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."

Frank Niemeir/AJC (ENLARGE)

Dixon Taylor plays her piano at her home in Atlanta. She was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Recent headlines: Adams likely winner of Superior Court judgeship  Four people injured in Atlanta shootout  James Paschal, 88, started eatery that fed Civil Rights movement     • Atlanta and Fulton County news

Taylor's personality and passion for helping others has fueled a broad array of outreach work that includes gay issues, AIDS, breast cancer, domestic abuse, troubled youth and ecological issues.

"Dixon's huge talent is the fact that she knows everyone," said business partner Gary Kaupman. "She's a wonderful weaver of connections between people; she's naturally gregarious and outgoing."

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.

Taylor grew up in Birmingham, but knew she'd eventually have to leave.

"I couldn't be gay, I couldn't be me and live in Birmingham," Taylor said. "Not in the 1960s."

"Dixon is the only lesbian I know that had two coming-out parties," Aycock said. "One was in our community and the other was when she was a debutante, a real debutante, in Birmingham, Ala. I don't know how she did it."

Those days of cotillion balls were not for naught. Sixteen years ago, Taylor created a women's holiday ball that has become an annual fund-raising event for a host of different charities. She founded Good Friends 4 Good Causes to benefit charities such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Women's Resource Center and Partnership Against Domestic Violence. In 1999, with sponsors including Delta and Home Depot, the PRIZM Ball raised $100,000 in one night to benefit gay and lesbian youth at risk.

Last year, the ball was held at Druid Hills Country Club, a notable accomplishment given that the club had been the subject of some controversy for refusing to recognize gay relationships as far as partnership benefits. Even though the club's position on this issue has not changed, Taylor appreciates that the Druid Hills board was "wonderful" about hosting the event, clearly welcoming the 200 to 300 women. It may have been the first gay dance at a traditional country club in the country, she said.

"It was a great step forward for everybody," Taylor said. "Back in the '70s when I joined Druid Hills, it was one of the first clubs in the South to allow single female members. Pretty cutting edge."

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."