Washington Blade - September 10, 2004
Bryan Anderton, banderton@washblade.com.

When those 15 or so activists finished the first edition of the Gay Blade, in October 1969, they probably had no idea that it would one day employ 35 full-time staff members and be unofficially recognized nationwide as a newspaper of record on HIV/AIDS and gay civil rights issues.

In fact, they started with a very simple goal.

"We wanted to inform the gay community of their rights," says Nancy Tucker, the Blade's first editor and the person whose D.C. apartment was used to create the first edition.

"We were in a period where people were getting blackmailed at work for being gay. Being closeted brought a lot of challenges to people that way," says Tucker, who now lives in New Mexico.

The idea for the newsletter came from the D.C. chapter of the Mattachine Society, one of the first gay civil rights groups in the nation. Kameny was the founder of the local chapter, which had produced similar newsletters in D.C. since the early 1960s.

But after discussing plans for the publication, the original group of volunteers decided they wanted the newsletter to be an independent source for news and information.

Another important decision involved coming up with a name for the newsletter. Tucker said they wanted a title that was catchy and also slightly humorous - perhaps, using the word "gay" with an image of weaponry.

The first issue of the Gay Blade consisted of 10 short blurbs and announcements, ranging from a warning about people who were targeted for blackmail after their cars were spotted in Dupont Circle to a call for readers to participate in a blood drive. The 500 copies were then distributed to popular gay bars in D.C. at the time.

A second issue was published the following month, and another the month after that. Over time, the Gay Blade began publishing short three or four-paragraph news items, a calendar of community events, and a full listing of local gay bars.

"In its earlier years, it really provided an above-ground symbol of this community. It was proof that there really was a gay community in Washington," says Rodger Streitmatter, an American University journalism professor and the author of a book titled "Unspeakable: the Rise of the Gay & Lesbian Press in America."

The Gay Blade also proved to be a labor of love for the all-volunteer staff who ran it. But the number of those committed quickly dwindled from about 15 people to, essentially, a two-person operation that included Tucker and another activist named Art Stone.

By 1973, Stone had also left, leaving Tucker to publish the newsletter alone. In the summer of 1973, she decided to halt production altogether.

"It was sort of my identity - I was the editor of the Blade," Tucker says. "I did not want to turn it over to another group of people who might crap it up."

A random phone call from someone wanting to volunteer on the paper made Tucker revise her original plan. So she put an ad in the Gay Blade, seeking people willing to take over responsibility for it.

"I was astounded when I got maybe eight or 10 phone calls from people who wanted to get involved," she says. "I had been doing it for so long by myself that I had no idea that other people might want to help out."

BY JULY 1973, the Gay Blade had a new regime, and changes were immediately evident. Stories became longer and meatier, and the newsletter quickly began to take on more of an activist bent.

This change in tone got the Blade in trouble with some of its advertisers. When then-editor Pat Price, who used the pseudonym Pat Kolar, wrote an article accusing several popular gay bars, such as the Lost & Found, of discriminatory admission practices, some bars retaliated by discontinuing advertising, according to Mark Meinke, spokesperson for the Rainbow History Project, a group dedicated to preserving D.C.'s gay history.

Another very noticeable change was the use of reporter bylines with stories - though in 1974, no one used their actual name.

"Back then, people were still using fake names because they were concerned about other jobs," says Lou Chibbaro, Jr., now the Washington Blade's senior news reporter, who began working as a freelance writer for the Blade in 1976 and used the pen name "Lou Romano."

"The reason I [used a pseudonym] was not because I wasn't out," Chibbaro says. "The reason was because I was a full-time employee for a trade association at the time, and they would not allow me to write freelance, particularly for a gay publication."

Nevertheless, during the mid- to late-1970s, the Gay Blade continued to grow. The number of pages increased, along with the size of its volunteer staff, and plans began unfolding to publish the newsletter more frequently.

Also, the Blade was printed on newsprint for the first time in 1974, and by the end of the year was being printed in the same tabloid size that it still maintains today. Also that year, the Blade moved into its first offices in Dupont Circle. Two years later, it expanded into a two-room suite on the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

In 1975, the newspaper became incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the mantle Blade Communications Inc., and the staff decided to drop "gay" from the paper's title, making it officially just the Blade.

