I suggest a button be added at the home page that will allow a jump directly into the Forum. If I understand it right, as it is currently configured, from the home page, one must go into "Latest News" and then go to the Forum from there.
You seem to be right that there is no such button on the home page. (http://tighar.org)
Pat is in charge of that page, so providing such a button is up to her.
Meanwhile, you may do as I have done and put a bookmark in your browser so that you can come to the Forum from anywhere without having to visit either the home page (http://tighar.org) or the news section. (http://tighar.org/news) The URL to come straight here is: https://tighar.org/smf/index.php (https://tighar.org/smf/index.php).
I use Firefox with Google Toolbar. One or the other gives me a bookmarks toolbar across the top of my browser:
(http://tighar.org/news/images/stories/website/forum-tutorial/bookmark-02.png)
To create my own "button" for the forum, I just drag the URL down to the toolbar, then edit the properties under Bookmarks/Bookmarks Toolbar so that the names are short and sweet:
(http://tighar.org/news/images/stories/website/forum-tutorial/bookmark-01.png)
Hope that helps.
Marty