Gay weekly Washington Blade will
resume publication Friday.
Publisher Window Media shuttered its
most recognizable newspaper – along with six other LGBT
publications – last November after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Also affected were the Atlanta-based gay weekly Southern Voice,
as well as the Houston Voice, David Atlanta, South
Florida Blade and 411 Magazine. The company had already
closed down three additional properties: HX Magazine, the New
York Blade and monthly glossy Genre.
Former Blade staffers knocked
out DC Agenda in less than a week, filling the vacuum for
gay-related news in the nation's capital.
In February, DC Agenda founders
– Publisher Lynne Brown, Editor Kevin Naff and sales executive
Brian Pitts – purchased the Washington Blade's name, assets
and archives in bankruptcy court for $15,000.
The Blade began publishing in
1969 as a leaflet distributed through the city's gay bars and evolved
into the nation's longest-running gay weekly.
“For more than 40 years the
Washington Blade's commitment to excellence in journalism made
it a weekly 'must read' for the LGBTQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender & Questioning] community locally and even worldwide,”
Naff told DC Agenda. “This is the tradition we have tried
to emulate with DC Agenda. We are thrilled that the
Washington Blade is once again owned locally.”
In deciding whether to return to the
Washington Blade name, the paper surveyed readers who
enthusiastically supported the move.