Some accused the editors of trying to steer the newspaper into the closet, but the name change involved a more practical concern: It was discovered that a New York publication already owned the copyright for the title Gay Blade.

By the late '70s, many of the Blade's freelancers were receiving a nominal fee for their stories, but the staff remained mostly volunteer. That changed in 1977, when Don Michaels became the newspaper's first paid staff employee.

Six months later, Michaels became the paper's editor, and quickly instituted a policy banning the use of pseudonyms on stories.

"I felt that any newspaper that was carrying news of the gay movement looked a little hypocritical to allow its people to hide behind a pseudonym," Michaels says. "I felt that it would boost the credibility of the news and everything else if people used their real names."

By 1981, the Blade had undergone a few more important changes. In November 1978, the newspaper went from a monthly publication to a bi-weekly. In 1980, it moved offices once again, to 930 F St., NW, directly above what would later become the 9:30 Club.

As the newspaper began to focus on more national coverage, it also became re-incorporated as a for-profit, employee-owned business in 1980. That change also prompted editors to rename the paper the Washington Blade.

BUT NO ONE at the time could possibly have imagined how a medical condition primarily afflicting gay men would change the Blade's role in journalism. Soon, local gay activists as well as politicians, health advocates and policymakers across the country were turning to it for information.

In June 1981, a handful of otherwise healthy men in New York and California, who had no apparent association other than that they were all gay, were diagnosed with a bizarre and deadly form of pneumonia.

On July 10, 1981, the Washington Blade published a front-page story with the headline: "Rare, Fatal Pneumonia Hits Gay Men." The news story warned readers that the disease was most likely spread through sexual contact.

"I believe we were one of the first gay publications in the country to cover AIDS," Chibbaro says. "Back then, we were saying it was an unknown cancer that was surfacing among gay men. We were right there at the beginning."

The AIDS epidemic landed gay issues in the spotlight at the national level. The sheer amount of news that was happening at the time, as well as the fact that thousands of people were coming out as a result of the disease, prompted the editors to turn the Washington Blade into a weekly publication in September 1982.

"As a news person, it was like all of a sudden we were in the middle of the most enormous wave of news and history, and we were right there in it and on top of it and riding it and being surrounded by it," says Lisa Keen, who served as the Blade's top editor from 1983 to 2001. "It was just exhilarating and fascinating. It was like watching history being made, because that was exactly what was happening."

Lisa Keen, the Washington Blade's top editor for nearly two decades, said covering the AIDS epidemic in the early years 'was like all of a sudden we were in the middle of the most enormous wave of news and history.' (File photo by Clint Steib)

Oftentimes, other publications that were reporting on the disease would call the Blade to see if there were any holes in their stories, recalls Michaels, who in 1981 became the Blade's publisher, a post he would hold until 2001.

"Certainly, there have been media such as the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, that have also done tremendous HIV/AIDS reporting," says Cornelius Baker, the executive director of Whitman-Walker Clinic, the largest AIDS service organization in the region, "but I just think that from the perspective of within the community, what the Blade did in those early yearsà stands alone."

Before becoming director at Whitman-Walker, Baker was the director of the National Association of People with AIDS.

BY THE 1990s, public figures were increasingly coming out and mainstream America was beginning to talk, though tentatively, about gay issues. In 1992, the newspaper moved to a larger office space, in the 1400 block of U St., NW, where it still is located, and by 1995, editors were beginning to put content on the paper's Web site.

Two years later, after the collapse of the New York Native, that city's primary gay publication, Michaels announced plans to create a sister publication. In October 1997, the New York Blade began operating.

"The thought process was that for many years, the New York gay community was underserved," says Keen. "It's an enormous city with an incredible gay community, both in size and diversity, and New York is really an important center for gay community activities. We felt like it was a great idea to go in and help serve that community."

But an even larger change was just a few years away.

In May 2001, both the Washington Blade and the New York Blade were purchased by Window Media, a gay-owned media company that also owned three gay newspapers - Southern Voice in Atlanta, Houston Voice, and Impact News in New Orleans - as well Eclipse, a nightlife magazine that covered the entire South.

