Last night's 40th Anniversary gala for The Advocate was very special and it got me to thinking about how much it has done for me as a journalist and a gay man to write for it. I've been assigned stories on same-sex marriage, gay prison rape, transgender violence, same-sex sexual harassment, gays in the military, gay parenting, financial planning for gay couples, profiled Miss Cleo when she came out, wrote cover stories on 'American Idol," post-Katrina gay New Orleans, gay polygamy, and the effort to overturn 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' by former gay military personnel. I've profiled groups like Lambda Legal, Soulforce, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and written all kinds of other stories that I can't recall right now. It has shaped my consciousness, helped me to not be narrow-minded and less judgmental and it has educated me about so many LGBT issues. it is impossible to measure how much I have learned working on these various stories over the last five years.
Those are my feelings about the 40th anniversary of this wonderful magazine. I asked some of the more well-known folks at last night's bash what they thought about it:
JAMES MARSDEN (actor): "I think it's great. I hope to be here for the 50th, 60th, 70th and whatever. It's a great publication and what it does for the community is terrific and I am here supporting it. It's just great to be here."

ALEC MAPA (actor/comedian): "I'm so excited and I'm so happy and... thrilled that the magazine has the political voice that it does, that it carries the weight that it does. It's a tastemaker, it's an opinion former and that wasn't the predominate case 40 years ago. I think it's a real benchmark of how far we've come."

JANE LYNCH (actress): "It was a personal and professional high point for me to grace the cover of 'The Advocate' last year. I love this magazine and am glad that it's been around. It's fought the battles, it;s hung in there and really put we as gay people into the fabric of our society. I'm so grateful to them for that and I look forward to another 40 years. I hope they're here until I die."

DARRYL STEPHENS (actor): "It's amazing that they've been around for so long. When I was a kid, the first gay magazine I ever saw was 'The Advocate.' I was with my stepfather and my little brother looking at comic books at a magazine stand and noticed 'The Advocate' cover and thought, 'The Advocate. I gotta go find out what the hell that is because there's a dude in his underwear on the cover and I think it has something to do with me. Those are my people."

MARCELLOS REYNOLDS (TV personality) : "It's very exciting to be here. 'The Advocate' is one of the few publication I think that gets it right, that isn't constantly pushing like shirtless, bottomless, sexy overdone boys, and is at least staying political. It's one the front lines of fighting for what's important to us. I'm a big fan because it always covers every spectrum of gay America - white guys, black guys, Latino guys, Asian guys. It's very inclusive and they've always been very nice to me and about me and I like that."

NEIL GIULIANO (GLAAD Executive director): "The generation that is out and proud today grew up with, and matured with, The Advocate over the last 40 years. For a lot of us who are up there now, it was the only publication. It was the publication that we knew, where we got all of our information and we have grown and matured as the publication has gorwn and matured over time. Individually, from a media perspective and as a movement. Everything has happened all together...I saw The Advocate for the first time when I was in high school, in New York City, on a magazine rack and it was kind of like,'Hmmmm. That looks interesting. It was right next to the magazine 'Screw.' I was too afraid to buy it, of course."

MICHELLE PARADISE (actress/writer): "I don't have a subscription but I get it when I go to the newsstand. It's an increbibly important magazine and I can't believe it's been around for 40 years. You just look at some of the covers that they've had and some of the issues that they've covered and it's incredibly important. It's incredible nbot only for existing for 40 years, but that it exists at all given the kind of culture we have where gay people don't have the same rights."

ERIC ALVA (First soldier injured in Iraq War. Later came out of closet): "It was an unbelievable experience [to be on the cover] because I had never imagined that I was going to be any kind of a public figure like that. My mom used to tell me when I was a kid, 'Everything happens for a reason.' Me getting hurt was something not expected but I know that I have a prupose in life and it's to stick up for people's rights. Having 'The Advocate' put me on the cover was an opportunity for people to read my story and for people to know what I sacrificed. People started to learn more about the gay men and women serving in the sacrifices we go through - even losing limbs. My story wasn't the only one in there. There were several gay veterans who had served in Iraq and other wars, you had a father and son who served in the military and both of them were gay."

