Four faces graced the Out100 cover in 2011: model Andreja Pejic, actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, comedian Kathy Griffin, and playwright/author Larry Kramer.
At the time of the cover, Pejic — who was named the "Stylemaker of the Year" — hadn't come out as trans. Instead, she was being celebrated for challenging gender norms in the world of fashion as a "male model" who often modeled women's clothing. A few years later, she continued to do that when she publicly came out as trans in 2013 and made even more history.
In 2015, Pejic was the first trans model to be featured in American Vogue. And two years later, she became the first trans model signed to the iconic Ford Modeling Agency. Now, trans models like Leyna Bloom, Valentina Sampaio, and Ariel Nicholson are following in her footsteps — making the fashion world even more welcoming for people of all genders.
Andrej Pejic Named 'Stylemaker of the Year' for Out100www.out.com
The powerhouse ABC sitcom Modern Family was in its third season in 2011. Ferguson, who played one half of America's favorite TV gay couple alongside Mitchell Pritchett, had been nominated for a second consecutive Emmy Award.
Ferguson also introduced the world to his boyfriend, Justin Mikita, in 2011. Two years later, they tied the knot in a ceremony officiated by playwright Tony Kushner. The two lovebirds are still happily married and have two children together.
While on Modern Family, Ferguson showed U.S. viewers that gay families were just like any other family — and he now gets to do that himself in real life.
Jesse Tyler Fergusonwww.out.com
Kathy Griffin, Out's Entertainer of the Year, is still just as incendiary today as she's ever been. In 2014, she won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for Calm Down Gurrl and continued to release more comedy specials and albums over the years.
In 2017, Griffin lit the internet on fire when she posed for a photoshoot holding a mask styled to look like the bloody head of disgraced then-president Donald Trump. The move caused her to be dropped from several sponsorship deals, jobs, and comedy shows, and even to be put on the No Fly List.
However, none of that has stopped the comedian. She instead used the controversy to go on her Laugh Your Head Off World Tour, where she talked about the controversy to sold out shows everywhere she went. On November 4, 2020, Griffin re-posted the image in celebration of her 60th birthday and the day after Trump lost reelection to Joe Biden. She continues to push buttons, light fires, and unapologetically fight for gay rights today.
Kathy Griffin, Entertainer of the Yearwww.out.com
The 2011 Out100's Legend of the Year was writer and playwright Larry Kramer, who passed away in 2020 from pneumonia. Thankfully, he got to adapt his Tony-winning play The Normal Heart into an HBO movie, which won him an Emmy. Kramer's legacy is also kept alive by the AIDS activism group he co-founded in the 80s, the Gay Men's Health Crisis. In 2015, the organization named its Larry Kramer Activism Award after him.
