It's been well established that gay men love Xena, but now we know: Xena loves you back.

At Saturday night's Human Rights Campaign awards gala in San Francisco, I told Lucy Lawless she had a lot of fans on her our website, and her face lit up. "Really? That's wonderful," she said. "I’m always counting on the women, but I love beautiful men. I love doing things with beautiful men, so I say bring it on. And bring your friends."

Lucy swept into the media reception before the dinner wearing a low-cut black evening gown, changed into a shiny catsuit, and then appeared on stage in a sparkling golden gown that would have been perfect on Rita Hayworth in Gilda. She posed for photos with keynote speaker Elizabeth Edwards, HRC Equality Award recipient George Takei, and HRC president Joe Solmonese, before providing a little self-described "comic relief" and serving as the world's most glamorous auctioneer at the fundraising event.

On stage, she cajoled one bidder into forking over $5000 for a luxury cruise ("His name is Brian, he's with AT&T, he's single, and he's at table 6") and even offered to sit on laps to get the bidding up before the final gavel dropped on a five-figure gourmet catered dinner for 14.