Description: Group photograph from the Columbus Free Press Collection showing the Columbus AIDS Task Force staff and board members. Front row, left to right: H. L. Wright III, board vice president; Gloria J. T. Smith, executive director; Elliot Fishman, board president; and Janet Ferguson, associate director. Second row, left to right: Jill Hairston, Pat Bentz, Karen Kentosh, Kathy Sellers, Smokey Shumate, Abby Retterer, Fran Bednar, Marc McIntosh, Mary Orin and Annetta Carter. Not pictured: Brad Lutz and Brandon LaRue. The Columbus AIDS Task Force was a non-profit organization with the mission of fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS, combating stigma and discrimination, educating the community, and supporting individuals and families affected by the disease through services and testing. It has now been absorbed into Equitas Health, a comprehensive LGBTQ+ community-based healthcare system.
The Columbus Free Press began as a bi-weekly publication in Columbus, Ohio, in 1970. An underground newspaper, it replaced the Ohio State University publication The People, Yes. The earliest known issue of the newspaper appeared on January 4, 1971. The newspaper underwent a series of name changes over the decades, with titles including the Columbus Free Press & Cowtown Times (1972-1976), the Columbus Freepress (1976-1992) and The Free Press (1992-1995). The paper, which covered many liberal and progressive causes, was an alternative to mainstream news sources in central Ohio with the slogan “The Other Side of the News.”
In 1995, the paper ceased publication briefly before reemerging as a website in early 1996, and returning as a print publication under the Free Press title in the form of a quarterly journal in 1998. Published under various frequencies during the first part of the 21st century, the Free Press again became a nonprofit monthly publication in 2017 with both a print and web presence, published by the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism and operated by a volunteer staff and board.
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Image ID: MSS1301AV_B02F09_11
Subjects: LGBTQ Community; Medical care; Medicine -- History; Health and hygiene; Social services--Ohio;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)