Tommorrow, I'll be hanging out all day at the Beverly Hilton for day two of the ABC Press Tour which makes this hit home: Outfest is really over. Why does the Los Angeles LBGT Film Festival mean so much to me?
It is such a pleasure to be able to see people like me up there on the screen in so many different genres and in well-written, well-acted quality films of substance. I was sititng with a twentysomething friend at one of the screenings who was feeling sort of over everything.
And I said to him: "You know why I'm not over everything? Because I remember what it was like to live in the closet, to not have many gay movies to see and many of those out there were about painful subjects like AIDS and living in the closet. There were so few stories with hope and that really shapes you when you're a teen and in your 20s. You wonder, "How can I ever have a happy life?"
Outfest paid tribute to the past in a completely lovely way with the restoration and screening of "Parting Glances." I hope a lot of younger people got an idea of the diginity so many displayed during those years in the 80s when AIDS was a virtual death sentence. And then you see love stories like "Shelter" and "We're All Angels" and you feel hopeful and wonderful comedies like "Love and Other Disasters" where you can see smart and successful people be as dysfunctional as you are when it comes to relationships.
But Outfest is about more than seeing terrifc movies (I took in about 30 this year between screenings and screeners) and meeting stars and directors and writers. It's about having fun with friends like my pal Trevor (pictured with me below) and making all kinds of new friends and acquaintances. I've gotten so many nice e-mails in recent days from people saying: "What are we going to do now that Outfest is over?"
Mainly, it's just the whole experience of being with thousands of people for nearly two weeks and having so many shared experiences - kind of like an alternative universe of gay people. I love that, I love that we have that. I'm old enough to really appreciate how far the festival has come in its 25 years of existence and young enough to look forward to many more.
Here are some of the postings from my incredible 2007 Outfest experience...
- From Perez Hilton to Michael Huffington: My Night at Outfest 2007
- The Cast of Ugly Betty Comes to Outfest...- Judith Light shining bright at Outfest 2007...
- Gay classic 'Parting Glances' restored and celebrated
- Experiencing 'For the Bible Tells Me So"
- "We're All Angels" tells story of Jason and deMarco
- The East Side Story boys hit Outfest...
- Gay-friendly "Brothers & Sisters" gang delights Outfest

Until next summer...