Local gay-rights activist Andy Thayer is part of OUT Magazine’s Power 50 list this year.
The Power 50, according to a press release, represents “a who’s who of prominent gay men and women representing all walks of life.”
Thayer, a co-founder of Chicago’s Gay Liberation Network, is among “15 influential notables who should not be ignored,” Here Media’s Mark Umbach emailed Windy City Times. Thayer has organized and/or participated in numerous protests, and has taken his activism overseas, getting arrested in Moscow, Russia.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is number one. Others in the top 10 include (in order) Ellen DeGeneres, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, TV director/producer Ryan Murphy, political commentator Rachel Maddow, talk-show host Anderson Cooper, Disney Chair Rich Ross (who recently left his position), exec Barry Diller, news anchor Shepard Smith and Bravo exec Andy Cohen.
Others in the top 50 include financial guru Suze Orman, columnist/”It Gets Better” co-creator Dan Savage and actress Jane Lynch. Orman and Savage were born in Chicago; Lynch was born in Dolton, Ill.
—Andrew Davis