the 50 "most powerful" gay people. New Apple "acting" CEO Tim Cook heads the list on his first appearance. Billionaire GOProud moneyman and libertarian whackadoodle Peter Thiel ranks at #7. Another GOProud member and the 21st century Roy Cohn, Ken Mehlman, debuts at #37. Hit the link for bios on everybody.

Out Magazine Releases Sex Survey

Out Magazine has issued its first-ever sex survey of its readers. The sample size is small, 1000 people, and the results are only indicative of folks who read Out, not the LGBT population as a whole. Still, there's some interesting factoids such as the above.

COVER SHOT: The Out 100 Of 2010

Out Magazine sends us the cover for the 16th annual Out 100 issue.

Entertainer of the Year — Ricky Martin: “I am Hispanic, and I am a gay man, and they both struggle. Is it a big responsibility? It can be as big as I want it to be,” Martin tells Out. Embracing both fatherhood and new status as a gay role model, Martin, who opens up in his new memoir, Me, looks forward to teaching his twin boys acceptance and love and a day when he proudly walks them down the red carpet!

Diva of the Year — Johnny Weir: “Every little boy should be so lucky as to turn into me,” Weir declared unapologetically after two Canadian broadcasters suggested he undergo a “gender test” during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. With his flair for flamboyance and commitment to glamour, Weir never shies away from controversy—or pageantry.

Artist of the Year — Julianne Moore: “I don’t think a movie like The Kids Are All Right could be made if this wasn’t the way that families are living today all over the United States,” Moore states. The actress, a four-time Oscar nominee, began her activism some 25 years ago after her first experience with what would become the AIDS pandemic.

Newsmaker of the Year — Rachel Maddow: Growing up in the time of the AIDS pandemic gave Maddow a compelling perspective on the state of gay activism, especially now in the age of Obama. “We continue to have a sort of lackadaisical gay political movement that has a relationship with Democrat politicians that doesn’t serve gay rights: ‘We want to be close to you.’ Beautiful! But if we’re not getting anything for that, then it’s actually counterproductive.”

Stylemaker of the Year – Nate Berkus: Oprah protégé Berkus recently became the first openly gay man to host a daily nationally syndicated television show, and the guru is not taking that responsibility lightly. “Having a daily show is an opportunity for me not to push a political agenda, but to speak out for tolerance and understanding and equality,” he notes.