Mel Baker is a professional journalist who has been active in the LGBT rights and peace movements. He began his work as an activist in Salt Lake City, Utah as the co-host of the community radio show, “Concerning Gays and Lesbians” on Pacifica affliate KRCL in SLC. Baker walked across the United States on the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in 1986. He was on the media team for the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. He was media director for the International Peace Walks that brought American and Soviet Citizens together for walks in the former U.S.S.R. and the United States.
He became active in the nascent Bear Community in San Francisco in 1992 where he volunteered for the second Bear Expo and was one of the founders of The Bears of San Francisco where he was the club’s first Vice-President.
Baker’s professional career has included work at National Public Radio in Washington, DC and in San Francisco Bay Area newsrooms including KGO, KQED and KTVU television. He currently leads the audio team at the nonprofit, investigative news organization, The San Francisco Public Press.
He lives in San Francisco’s Castro District with his husband, the artist Leslie Aguilar.