The NLGJA Legacy Award is a national honor presented by NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists to recognize news outlets, publications, or media organizations that have provided innovative, high-quality, and sustained coverage of the LGBTQ+ community over an extended period. Distinct from most journalism accolades that focus on individual reporters, the Legacy Award is the association’s only honor awarded to an entire newsroom staff for their collective dedication to fair and accurate reporting. Established to highlight organizations that further NLGJA’s mission of promoting nuanced LGBTQ+ news coverage, the award has been conferred upon groundbreaking, historically significant publications, and the San Francisco Bay Times was honored to receive the award for 2026 at a ceremony on September 12 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. The landmark event marked the NLGJA’s 35th convention.
Bay Times founding News Editor Randy Alfred, who was entered into the NLGJA Hall of Fame in 2015, spoke on behalf of the Bay Times group that included Co-Publishers/Co-Editors Dr. Betty Sullivan and Jennifer Viegas and columnists Donna Sachet (“First Lady of the Castro”), Dr. Marcy Adelman (also Openhouse Co-Founder), Sister Dana Van Iquity (longtime member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence), Beth Schnitzer (also of SpritzSF), internationally-recognized marriage equality activists Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, noted historian Dr. Bill Lipsky, renowned activist and ally Joanie Juster, and Michael Quick (representing columnist and attorney Jay Greene).
Additional Bay Times team members who attended included photographers Rink, Michael Kirschner, and Bill Wilson; former Lead Designer and photographer Abby Zimberg; Volunteer Coordinator Juan Davila; and event team members Warren Alderson, Steve Scheitlin, Karen Bardsley, Miguel Lopez, and Leticia Lopezz.
Also attending were supporters Suzanne Ford (Executive Director of San Francisco Pride), former columnist Lou Fischer, performer Amy Meyers, community leader Dawn Dzurilla, Linda Phillips (formerly of Genentech), and Chris Michaelson of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Randy Alfred announced at the ceremony that the San Francisco Bay Times will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary beginning in 2027. More information about related events will be announced in the coming months.
For more information about the NLGJA, see the September 10, 2026, issue of the Bay Times (https://bit.ly/4jhCP3r) and visit: https://www.nlgja.org/
Published on September 24, 2026
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