Natasha Lyonne Hosts Legacy Gala Honoring Hilary Swank, Armistead Maupin, Levi Strauss

Actress Natasha Lyonne (“Orange Is the New Black”) is set to host the Legacy Awards on Nov. 12, honoring author Armistead Maupin (“Tales of the City”), actress Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”) and the Levi Strauss Co.

The Legacy Awards, which supports the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, the largest archive of LGBT moving images in the world, will also feature food from celebrity Chef Neal Frazer (Redbird, BLD) at Vibiana, in Downtown Los Angeles.

“Natasha Lyonne is a force–she has been unafraid to push the boundaries of gender and sexuality in roles ranging from the hilariously campy to the downright brazen,” says Kirsten Schaffer, executive director of Outfest. “She has also been a vibrant part of the Outfest community, having starred in numerous films that are housed in the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project archive, including ‘But I’m A Cheerleader,’ ‘G.B.F.,’ and ‘Party Monster.’”

Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) will be presented with the Visionary Award. His series of novels gave frank depictions of sexuality and drug use in 1970s San Francisco. The first adaption of the novels, featuring Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, Chloe Webb, Marcus D’Amico and Donald Moffat, garnered the highest ratings ever for a dramatic program on PBS, but because of the gay content of the show, calls for PBS to be defunded..

A glimpse of the show’s first two episodes will be presented at the gala.

Hilary Swank will receive the Trailblazer Award. Swank won an Oscar for her portrayal of Brandon Teena in the landmark film “Boys Don’t Cry.” Her most recent film is the newly released “You’re Not You,” a portrait of a friendship between two women, in which she portrays Kate, a successful classical pianist diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Levi Strauss & Co. will be awarded with the Guardian Award.

Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive partnered in 2005 to create the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. The only program of its kind in the world, the Legacy Project is aimed at the growing crisis in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving image archiving. Many of the landmark LGBT films produced over the last 30 years are already in danger of fading away; their original exhibition prints are in tatters and their negatives are in woeful storage conditions, or even lost. Celebrating its ninth anniversary, the Legacy Project is proud to have collected over 35,000 moving picture images for the collection and restored 18 films.

For further information about tickets, tribute journal or sponsorship opportunities, see www.outfest.org or call (213) 480-7088.