USA’s Oldest GLBT Newspaper Prepares for 40th Anniversary

April 7th is the birthday of Francis Ford Coppola and Jerry Brown. It’s also, this year, the date of a 40th anniversary party for another northern California fixture, the Bay Area Reporter (a.k.a. B.A.R.).

StarkInsider.com reporter Chris Wright takes a fond look at the country’s oldest continuously publishing newspaper serving the gay community. The publication has come a long way since the day co-founder Bob Ross delivered the first issue by means of a 1969 Ford Mustang:

“The Bay Area Reporter has seen amazing changes in its 40 years of publication,” said current publisher Thomas E. Horn. “Beginning little more than a ‘bar rag,’ the B.A.R. has become the most respected and longest, continuously published GLBT newspaper in America.”

Harvey Milk was a one-time columnist for B.A.R., as was former DA investigator Wayne Friday, whose man-about-town boldface chronicle became a must read. As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations, a special B.A.R. retrospective will be featured April 8th-13th at the newly opened GLBT History Museum.

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