Blade of Glory

The fallout of the demise of The Washington Blade is still being fully calculated. An editorial in today's Washington Post is calling for proper treatment of archives of America's paper of record of the LGBT population, and reports that the former employees are looking to start a new independent paper to fill the void:

The Washington Post writes:

The Blade's importance to our area cannot be overstated. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to hate crimes to the drive for marriage equality, the paper reported stories that the mainstream press initially didn't or wouldn't cover. And in the quest for fairness, it held people accountable -- gay and straight, elected officials and community leaders. Because of that, the Washington Blade, with more than 250,000 unique visitors to its Web site each month and a circulation of 23,000, was considered the paper of record by gays and lesbians across the country. Control of its archive of papers and photographs at its offices in the National Press Club is now in the hands of a bankruptcy trustee. Every effort should be made to keep the archive accessible to researchers and historians.