LGBT POV

What excellent news! The 40-year-old Washington Blade is back, hitting the streets again on Friday. After owner Windows Media went bankrupt five months ago, many of the highly-regarded staff stayed on and published a weekly print and online edition under the name DC Agenda, with lots of help from freelancers, lawyers and others working for free or at cute rates to help out. I wrote about the spectacular launch of DC Agenda here.

Last February, the staff was able to buy the treasured name and archives, as well as other Blade material at auction for $15,000. The Washington Post has a good background story.

Editor Kevin Naff, now also one of the new publishers, told me:

“We will work hard to be good stewards of this institution and are thrilled to bring the Blade back to local ownership. It’s been a challenging few months, but we couldn’t be happier at the outcome. Thanks to all locally and around the country who have supported us and here’s to the next 40 years of the Washington Blade.”

When the news sizzled across the Internet that the Washington Blade had abruptly closed, waves of shock washed over LGBT politicos and fans of the publication – like me. It felt like an earthquake – sudden, unstabilizing, frightening in its quick exposure of our vulnerabilities. After all, for 40 years the Washington Blade had served as a reliable source of information about the goings-on in the nation’s Capitol and Beltway shenanigans.

But the bottom line was always a commitment to being of service to the LGBT community. And that commitment continues today with the announcement of the launch of a new print and online publication called DC Agenda by the same team – now doing the work as volunteers. There is something very inspirational in this pick-yourself up, dust yourself off, see if you can help the wounded around you – and then get back to work attitude. We earthquake-tested Californians understand this and I am immensely proud of Naff, publisher Lynne Brown and their crew. We need and we deserve good LGBT journalism – and this group is among our best.

Click inside to read Kevin Naff’s first editorial.

Nicholas F. Benton is among the many shocked over the sudden closure of the legendary gay newspaper, the Washington Blade. But Benton’s shock goes deeper: he intended to buy the Blade precisely to avoid it being shut down as part of a larger receivership process. Click inside to read my interview with Nick Benton – and an update from former Blade editor Kevin Naff. UPDATE: FORMER WASHINGTON BLADE EDITOR LISA KEEN SPOKE WITH MIKE STAMLER AT THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION – AND HE SAID WINDOW MEDIA SHUT DOWN THE NEWSPAPER. READ LISA’S REPORT HERE. AND GAY CITY NEWS CONTINUES IT’S EXCELLENT COVERAGE HERE.