Brody's Notes & Scribbles... DC Agenda Publishes First Edition & Website Goes Live

Photo By Brody Levesque

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) | It was a bright, sunny, and windy Friday today in Washington with temperatures in the mid sixties. However, for the LGBT folk of Washington D. C., it was very sunny indeed in the Dupont Circle area as the executive staff of the former Washington Blade Newspaper delivered the very first edition of the new venture, DC Agenda, to Lambda Rising books & other selected outlets.

Not unlike its direct ancestor of 40 years ago, The Gay Blade, which was published on a mimeograph machine, stapled and then handed out, the DC Agenda's debut was hardly auspicious. But, for the hundreds upon thousands of loyal readers of The Washington Blade, the fact that the paper arose again like the mythological Phoenix bird, was warmly received.

As the staff of the old Blade and now the new venture's, accompanied by a Washington Post reporter handed out the first edition, on-line the website experienced a surge of hits and the followers on Twitter stood at nearly 4,000 by the middle of the afternoon. The following is the first editorial column from Editor Kevin Naff:

Our Mission Continues

Photo By DC Agenda

By Kevin Naff (Washington DC) Nov 20 | Don't judge us too harshly- the edition of DC Agenda you're holding is a modest, early iteration of what we hope to achieve in the wake of the Washington Blade's sudden closing this week.

The news that parent company Window Media was shuttering and liquidating its newspapers came as a shock to the staff, some of whom devoted their careers to the paper that became an institution. We were ushered out the doors of our offices with no severance, canceled paychecks and more questions than answers about why this was allowed to happen.

The former staff of the Washington Blade remains united and DC Agenda represents our effort at continuing the important mission and work of the Blade. It will grow and evolve to include a much larger and more diverse group of voices, but the core of the Blade's work remains unchanged. We will cover Congress, the White House, the LGBT rights movement, the D. C. marriage fight, local hate crimes and other political issues important to the LGBT residents of the city of Washington D. C.

It's been a tough week for us, but we are buoyed by the outpouring of support from people all over the city and beyond. We welcome and need your help and will respond to each offer as soon as possible.

Thank you to all who have pledged to stick with us, especially our advertisers. Please visit savetheblade.com for updated information on DC Agenda or to make a gift to support the new venture.

The strength of the Washington Blade did not lie in its brand name- it came from the spirit of those who worked passionately to serve and inform our community.

Those people are still here.

Our work continues.

Please Note: If you'd like to contribute financially to assist this valuable asset to Washington's LGBT community, you can do so at savetheblade.com.

The staff is currently working on a volunteer basis and financial assistance is needed to cover printing, distribution, and website expenses.  For more information, also visit DCAgenda.com.