Northampton born-and-bred Cohen, who left Saints to play in France with Brive last September, was voted GT magazine's Sports Personality of the Year and runner up as Sexiest Man of the Year.
He beat gay icon Beckham, who has regularly won the awards but had to settle for second place behind Rugby World Cup winner Cohen, who is the father of baby twins.
"Ben Cohen is a fabulous mountain of a man and I'm not surprised he's charmed our readers so thoroughly," said Joseph Galliano, editor of GT, formerly Gay Times.
"When we interviewed him last year, he was comfortable talking to his gay fans, on sparkling form—and of course drop kick gorgeous."
Cohen said: "I'm really flattered and am constantly surprised by the amount of attention I get from gay people — to win these awards from Gay Times is just brilliant."
Actor John Barrowman took top spot in Sexiest Man of the Year category, with Cohen second.
Kylie Minogue was voted All-Time Female Gay Icon, trouncing Madonna and displacing traditional gay icon Judy Garland.
"While always popular with gay men, it's still a surprise to see Kylie inching ahead of Judy Garland, who has traditionally been held to be the definitive gay icon—and I think Kylie is seen as much more open and warm than Madonna," Mr Galliano added.
The awards were run over a six month period, starting with open nominations in the February issue. The full results are in GT's June issue.
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