In celebration of the 17th anniversary of its Out100 issue, Out revealed its four commemorative covers, which highlight — among others — Entertainer of the Year Kathy Griffin and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who has been declared their Artist of the Year. (Pictured right, with fellow cover models Andrej Pejic and Larry Kramer.) The issue, which honors the men and women who made notable strides throughout 2011 in the LGBT community, features a list that includes Adam Lambert (who previously met with controversy following his appearance on Out‘s 2009 issue), Chaz Bono, Dustin Lance Black, Andy Cohen, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, Brad Goreski, Roland Emmerich, and EW’s own Jess Cagle.
Griffin said of her long-standing relationship with gay men, “We have each other’s back … I was beyond a nerd [in school]. 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.” Modern Family‘s Ferguson (who calls the Emmy-winning sitcom “a cultural touchstone for gay marriage”), on the other hand, joked about his Artist of the Year title, “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.”
The Out100 issue hits stands on Nov. 22.
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