Hilary Swank headlines at Hetrick-Martin bash

Hilary Swank won an Oscar for playing transgendered murder victim Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry, so she makes a natural spokesperson for Manhattan's Hetrick-Martin Institute, a nonprofit agency serving the needs of gay and lesbian youth. Syndicated columnist Liz Smith reports that Swank will host this year's fund-raising event on Monday, November 12, at Metropolitan Pavilion (125 W. 18th St.) in New York City. Honorees include Christopher Rice, the young out novelist who gets his sense of the spooky from mom Anne Rice; New York City schools chancellor Harold O. Levy; the institute's outgoing director, Verna Eggleston; and MTV, for all the good gay and lesbian images in their programming.