Recognizing the Washington Blade

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing The Washington Blade on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

On October 5, 1969, Richard M. Nixon was President, John W. McCormick was Speaker of the House, Richard Russell, Jr. was Senate President pro tempore, Americans were listening to ``Sugar Sugar'' by The Archies, and the 91st Congress was in weekend recess. However, a few LGBTQ Washingtonians read the first edition of The Gay Blade, created by Nancy Tucker and Lilli Vincenz.

The Gay Blade survived controversy, epidemic and bankruptcy to thrive as America's LGBTQ newspaper of record, The Washington Blade. On October 18, 2019, The Blade celebrates its 50th anniversary with a gala at the Wharf.

Since its inception, The Blade continued as a monthly one-sheet newsletter until it expanded to four pages in June 1972. By April 1974, it grew to eight legal-sized sheets, and in July of the following year, The Gay Blade moved to newsprint.

During the 1970s, The Gay Blade changed its name to The Blade. Don Michaels became the editor. Michaels took The Blade out of the closet by prohibiting pen names, and he increased its frequency to biweekly. By the decade's end, the newspaper added ``Washington'' to its masthead.

The Washington Blade entered the 1980s with headline, ``Rare, Fatal Pneumonia Hits Gay Men,'' one of the earliest newspaper articles on the disease that became AIDS. The Blade promoted Don Michaels to publisher, a position he held for two decades. By the decade's end, the newspaper adopted computer layout that led to its online edition in 1995.

Window Media, LLC purchased The Blade in 2001. The paper's staff unionized, and in 2008, The Blade published the first interview ever given by a Republican presidential candidate to an LGBTQ newspaper. The Blade grew steadily until November 16, 2009.

That Monday, Window Media filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Blade's staff found its offices locked. Former staff volunteered to produce a new publication, DC Agenda, by the following Friday.

Publisher Lynne Brown, editor Kevin Naff, sales executive Brian Pitts and other former Blade staff members pooled their resources to form Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia. This company published DC Agenda weekly until April 2010, when it acquired The Blade's assets from the bankruptcy court. Like a phoenix, The Washington Blade rose from the ashes on April 30, 2010.

The Blade remains, for many in our nation's capital, including me, a weekly must-read. It continues, according to The New York Times, to be ``one of the most influential publications written for a gay audience.''

In closing, I remind the House of Representatives that the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia have yet to read, and The Blade, despite its many scoops and breaking news stories, has yet to publish the banner ``Washington, D.C. the 51st State.''

Madam Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in celebrating The Washington Blade on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

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