Out magazine’s 50 most powerful

AP PhotoEllen is the face of gay America. Plaid Old Navy shorts and sneakers are what it means to be powerful now…but I guess Zac Efron already knew that…

While most of us languish in our relative poverty and obscurity, despite the myth of the affluent gay, there are those among us who do indeed wield significant power. Out Magazine’s 2nd annual Power 50 lets you know who they are…if you didn’t already…

The rankings were determined by scoring each candidate on these criteria: (1) political clout; (2) pop-cultural resonance; (3) individual wealth; and (4) current personal profile.

We rescored the 2007 list based on the events of the past year, moving those folks up or down – or off the list entirely. Lest you think we took our task lightly, the calculus for the seemingly mercurial changes involved some serious debating: e.g., while Ellen’s puppy palaver didn’t even dent her popularity, Rosie’s score dropped significantly when she stepped down as The View’s lightning rod.

Among them are the not publicly out Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster (well, I guess she kind of came out). That reminds me that I’ve been meaning to do a post on all the closet cases that just aren’t fooling anyone (*cough* Ricky Martin *cough*). If you can now be put on a list of influential gays why not come out and get to be your sparkly self.

So congrats to Ellen for just being her sneaker-wearing, dance happy, tomboy self and beating out all the boys. I see myself as becoming very Ellen-like in my 40s and 50s, except, you know, without all the money and power. Still holding onto the possibility of Portia Del Rossi though…

Click through for the complete list:

50. Kelly Bush
49. Benny Medina
48. Brian Swardstrom
47. Susan Arnold
46. Martina Navratilova
45. Jonathan Burnham
44. Bob Greenblatt
43. Adam Rose
42. Bryan Lourd
41. Carolyn Strauss
40. Christine Vachon
39. Jon Stryker
38. Lorri L. Jean
37. Simon Halls & Stephen Huvane
36. Annie Leibovitz
35. Randy Lovely
34. Craig Zadan & Neil Meron
33. Jim Nelson
32. Jeremy Bernard & Rufus Gifford
31. Rosie O’Donnell
30. Sheila Kueh
29. Adam Moss
28. Tim Gunn
27. Jasper Johns
26. Fred Hochberg
25. Tom Ford
24. Suze Orman
23. Anthony Romero
22. Nick Denton
21. Nate Berkus
20. Andrew Sullivan
19. Greg Berlanti
18. Christine Quinn
17. Martha Nelson
16. Perez Hilton
15. Brian Graden
14. Rich Ross
13. Jodie Foster
12. The New York Times Gay Mafia
11. Scott Rudin
10. Peter Thiel
9. Marc Jacobs
8. Joe Solmonese
7. Jann Wenner
6. Andrew Tobias
5. Tim Gill
4. David Geffen
3. Anderson Cooper
2. Barney Frank
1. Ellen DeGeneres