DOUG SPEARMAN (actor): "Having been a former Advocate cover boy, I think it's amazing. When you're on the cover of 'The Advocate," you're basically out. It has done so much for me just as a man. I was kind of nervous about doing it but I'm glad I did because I look at these walls [where dozens of covers are hanging) and see all the other people who are out and I'm part of history. It's fantastic."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I suspected, Sherri Shepherd DOES know that the world is round. This morning on "The View," she admitted that she was nervous yesterday when Whoopi asked her the question and had something of a brain freeze. She was pretty funny in explaining it and the show, in general, had a more relaxed and loose tone without den mother Barbara Walters at the table. When Barbara is there, she undercuts Whoopi's position as moderator and Whoppi defers to her too much. But, I think that will change with time. I hope!
The women also addressed the Barry Manilow controversy but it wasn't anything too juicy. Whoopi just reiterated that you sit with one host, you with them all and Joy piped in with some remarks about it being a free speech show. Whoopi tried to close it then but Elisabeth piped in with some remark but I didn't jot it down because I was half-asleep. Had gotten up early to blog then fell back asleep! Yikes.
I think all the Manilow jazz has emboldened Hasselbeck a bit because she also mentioned that the day of her big fight with Rosie, guest Alicia Silverstone had not intentionally snubbed her and had later sent her a note saying so. okay, that'll do for now I guess but I have a feeling the Hasselbeck factor may rear its ugly head again, and again, and again.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Could this be more perfect?
The hilarious Alec Mapa, the self-proclaimed "America's Gaysian Sweetheart," has been quietly filming episodes of "Ugly Betty" playing the recurring role of fashion writer Suzuki St. Pierre. He told me this last night at the Advocate party and I was so surprised because I hadn't heard anything about it. Well soon, everyone will know because once they see Alec on the screen, they won't forget him. This gig seems to have stemmed from Alec's screamingly funny routine at this year's GLAAD Awards where he had the audience in tears.
I asked him if that night resulted in everyone wanting a piece of him:"Not only did they want a piece of me, they got a piece of me. I was cast in 'Ugly Betty' because of the GLAAD Awards appearance. I'm just there to give Vanessa Williams a hard time."
But that doesn't mean he won't still be showing up on "Desperate Housewives," a pal of Eva Longoria's character, Gabby: "I'm gonna be veering between 'Desperate' and 'Ugly' all year long - desperate and ugly, I always knew it would end this way."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ryan Barry is a personal trainer and model who, as you can see from these pictures, is ridiculously good looking. He's also the boyfriend of Reichen Lehmkuhl and the pair were at last night's anniversary party fof "the Advocate." I'll post my chat with Reichen about his role on "Dante's Cove" later but I wanted to share a brief conversation I had with Ryan. I had seen these pictures of him posted on Queerty.com and wanted to know how he felt about being so...exposed:
"It's a little embarrassing but it is fun. You can't take it too seriously [laughs]. I'm a personal trainer so I just do modeling on the side."
I asked Ryan how he feels about all the attention he and Reichen get whenever they go to an event: "I'm here to support him and if I get some opportunities along the way, you know, it's cool."
Reichen then told me: "And watch for my boyfriend on the cover of DNA Magazine in December!"
That sounds like a good idea to me!

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love wat Eva Longoria told "Access Hollywood" about having a gay couple (played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm) move onto Wisteria Lane:
"I am really excited about the gay neighbors, it is about time. I am surprised we haven’t had them before. They’re funny, oh god they’re funny. [They] have a lot with Teri Hatcher – they are like, catty with her and they don’t like her and it is so fun. They’re my neighbors. They are actually the house right next to me and I haven’t really interacted with them too much. I would love [a script involving my character and their characters]. Gabrielle should be friends with the gays."

I'm sure they will be over joining the weekly poker game in no time.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Somebody send me to an anti-blogging clinic!
I was invited to last night's 40th anniversary gala for The Advocate as a guest. I'm a contributing writer to this great magazine and wanted to enjoy the evening just meeting people and hanging out with my pal, Trevor Daley, who I had so much fun with a few weeks back on opening night for "Avenue Q."
But at the last minute, I stick my tape recorder in my pocket (just in case) and I dash out the door. When I got to the party at Republic near West Hollywood, I saw a red carpet and headed straight to it instead of the guest check-in table. Trevor and I had arrived seperately and I didn't know where the heck he was. And at that moment, I didn't care. I had stars to interview!
Had not reserved a space on the red carpet but just crashed it. Just sorta got right in there and stuck my recorder in Nikki Blonsky's face! What a cutie pie. She the girl who played Tracy in "Hairspray" and I think she's so terrifically talented. But I'd been seeing pictures of her and Zac Efron in Australia promoting the fillm so I wondered: "Aren't you exhausted?"
Nope.
"I'm getting to see the world and getting to spread this movie across the world and show this amazing creation that we all just made."
I asked her what she thought of the domestic success of "Hairspray," only the fourth musical in history to earn more than $100 million at the box office: "We kind of all went into this with no expectations, hoping and praying that it would do well and thank God our prayers were answered."
Then I spot James Marsden, the unbelievably handsome James Marsden. He was in "Hairspray" and we gabbed aboiut that and a few other things that I'll share with you in a future post. (I'm such a tease!) Also chatted up Billy Baldwin who tried to trick me into believing he was one of his brothers. But I know my Baldwin brothers and I know that he's the hottest one. Billy did the red carpet with transgendered actress Candis Cayne who plays his love intererest in the new ABC series "Dirty Sexy Money." Sorry, future post on that one too.

Then it was time to gab with two great gals, Tracy Scoggins and Thea Gill who play sisters on "Dante's Cove." I'm so glad I have already seen the first episode of season three because I was able to tell them how much I loved their Krystal-Alexis style fight. And I loved how Tracy called her a "bloody cow!" She actually improvised that line, among many others. I'll post their interviews later today as well as the chat I had with Reichen Lehmkuhl who is a cast member now and who I think will surprise people. Reichen was at the party with his beautiful boyfriend Ryan Barry who I also spoke with. Moved on to actress Jane Lynch and did an interview and chatted up Gregory Michael of "Dante's Cove."

