On April 7, 2011, the San Francisco-based Bay Area Reporter will celebrate its 40th anniversary. The newspaper is the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper serving the LGBT community.
Founded in 1971 by Bob Ross and Paul Bentley, the Bay Area Reporter is a San Francisco institution distinguished for its coverage of such key LGBT events as Harvey Milk’s assassination in 1978, the closure of San Francisco’s gay bathouses in the 1980s, the brief legalization of gay marriage in California, the progression of the AIDS epidemic and San Francisco’s rich art and culture scene.
Beginning as little more than a “bar rag,” according to current publisher Tom Horn, the Bay Area Reporter has since earned the reputation of being “the most respected and longest, continuously published LGBT newspaper in America.” The paper’s trademark blend of humor, analysis, community voice and solid reporting set the bar for similar LGBT newspapers across the nation.
Progressing from a hand-made publication in the early seventies to a weekly print paper in the 1980s to a web-savvy, multi-platform organization, the Bay Area Reporter has evolved in step with changing times and transitions within the LGBT community.
“The B.A.R. has never rested on the laurels of being an award-winning publication, but has continuously tried to be on the cutting edge of the industry,” said Horn.
The newspaper will celebrate its upcoming anniversary with a “Best of the Gays Readers Choice Awards” feature covering everything from food, nightlife, art, sports, shopping, city life and sex & romance. Votes can be cast via email and participants will be eligible for a prize drawing.
