Staff relaunch Washington’s oldest gay newspaper

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The Washington Blade has been relaunched as the DC Agenda by its staff.

It was distributed as an eight-page newsletter on Friday and former employees of the Blade hope to print a 16-page edition this week.

They expect to be running a full-size newspaper by Christmas.

Staff were left with no redundancy pay when the the Blade was forced to close last week and have been helped by donations.

The newspaper’s parent company, Window Media, had run into financial difficulties after a major shareholder collapsed.

The Blade was thought to be the oldest in the country. It was founded nearly 40 years ago.

Kevin Naff, editor of the new publication, said: “The DC Agenda represents former Blade employees’ commitment to carry on the important mission and work of the Blade.

“We expect this effort to grow and evolve and to eventually include a larger and more diverse group of voices.”