Washington Blade Stops Production

By Zack Zappone | Nov 20 2009 | Metro Briefs |

After celebrating its 40th anniversary last month, The Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the country, ceased operations this past Monday, in line with the current trend of economic failure in the newspaper industry.

Atlanta-based Window Media, one of the largest publishers for gay and lesbian issues, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed the doors on other publications around the country, including The Houston Voice, The South Florida Blade, and the David Atlanta magazine.

The Blade, with a staff of nearly two dozen employees, boasted over 23,000 issues circulated weekly, over 250,000 monthly visitors to its Web site and over 4,000 followers on the social network Twitter. After the news broke on Monday, the Web site was shut down indefinitely.

Founded in 1969, a time in which gay and lesbian issues were rarely discussed, The Blade sought to create a medium to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues.

“The Blade really spoke about the issues related to [the LGBTQ community] and not just the politics,” said Matthew LeBlanc, program coordinator at the Georgetown’s LQBTQ Resource Center.

Recently, The Blade has featured articles relating to Georgetown’s LGBTQ Center and was planning to release another in the upcoming issue.

According to LeBlanc, reporters from The Blade had interviewed Georgetown staff and students and were going to write about the progress the LGBTQ Center has made after its first two years, accomplishing 80 percent of its initial goals.

Since the paper’s closure on Monday, supporters of The Blade have expressed a desire to see a rebirth of the paper. In a press release, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called on all citizens within the District to take action: “I know that many will agree that we should all do whatever we can to help Blade editor Kevin Naff be successful in starting a new GLBT newspaper to serve the gay community and the national capital region,” she said.

The rebirth of The Blade will premier today under the name the DC Agenda. In an interview with Metro Weekly, Naff said that despite feeling discouraged by the closure, “I realized I couldn’t run and hide. We have to honor the role The Blade played in our community and keep it going.”

Post New Comment

Comments which are spam, off-topic, abusive, use excessive foul language or promote hate or bias will be deleted.

Anonymous comments will be held for moderation. This may take some time, so we recommend you create a free account. If you want a small picture next to your comments, get a gravatar.

Already have an account? Then login.