Chris Crain, Window Media's co-founder and editorial director, says the company sought out the Blade specifically because of its reputation as a newspaper of record.

"When we started Window Media, we wanted to raise the level of professionalism in the gay press," Crain says. "We felt like we'd done a good job of that in Atlanta and Houston, but if we could find a more established paper like the Washington Blade, which had done such an excellent job over the years, we could take the entire company to the next level."

Michaels and Keen, who along with James Lamont were the three principal owners of the Blade at the time of the sale, left the publication after the purchase was complete.

Crain, who became the papers' new editor, began publishing editorials, a practice Keen did not undertake during her tenure.

In February 2002, the paper revamped its page design for the first time in 22 years. Crain also decided to broaden the scope of the newspaper's arts and entertainment stories, including a larger focus on nightlife.

Critics have complained that the Blade has veered from its hard-news roots. Crain says this is not the case.

"Our hard news coverage has improved, not declined," he says. "It might be that the amount of space given to individual news stories may be smaller because in the past, the Blade used to run incredibly long stories.

Senior news reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr., who began writing for the Washington Blade in 1976, said the newspaper was 'the glue that held the community together for many, many years.' Chibbaro is pictured in an undated photo from the 1980s, and today (inset).

"But I don't believe that longer is necessarily better. I believe the reader is better off if we trim a report to its meat, rather than dumping an entire reporter's notebook into a story."

Another complaint among some activists is that the paper does not focus enough attention on issues affecting lesbians, racial minorities, and transgendered people, among other populations, such as bisexual men and women.

"On a scale of 1-10, I'd probably give it a 3-1/2 to a 4," longtime gay rights activist Carlene Cheatam says about the Blade's coverage of black gay issues. "You may have a number of pictures of blacks in the paper, but your consistency of articles on the black community needs improvement."

Kathleen DeBold, executive director of the Mautner Project, an organization for gay and bisexual women with cancer, wants more lesbian coverage.

"Unfortunately, the Blade operates in a culture where women's issues are still not seen as quite as important," she says, "and where the 'L' kind of gets sucked into the 'LGBT,' and I would like to see more coverage and more in-depth coverage there."

Crain acknowledged that these are areas where there is room for improvement.

"It's no doubt true that the paper could do a better job of covering lesbian issues and other minority groups," says Crain. "It's something we always struggle with doing better. But our coverage compares more than favorably with other gay publications, and we're committed to doing even better in the future."

Window Media president and co-founder William Waybourn reiterated the responsibility felt by those who run the newspaper today based on its significant legacy.

"The Blade has become such an institution, playing a very important role as the chronicle of our community and its past," he said. "By informing the public, the Blade has helped shape public opinion, if not encourage public policy. I can't imagine where we would be today without its coverage of issues affecting us.

"The individuals whose dedication created it, both past and present, have touched and transformed our lives," he said.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, Tucker, now 58 and living in Albuquerque, says she feels "like a proud parent."

"I've been delighted to see how it's expanded over the years, and that it's always consistently stayed a high-quality publication," she says.

Streitmatter at American University said the Blade's greatest accomplishment is its visibility.

"Bars come and go and organizations come and go, but the Blade has really been a consistent institution and a consistent part of the gay community here in Washington, longer than just about any other operation I can think of," he says. "You can always count on the Blade coming out every week."

35 years of history

The Washington Blade began in 1969 as a one-page monthly and a volunteer operation out of an activist's apartment. Today, it is a weekly newspaper with 35 full-time employees that, on average, includes more than 100 pages, and has sister publications in New York, Florida, Georgia and Texas.

October 1969

Nancy Tucker, Art Stone and a handful of activists publish the first issue of the Gay Blade. The newsletter, which is published monthly, consists of one side of a letter-size page, printed on a mimeograph machine in Tucker's apartment. The 500 copies are distributed to the city's gay bars.

June 1972

Now in its third year, the Gay Blade expands to a four-page monthly newsletter, including two pages filled with a calendar of events and a listing of bars for people planning to travel to New York for the 3rd Annual Christopher Street Liberation Day March.

