Silvio Horta feels on Point

Photo credit: Linda Lenzi

It's important to know that Silvio Horta, the creator of Ugly Betty, feels "on point." How do we know this? Because last night we went to a benefit for the Point Foundation, which gives scholarships to LGBT students who've been through hard times with their families and communities, and Horta was there being honored, fresh on the heels of ABC's announcement that Ugly Betty had been picked up for a fourth season after all. Yay!

The event was star-studded: All My Children's Susan Lucci and Cameron Mathison hosted, Ana Ortiz co-directed the live auction (where two Betty walk-ons went for $10,000 apiece) and Vanessa Williams came on at the end and sang a funny song called "How Lovely to Be on Betty." (We were hoping for "Colors of the Wind," though -- we love that song!) After the ceremony, because we hadn't watchedBetty in a while (we know: we're bad gays), we didn't really know what to ask folks, so we just went around dumbly and asked them, "Are you on point?"

First, Judith Light told us she wasn't feeling very on point because her mother had just died, and we apologized for asking such a silly question. ("It's not a silly question," she replied, sweetly and wrongly.) Then we asked Arthur Laurents, 92, who wrote West Side Story and Gypsy and was honored that night for being an out-gay way back in colonial times. He didn't know what the term meant, so when we told him, and asked if he was on point, he cranked that he "didn't want to elaborate." Finally, we asked Horta, who said, "I'm feeling very on point -- open, honest, supportive, and free to speak your mind. So if that's being on point, I'm on point." Wow...we didn't know being on point meant all that. We just thought it meant being fierce and, like, putting your foundation on evenly and having your weave in place. Hm, well, now we know.

-- TIM MURPHY

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