At this point, Trevor finds me. I've been working the party for a good half hour. No need to worry about him being a lost lamb. He had been upstairs socializing and now wanted to work the downstairs room. I said: "Hey, you're MY guest and I need to work the upstairs room - NOW." Good thing too. We walked up and there we were next to T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl! I shared our official conversation with them in the previous post but it was most fun to talk with the tape recorder off. T.R. was asking about the blog an d we talked about the various pre-Emmy parties we'd seen each other at. I introduced him to Trevor and next thing I know, Trevor is posing with T.R. and some other dude for the photographer.
Can't I have any of my own TV star friends without Trevor coming up and stealing them?
We move on to a less crowded room and bump into the one and only Alec Mapa. He's an absolute hoot and in a seperate post, I'm gonna post some big casting news about America's Gaysian Sweetheart. Lotsa great guys upstairs including Darryl Stephens of "Noah's Arc" and "Boy Culture" and the mega-talented Wilson Cruz. Trevor gets me a drink. I've had no dinner and the food is scarce. I have one drink and my silly meter just goes off the charts.
Did a few more interviews before my second and last) drink. Chatted up Eric Alva, former Advocate cover subject who after being lauded as the first U.S. soldier injured in the Iraq War, came out of the closet. And it was very special for me to be able to have a few moments with Advocate editor Anne Stockwell. I told Anne what a privledge it is for me to write for the magazine and how I look forward to many more articles together. We also did an interview which, you guessed it, I'll share with you sometime over the next few days.
Meanwhile, Trevor is busy making friends including Doug Spearman, one of the hunky stars of "Noah's Arc" and an Advocate cover subject. We gabbed about the "Noah" movie to be shot before the end of the year and some other things he's got cooking.
As the clock ticked toward 11 p.m., the hunger factor was getting too hard to ignore. Free booze with little food is dangerous for me but I'm feeling good, just fine. Not so one of the guys standing next to me and Trevor in the valet line: he just falls over. One minute he's making out with another guy and the next minute, he's on the ground - and he went down with a mighty thud.
But I gotta say, it was a night worth falling over for.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Missed T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl on the red carpet last night at the anniversary party for The Advocate but was glad to catch up with them for a few minutes inside. I didn't take any photos so I'm posting one of them from two nights ago when Heigl won the Emmy for best supporting actress in a drama series for "Grey's Anatomy."
"It's really nice to be here," Katherine said. "I'm really happy to be here tonight. I'm glad we came. I'm glad I got invited."
These are two close friends who are enjoying their growing stardom together. It's been almost a year since T.R. famously came out publicly and he was on the cover of The Advocate last June.
"I was surprised that they asked and they were very, very kind to me," Knight said of "The Advocate."
Heigl told me that she gave T.R. the dog he posed with on his "Advocate" cover for his birthday. She said of the cover story: "That was kind of one of the most amazing moments. I loved his article, I love that cover so much."
Heigl is unquestionably on a career high with the huge big-screen hit "Knocked Up" and now the Emmy: "I have that terrible feeling that now something sh*tty is gonna happen [laughs] because that's how life is. It never can be too good, something will happen."
T.R. said of Emmy night "was a great time with Katherine getting it, it's a wonderful thing."
He didn't seem at all disappointed that he lost out in the supporting actor category to Terry O'Quinn of "Lost."
"Terry O'Quinn is my hero. I want to be like him, he's a phenomenal actor. Even to have my name in the group of those guys. It's such a flattering thing. That's the important thing to me."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am digging Brad Pitt more than ever these days. I think it's the father thing and the socially conscious thing. It's very sexy. Then there is the movie star thing. Here is Brad in NYC Tuesday for the premiere of his new film "The Assassination of Jesse James."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh well.
Dick won "Big Brother 8" over his daughter, Danielle by a score of 5-2. I found out tonight while I was at the 40th Anniversary Gala for The Advocate and bumped into Marcellos Reynoilds who had come straight to the party from the taping of the finale at CBS.
"I knew he was gonna win," Marcellos said. "A girl cannot win 'Big Brother' unless they get to the end with another girl. There has to be two girls at the end for a woman to win 'Big Brother.' If Danielle had put guys into the sequester house instead of mostly women, she might have won. Guys can kind of let go of things. But she put miostly girls in there and at the end you get the 'Mean Girls' syndrome."
He says he thinks Daddy Dick will give his daughter some of the $500,000 he won but "she made $50,000 for three months. That's quite a nice chunk of change."
Here are some photos from the final show including the seven evicted houseguests who made it to sequester house and onto the jury. The finale also featured all of the houseguests from the entire some including 'Out In Hollywood' faves Nick and Mike...

I know it's all hugs and kisses etc. but I still feel that Dick's behavior was so rude and obnoxious that the hoiuseguests were fools for not voting him out. And his burning Jen with a cigarette should have either gotten him out of the house or suspended from HOH and POV competitions for a week or two,
Instead, CBS and 'Big Brother' producers did nothing.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)