Happy 40th to The Bay Area Reporter, the USA’s oldest, continuously published LGBT newspaper!

The Bay Area Reporter (B.A.R.) the country’s oldest, continuously published newspaper serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, celebrated its 40th Anniversary on April 7th, details the Stark Insider.

In conjunction with the 40th anniversary, the newspaper is launching its first-ever Best of the Gays Readers Choice Awards. Readers voted online with their write-in favorites to be eligible for prizes including trips to Boston Reno, Seattle and Los Angeles, SF Giants tickets and more. The winners will be announced in the 4/7/11 issue. Categories include: Food, Arts & Nightlife, Outdoors & Sports, Shopping, City Living and of course, Sex & Romance.
The Bay Area Reporter, founded in April 1971 by the late Bob Ross and Paul Bentley, is a San Francisco institution and has covered such historical landmark LGBT events from Harvey Milk’s assassination in 1978 to the closure of the gay bathhouses in the 1980s to same-sex marriages being celebrated in the state to the election of gay politicians. Countless stories of the LGBT Bay Area residents have been featured in its pages over the years. A separate Arts and Entertainment section boasts countless celebrated writers in their fields, and the paper has been proud of its rich arts coverage of the San Francisco’s Ballet, Symphony, and Opera along with emerging and established talent in the gay arts scene. The B.A.R. has also covered the AIDS epidemic from its beginnings in June 1981; this year marks the 30th anniversary of the disease.