In bygone days, every village had a town crier who walked the streets announcing the news of the day. For 20 years, the Gay & Lesbian Times has been the town crier of the GLBT community, giving a voice to our fears, concerns, triumphs and tragedies. It has echoed our protests, rallied the community to action and served as our watchdog.

Simply put, the GLT has chronicled our path in its pages.

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s we went to the GLT to read obituaries of our friends as they died of AIDS, one after another, after another. We searched the paper every week for the latest news of the disease that was decimating our community, or of a hoped-for breakthrough to slow the death spiral. The GLT reported on Act Up and street demonstrations, and helped to vent our fury at the lack of progress in understanding and treating HIV/AIDS, and the scapegoating of the GLBT community that resulted.

As time went on, we turned to the GLT for brighter news. In 1993, the paper captured the story of San Diego’s first openly gay elected official, from the announcement of Christine Kehoe’s candidacy, to our celebration of her victory at the ballot box. Later, our town crier told the community about my own election to succeed Christine on the City Council, the elections of Bonnie Dumanis as District Attorney and of David Ruben and Ted Weathers to judgeships, and the selection of other members of our community to key civic leadership positions.

We read the news of the day through our own GLBT lens in the GLT when the Knight Amendment – restricting marriage rights for same sex couples – passed in 2000, and when a federal judge ruled that the city should not subsidize discrimination against GLBT people through support for the Boy Scouts. The GLT almost made us feel we were on the steps of San Francisco City Hall as same-sex couples joined in marriage for those few brief weeks of equality.

We have grown up along with the GLT. On its pages, we have watched The Center grow from a renovated warehouse on Normal Street to the community flagship on Centre Street that it is today. We saw the Hillcrest Youth Center open its doors and the Youth Housing Project offer homes and services to our homeless GLBT youth – all stories largely ignored by the so-called mainstream media, but which are so vital to us.

Together, we have watched as Pride grew from a one-day parade to today’s multi-week celebration and philanthropic event, giving $150,000 back to GLBT community organizations last year. Dyke March, FilmOut San Diego, Diversionary Theatre, AIDS Walk and so many more aspects of our community have matured before our eyes and between the covers of our community newspaper.

And for 20 years, the paper has been true to its motto – “Who shall stand guard to the guards themselves?” The Gay & Lesbian Times has reported our missteps, chastising us when it thought we were traveling down the wrong path. The failure of one of our community organizations or the mistakes of a public official who is one of our own is always a painful topic, but the GLT has never shied away from that conversation. Nor has the GLT ducked difficult emerging issues such as the role of the T in the GLBT community, tensions between families with children and singles, or the continuing plague of substance abuse. We may not always agree on the answers, but, thanks to the GLT, we do always know what questions to ask.

Congratulations to the Gay & Lesbian Times for 20 years as our town crier.