From: WSPALSS@aol.com Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:54:49 EDT Subject: News Release re: Jim Baxter & The Front Page NEWS RELEASE FROM FOREWORD COMMUNICATIONS For Additional Information, Contact: Wayne Smalley, 803-779-7257 or wspalss@aol.com For Photos, Contact: M. .J. Sharp, 919-286-1972 or Sharp@indyweek.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THE FRONT PAGE AND PUBLISHER RECEIVE '99 PRIDE AWARD North Carolina Rainbow Publication Celebrates 20th Anniversary (COLUMBIA, SC) - In an age of video and virtual communication, The Front Page, a print publication, and its publisher Jim Baxter received the prestigious North Carolina Pride Statewide Award of Merit by the board of North Carolina Pride. The award, one of only two Awards of Merit, was given at the 1999 NC Pride banquet held Saturday, June 12 in Greensboro. The other recipient was John Parks, a commissioner in Guilford County who was successful in getting an inflammatory, anti-gay clause removed from a piece of county funding legislation. Given yearly since the early 90's, the 1999 Award of Merit recognizes the significant contributions that The Front Page has made to North Carolina's rainbow society and the publication's 20th anniversary. The Front Page published its first issue on October 25, 1979. "The very essence of community is communication; and, it would be hard to overstate the importance of The Front Page to North Carolina's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community," stated Art Sperry, a former business associate of Baxter's. This year also marks publisher Jim Baxter's 25th anniversary in journalism. Born in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Baxter studied first at American University in 1971 and moved to North Carolina in 1972 to attend Guilford College in Greensboro. He helped found the on-campus Guilford Gay Alliance and the off-campus Gay People's Alternatives. In 1974, Baxter began his career as an openly gay columnist for the Greensboro Sun. Sun publisher Jim Clark noted that Baxter's column, "On Being Gay," "...received more response than any column in the history of the paper." Five years later, Baxter began his own publication, The Front Page. This was no small feat in a state known for its ultra conservative politics and social climate. "Jim really deserves his own award apart from our recognition of The Front Page," said Dr. Mike Katz, a NC Pride board member. "Jim is the quintessential role model for gays and lesbians. He had a dream, and through enormous effort and hard work established a newspaper for the gay and lesbian community." "Jim and the team at The Front Page have been a voice cheering the efforts of building North Carolina's gay community and of sharing our history," commented Phillip Pendleton, a friend of Baxter's since college and co-founder of the Guilford Gay Alliance. "Part town crier, part educator, part matchmaker, Jim Baxter deserves all our praise." Though The Front Page is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, its informational reach extends far beyond the geographical boundaries of the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) and of the state itself. With the demise of In Unison, (a South Carolina gay publication) and Our Own Community Press (a Norfolk, Virginia monthly), The Front Page is strategically poised to assume a journalistic leadership position in three states. "I like to think of The Front Page as a community center," added Katz. "We have so few real places to go, so few structures. Through the printed word, The Front Page has connected the gay and lesbian communities of North Carolina and the Southeast." In addition to its award-winning, in-depth reporting, the publication also plays a journalistic advocacy role. Born from gay activism of the mid 1970's, The Front Page, has served as a vital link to gays and lesbians living in the remotest parts of North Carolina and other rural areas of the Southeast. Publisher Baxter himself noted, "While I'm honored by the acclamation of the NC Pride Board and this award, the real affirmation is when someone comes up to me and says, 'When I was struggling to come out, The Front Page was the first thing I found,' or writes a note and says, 'The paper is a lifeline for me out here in the boondocks.' Suddenly I realize the reason I ever got started in the first place." "Twenty years ago, Art Sperry, the fellow who loaned me the money to begin, and I reasoned that if there was ever going to be change in North Carolina, it was going to have to be a statewide effort," Baxter explained. "That effort was going to take a statewide gay and lesbian community. And that community was going to need a means of communication, a regular, dependable forum. That's why The Front Page was created," he continued. "To serve that community-to-be and help create a regional sense of identity." From the beginning, The Front Page pushed for social and political change, walking the fine line that separates a movement from one particular agenda. Part of that change included persuading North Carolina's gay and lesbian population to jell as one community. "Jim has been a leader and visionary for all of us in North Carolina," said M. K. Cullen, executive director of NCPridePAC, a gay and lesbian political organization. "He was involved in grassroots organizing long before there were statewide political groups. He convinced us to constantly push the boundaries." In addition, Baxter and his publication pushed for the start of an annual gay and lesbian pride celebration; and, in 1986 the first NC Gay and Lesbian Pride March was held. Jim Baxter was on the steering committee for that first march 14 years ago. The pride celebration has occurred annually ever since. Being presented with the Award of Merit by the NC Pride Board brings Baxter and The Front Page full-circle in terms of vision and accomplishment in the gay and lesbian community. # # #