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Preserving Our Legacy One Party at a Time

Outfest's annual Legacy Awards honor producer Bruce Cohen and NBC Universal's Ben Silverman. Silverman takes the opportunity to announce his mother is gay. Outfest introduces its new executive director, Todd Heustess.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted September 25, 2008
Preserving Our Legacy One Party at a Time
Molly Shannon, Outfest deputy director Kirsten Schaffer,
and Ben Silverman

Milk producer Bruce Cohen and NBC Universal were honored on Wednesday night at Outfest’s Legacy Awards, held at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles and hosted by Bruce Vilanch.

Cohen was presented with his “Outtie” award by good friend Ewan McGregor. As he went to the podium to claim the statue Cohen greeted McGregor with a hug and a kiss, remarking in a singsong voice, “I just kissed Ewan McGregor on the lips. See, that is what this evening was all about.” Cohen is a longtime supporter of Outfest and helped start the Outfest Legacy Project, which works to restore historic LGBT films and videos, but he used his acceptance speech to thank everyone else who was there, including his husband, and to ask the audience to get active in fighting Proposition 8.

NBC Universal was also honored for its commitment to diversity and the portrayal of LGBT characters in its films and television shows. Accepting the award is NBC Entertainment cochair Ben Silverman, who was presented the award by Molly Shannon, star of NBC’s upcoming Kath & Kim. His speech outlined the company’s continuing commitment to the community, then ended on a personal note. “I debated whether or not to say this, as I am a bit of a press target,” said Silverman. The audience was waiting for him to come out. “No, it’s not me,” he continued. “But my mother is gay.”

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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: DD.
    Date posted: 2008-09-29 8:27 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    I forgot Ben's mom was gay. So's mine.


  • Name: brian
    Date posted: 2008-09-26 3:58 PM
    Hometown: Los Angeles

    Comment:

    Mary does have her own show, In Plain Sight. It's a basic cable drama, but with the quality of the network trash, you should definitely check it out. I'm a big fan.


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