<i>The Alabama Forum</i> as Chronicle of 1980s Gay and Lesbian Political Activism

Launched in 1977 as an organizational newsletter for Lambda, Inc.—the first publicly recognized gay rights organization in Alabama—The Alabama Forum became a newspaper in 1981. That same year it was among the founding member organizations of the Gay Press Association. This study employed a critical textual analysis of 569 artifacts (news articles, editorials, letters, advertisements) from 99 editions of The Forum published between July 1981 and April 1990. The news outlet promoted the Alabama Conference of Gay Women and Men as well as the Alabama Conference for Personal Rights. The research shows the impact of The Forum’s monthly political columns on local politics. It reported on how the Privacy Rights Organization-Political Action Committee wielded influence in screening candidates in local elections. One of those candidates, Richard Arrington—Birmingham, Alabama’s first Black mayor—was also the state’s first politician to campaign at a gay bar.