As Tracy Baim, with fresh Journalism Degree in hand, stepped out of Drake University in 1984 she began a journey that has earned the respect and admiration of many in the niche market of LGBT media as well as those in the mainstream media. At the time of her graduation, the media world that focused on the gay and lesbian community consisted of local magazines, weekly "bar rags," a few slick copy magazines, and a countable number of published books. She began her meteoric career in 1984 as an editorial assistant at GayLife newspaper in Chicago where it took her only one year to advance to Managing Editor.

In the fall of 1985, Tracy co-founded Windy City Times and in 1987 she was the founding publisher and editor of Outlines. Working 70-hours per week, she and her cadre of volunteers "built one of the earliest gay newspaper websites and e-mail databases" with the latter publication. During the 1990s, Tracy continued to build a base of media formats to address the range of coverage on LGBT issues neglected by the mainstream media. "There are hundreds of stories the mainstream does not cover within the LGBT community," states Tracy. "The mainstream will do some coverage, and more frequently now does include gays in coverage... But they just do not have the space or access to do the kind of depth a weekly gay newspaper, with a Web site updated daily, can do."

During this decade, Tracy was the founding co-chair of the Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, received many journalism and service awards from the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, NOW - Chicago Chapter, Le Femmes Amies, Association of Latin Men in Action, Dignity/Chicago, Lesbian Community Cancer Project, and many others. Tracy was also recognized on Today's Chicago Women "100 Women to Watch" list as well as Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40" business leaders ranking. A short ten years after beginning her career, she became the youngest inductee into the City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

Since 1995, Tracy has shared her life with partner Jean Albright, a member of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and a force to be reckoned with in her own right. The couple is shown here with nephew Anthony Pulford preparing to set sail on the R Family Cruise this past summer.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Tracy repurchased Windy City Times from her co-founder. This weekly newspaper reaches 50,000 readers and is now part of the Windy City Media Group, Inc. (WCMG) that also includes: Nightlines, an 8,000 copy entertainment weekly, Identity, a monthly online magazine, Windy City Queercast, an online podcast, QueerTVNetwork.com, a video channel, and sister publications titled OUT!, Nightspots, BLACKlines, and En La Vida. The publisher and managing editor of WCMG is, you guessed it, Tracy!

The most recent decade has been rich with more awards and recognitions for Tracy, including the 2005 Studs Terkel Award. While she continues to meet and surpass the responsibilities at WCMG, Tracy has also been active with leadership roles in the Gay Olympic Games. Her other recent projects include editing the first history book of Chicago's gay community, Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community, which is a companion piece to the film of the same name. In 2008, Tracy launched yet another project to capture the rich gay and lesbian history of the area via oral history videos. This project, www.ChicagoGayHistory.com, has documented the stories and experiences of over 270 people thus far. During this same year, Tracy served as the Executive Producer of the indie film, Hannah Free, adapted from the award-winning stage play by Claudia Allen. The film stars Sharon Gless and made its début at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco in the summer of 2009. It is a must see for couples who have committed for the long term.

Tracy once stated, "It's upsetting that homophobia still lives." Clearly, she is on a mission like no other to eradicate this with a celebration of the beauty and diversity of gay and lesbian life!

By Angela Minor

Angela has had the good fortune to participate in several professional careers over the course of her lifetime. She has applied her skills to teaching English, and writing; small business ownership, and writing; sales and marketing, and writing; university graduate level research, and writing. As is evident, writing has been her companion throughout! She is the word nerd who actually takes notes at symposiums and events! And not just on the presented topics. She finds people, settings, interactions and conversations fascinating. The entire visual, auditory, kinesthetic experience is worth noticing and noting.

Angela has traveled the globe soaking in the scenery, culture and customs near and far. She has lived in the bush of Alaska to the Atlantic seaside of Savannah and various places in between. She is currently a full time freelance writer with pieces in various venues on the web and many local and regional publications. When she is not writing, Angela can be found at the latest Broadway show or communing with Mother Earth in The Great Smoky Mountains.

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