TRUSTED VOICES: Chicago benefits from having many voices that are vocal about diversity, equity and inclusion. Follow them on Twitter to follow their journey and impact in Chicago! Amara Enyia Chezare Warren Darnell Shields Eve Ewing Linda Lutton Niketa Brar Pascal Sabino Tracy Baim Xavier Ramey
@AmaraEnyia @DrChezareWarren @dshields94 @eveewing @lindalutton @niketasays @Pascal_Sabino @TracyBaimWCMG @xavierramey
VOICES OF OUR TIME: TRACY BAIM “Undaunted” seems to describe a lot of Baim’s approach to life and work. She started a family newsletter at ten years old, and in college began a feminist newsletter. As a student at Drake University, “my journalism professors told me I couldn’t be a journalist and be an activist, and/or openly gay.” It was “honest, paternalistic, in many ways demeaning, but it was true.” Tracy knew that at mainstream journalism publications in the 1980s, gay people were routinely treated poorly and subject to discrimination. “It was devastating. But from that point on it kind of released me into a universe where I wasn’t going to have a traditional path.” In what would become a pattern in Baim’s life, those harsh lessons fueled her motivation. “Any time you tell me I can’t do something, I will work even harder.” In search of a place where she wouldn’t have to compromise herself or her values, she found a home at GayLife newspaper. Just one year later, in 1985, she cofounded LGBTQ publication Windy City Times. Tracy spent the next three decades reporting, writing books, and otherwise advocating for the LGBTQ community–including in 2013 leading the March on Springfield for Marriage Equality. When asked what she’s most proud of, looking back on her work so far, Tracy said, “Sticking around. Sticking around despite a lot of negative people.” She recalled one story in particular that she felt compelled to tell, despite anger and pushback from her own community.
Read the rest: www.PublicNarrative.org/2020/04/voices-of-our-time-tracy-baim
