Charles Pitts (1941–2015) was an American gay activist and radio personality. He co-hosted The New Symposium on New York City's WBAI from 1968 to 1969, the first weekly public radio program to offer an affirming discussion of homosexuality by openly gay hosts. After the Stonewall Riots, he co-founded the Gay Liberation Front in New York City and continued his audio activism through the program Homosexual News. From 1971 to 1973, his weekly WBAI show Out of the Slough broke barriers as the first freeform radio show centered on gay politics and culture. Early life and family Charles Pitts was born on July 24, 1941, in Jamestown, New York. His childhood home was at 509 Lakeview Avenue in Jamestown. His father, George B. Pitts, Jr. (1905–1997), ran Pitts Home and Garden, a home and hardware store inherited from his father. As a young man, he had been enrolled as a student of philosophy and religion at the University of Chicago, intending to become a minister or social worker, before a family crisis forced him to return to Jamestown. Driven by a social conscience, he integrated his company's workforce, introduced an innovative profit-sharing plan for his employees, and helped create the local community college. Charles recalled him as a loving, well-intentioned man who provided for his family despite his life's disappointments, and who attempted to love and accept his son while unable to understand his homosexuality and unconventional life. His mother Frances Pitts (1911–2012), was born Frances Warrington Porter in Falconer, New York. After marrying George B. Pitts, Jr. she also worked for Pitts Home and Garden, and later in life was involved in founding the Bioregional Conservancy and Reclamation Trust in Maine. Frances and George Pitts had four children, including Charles, his sisters Mary and Martha, and his brother Robert. As a student at Jamestown High School, Charles Pitts already exhibited many of the interests that he would maintain throughout his lifetime. While an honor roll student, he found time to explore many hobbies and passions; he participated in the “Lyceum” debating society, served on the editorial committee of the school yearbook, was a school PA announcer, and held the vice president role in the Radio Club. He participated in a group of students that produced a radio program broadcast weekly on local FM stations. A yearbook caption identified him as a “hard worker” with “original ideas,” interested in photography and