Frontrunners
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Frontrunners is a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex running/walking club that started in California and is now in many of the larger cities around the world. Frontrunners was inspired by Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner. The first club began in San Francisco in 1974, the West Hollywood/Los Angeles club quickly followed and other Frontrunners clubs quickly began forming around the world in the late 1970s and continues to grow.
Frontrunners' most famous member to date is George Takei and it is while on a run over 18 years ago that Takei met his partner, Brad Altman.
Patricia Nell Warren, aka "Patches" to her Frontrunners family, also frequented the runs and the annual dinners held by the Los Angeles group and partipated in the annual Christopher Street West/CSW GLBT rights parade as part of the Frontrunners contingent during the 1990s thanks to then-president Marty Freedman and then-executive board member Don Norte.
Frontrunners became a more formal body by drafting and adopting a mission statement and constitution at the Frontrunners International Frontrunner Forum in 1999.
In the 21st century there are currently close to 100 Frontrunners clubs throughout the world. Some have hundreds of members, while some newer ones only have a few. Increasingly, as the long time members age, many Frontrunners are walkers, not just runners. In fact, one club has many more walkers than runners. Some of the local clubs elect officers, such as in Los Angeles, and have by-laws and a membership-dues structure, but many do not have those formalized policies.
Most clubs have regular fun weekly runs/walks. Following an over 30 year-old tradition, most members also get together at local restaurants after their runs. There are three different spellings of the name -- FrontRunners, Front Runners and Frontrunners.
