Atlanta activist has spent her life bridging gaps between gay and straight

Emily "Dixon" Taylor's work in Atlanta's gay and lesbian community began in the 1980s.

We came together raising awareness in the battle against AIDS," said longtime friend Michael Aycock. "She has brought the gay and lesbian and the straight communities together in the larger Atlanta community in a really good way."

Taylor, an Alabama native, recently became the second recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In 2000, Taylor was named one of 20 "Women Making a Difference" by Atlanta magazine. She was the first openly gay woman appointed to the Small Business Task Force for the state of Georgia by then-Secretary of State Max Cleland in 1994.

Taylor has 35 years in real estate sales, but along the way also worked as a sales representative and later investor-owner for Southern Voice, a newspaper founded to give voice to gay and lesbian issues.

She was "the heart and soul of the paper" said current publisher Bob Gundy. "Dixon was instrumental in growing the paper," and helped take it from a biweekly publication to a weekly paper. This gave people a voice who had no voice, addressing social issues that weren't a part of the mainstream media.

Taylor is a lifelong Presbyterian, having kept her membership at Birmingham's First Presbyterian Church until just a few years ago, when her parents passed away. She has Presbyterian ministers in her family "as far back as you can go," she said, including her great-great-uncle, who was President Woodrow Wilson's minister. Now she is a member at Morningside Presbyterian Church.

"She always brings a wonderful spirit and presence to our church and life together," said the Rev. Joanna Adams of Morningside. "Her Presbyterian heritage is a positive part of who she is."
Taylor said that in no way has she ever felt a conflict between her religious beliefs and being gay.

"What I am delighted with seeing," Taylor said, "is a shift from the extreme positions in some of our charismatic and evangelical churches and seeing them shift ever so slightly to be able to open the door to more of an acceptance of the reality that homosexuality is not a choice."

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