April 1973

The Gay Blade undergoes yet another facelift: As its content expands to eight pages, the newsletter is published in a smaller format, roughly the height and width of a paperback novel.

July 1973

After four years, original editor Nancy Tucker leaves the Blade, calling for interested parties to take over the newsletter. That call is answered by Pat Price, who goes by the pseudonym Pat Kolar. It is also the first time in the Blade's history that stories contain bylines - though, like Price, nearly all of them are pseudonyms.

July 1974

The Gay Blade is printed on newsprint for the first time ever. It uses a format that is slightly larger than tabloid size, but by November 1974, the paper is reduced to the standard tabloid format that is still used today.

October 1974

Citing a lack of revenue and interest from D.C.'s gay residents, editors do not publish an issue during the month of the Blade's fifth anniversary. It is the only time in the paper's history when an issue is not published during the standard publishing cycle.

November 1974

The Gay Blade moves into its first offices, in Dupont Circle, on 20th Street, NW.

April 1975

The Gay Blade runs its first full-page ad, for the Miss Gay America Pageant.

November 1975

The Gay Blade officially changes its name to the Blade, and the newspaper also becomes incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the mantle Blade Communications Inc. The current issue is 16 pages long.

June 1976

The Blade hires reporter Lou Chibbaro, Jr., who at the time was working under the pen name Lou Romano.

August 1976

The Blade moves to a two-room suite on the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

June 1977

Don Michaels, a volunteer at the newspaper, is hired to become the Blade's first paid staff employee. As the paper's business manager, Michaels is given a salary of $318 per month. He also is the first staff writer to use his actual first and last names in the newspaper.

January 1978

Don Michaels becomes the Blade's editor. He begins enforcing a policy that pseudonyms cannot be used as bylines.

November 1978

The Blade changes from being published monthly to bi-weekly, signifying the growth of D.C.'s gay readership. The newspaper runs about 28 pages long, and regularly features color.

February 1980 The Blade ditches its digs on Pennsylvania Avenue and moves to 930 F St., NW, above what would later become the 9:30 Club.

October 1980

The Blade re-incorporates as a for-profit, employee-owned business and changes its name officially to the Washington Blade.

July 1981

With the front-page story, "Rare, Fatal Pneumonia Hits Gay Men," the Washington Blade becomes one of the first gay newspapers in the country to write about the disease that would become known as AIDS.

November 1981

Don Michaels becomes the Blade's publisher, a post he would occupy for two decades.

April 1982

For the second year in a row, the Blade publishes a special "April Fool's" edition chock full of fake stories, including one detailing how the dye used in tennis balls contributed to homosexuality. After a reader responded, convinced that the dye was the reason she was a lesbian, editors opted not to publish the special issue in subsequent years.

September 1982

The Blade changes its status (and its nameplate) to become D.C.'s weekly gay newspaper.

November 1983

Lisa Keen becomes the Blade's managing editor. She goes on to lead the Blade's editorial staff for 18 years.

October 1984

In celebration of its 15th anniversary, the Blade presents D.C.'s first-ever gay film festival, at the Biograph Theatre in Georgetown.

January 1987

The Blade rings in 1987 with a new office, located at the Victor Building, 724 9th St., NW.

June 1988

A long way away from the mimeograph days of old, editors begin using a computer to produce the newspaper, which now runs about 40 pages per issue.

September 1992

The Blade moves once again, this time to 1408 U St., NW, where its offices remain today.

April 1993

To coincide with the 1993 March on Washington, the Washington Blade publishes its largest issue to date. It contained 216 pages.

September 1995

The Washington Blade launches its Web site.

October 1997

Publisher Don Michaels announces the Washington Blade's launch of a sister paper: the New York Blade.

May 2001

The Washington and New York Blades are purchased by Window Media, a gay-owned media company that also owns the Atlanta-based Southern Voice and the Houston Voice. Michaels and Keen, who had been two of the Blade's three principal owners, leave their posts, replaced by William Waybourn and Chris Crain, Window Media's co-founders.

February 2002

The Blade undergoes its first major facelift in more than two decades, and updates its design.

September 2004

After 35 years and almost 1,400 issues, the Blade has 35 full-time employees on staff.

040910
WB040908

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .