Former staff members of the Washington Blade, the 40-year-old gay newspaper that was closed without warning Monday, are keeping their vow to keep publishing, promising an issue this Friday.
Erstwhile Blade editor Kevin Naff and publisher Lynne Brown launched a web site, SaveTheBlade.com, to both raise money and publish their new, still nameless venture online. According to the site, the staff — who are working as volunteers — plan to put out a “modest” issue this Friday.
The Blade, a highly respected newsweekly in Washington, D.C., closed unceremoniously this Monday when its parent company, Window Media, went out of business. Several of its gay-interest publications — the Houston Voice, Southern Voice and David — were shut down along with the Blade. Its two Florida publications, South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine, will now be published under new names by a Florida company.
Window shut down the Blade even though there was an interested buyer. Nicholas Benton, the publisher of the Falls Church News-Press in Virginia, said he was in talks to buy the paper and was completely shocked by its closing.
Window’s major shareholder, Avalon Equity Partners, has been in receivership with the Small Business Administration for more than a year.
