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 He
may have needed his bodyguard to lift him from the black Bentley (license
plate: HUSTLR) into the gold-plated wheelchair, but to the audience
at the Foundation’s Awards Banquet in October, Larry Flynt stood tall:
he was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation as he accepted the
Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Performance
artist Ron Athey (L) with award winners Rob Halford (upper right) and
Larry Flynt
Board Member Dan Berkowitz
presented the award, reminding the capacity crowd of Flynt’s longtime
fight to protect First Amendment rights, and pointing out that without
the efforts of people such as Flynt, events like the Erotic Art Weekend
wouldn’t exist.
In his acceptance speech,
Flynt urged the crowd to “speak up, speak out” on issues, and never
to allow their rights to be violated. He also encouraged artists to
remember their duty to “piss people off” by “pushing the envelope.”
Board Member Cliff Benjamin
presented the Erotic Artist Hall of Fame to Swiss artist H. R. Giger.
The Award was accepted by renowned performance artist Ron Athey.
Adult film star and rock’n’roller
Joe Romero presented the Cultural Icon Award – created to honor someone
whose artistic achievements and personal example cause him or her to
become a role model – to Rob Halford, former lead singer of the heavy
metal group Judas Priest. Accepting the award, Halford confessed that
he owed his Judas Priest butch leather look to Tom of Finland, explaining
that, in an early appearance with the band, he wore his sister’s dress.
His advice to the crowd at the dinner: “Keep it controversial!”
The Awards – clear acrylic
obelisks – were designed by artist Philip Hitchcock, who merged two
of Tom’s figures into a single image, which is inscribed onto the Award.
(By the way, we’re not the only ones who think Philip is a winner –
he was chosen as one of OUT Magazine’s 100 outstanding gay people in
2001!)
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