Posts Tagged ‘Washington Blade’
The Washington Blade Is Now the D.C. Agenda
The Washington Blade served as D.C.’s gay newspaper of record from 1969 until Monday morning. This Friday, the paper intends to return as the D.C. Agenda. Editor Kevin Naff confirmed the re-Christening this evening at an event at the Hard Rock Hotel supporting the paper’s rebirth.
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The Final Hours of the Washington Blade
It’s 12:30 p.m. outside of the downtown offices of the former Washington Blade, which served as Washington D.C.’s gay newspaper of record from 1969 until this morning. Just hours ago, the staff of the Blade learned that its parent company, Window Media, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that the Blade was closed effective immediately, and that the paper’s two dozen employees were all out of work.
Now, two guys in purple shirts are methodically removing stacks of boxes out of the office, located on the fifth floor of the National Press Club building. What’s inside? “Just personal belongings,” one says, as he heads to the elevator. Everybody has until 3:30 p.m. to clear out.
District Gets Restraining Order Against “Men’s Parties” Sex Club
Today, the District of Columbia secured a temporary restraining order against “Men’s Parties,” the underground sex club operating out of 1618 14th Street NW. The District filed suit against the owner of the property (1618 14th Street LLC), the club’s manager (David J. Butler), and its nonprofit front organization (the D.C. Wrestling Club, Inc.) on Oct. 14.
For now, the D.C. Wrestling Club has been ordered to stop partying, stop advertising, and replace its purposefully nondescript business entrance with some interesting signage:
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Steep Price: Gay Sex Club Closes After Fatal Injury
Throwing in the Towels: Men’s club death leaves city grasping for answers.
Early in the morning of Oct. 4, a member of a private Logan Circle “men’s social club” fell to his death. According to a D.C. police report, the 47-year-old man was discovered in the stairwell leading to the basement of 1618 14th St. NW, the victim of “blunt impact injury of head.” Police believe the man may have tumbled down the stairs; the organizer of the club told the Washington Blade that the man likely fell on a “cement floor,” where he “possibly hit his head on a metal pipe or a brick wall.”
The man’s injury was sustained during the regular activities of the club, which include nightly gay sex events called “Men’s Parties,” as well as meetings of the “Jack Off Enthusiasts of Washington and Baltimore.” The accident has drawn public scrutiny over the private meetings, as well as a defense: Following the death, the club’s organizer told police that his establishment provides “a safe place for gay men to have consensual sex.”
How does a club meant to provide a “safe place” end up hosting a member’s death? By working off a creative definition of “safe.”
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Who Botched the Gender Identity of a D.C. Homicide Victim?
Vigil attendees pay their respects to Tyli’a Mack.
On Wednesday, Aug. 26, one person was killed and another critically injured in a daytime stabbing outside 209 Q St. NW. In the hours following the homicide, police and reporters gathered witness testimony, formed a description of the suspect, and chased likely motives. This time, cops and journalists were also forced to devote resources to another developing story: the gender of the victims.
Within three hours of the incident, three local news sources had independently verified the victims’ gender identity with police. They all got it wrong.
Fox 5 news reporter Roby Chavez gave this report at 3:59 p.m., about an hour and a half after the stabbings occurred. “D.C. Police sources tell Fox 5 officers found two transgender male victims in front of the building when they arrived,” Chavez reported.
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Embrace For Gay Rights At Tastee Diner Tonight
Two women, the Washington Blade reports, were ejected from Silver Spring’s Tastee Diner for hugging after completing their meal. Aiyi’nah Ford and Torian Brown say they were told by a manager to “take that outside” after embracing near the restaurant’s counter.
Bad move, Tastee. At 9 p.m. tonight, the diner will be chock-full of same-sex hugging. Instead of boycotting the place entirely, Ford and Brown have invited the public to inundate the restaurant with gay PDA. 94 guests are currently confirmed on Facebook; you can join them at 8601 Cameron Street, Silver Spring, Md. When you arrive, here’s the drill:
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Gay Man Arrested For Mocking Police Bigotry
Pepin Tuma, a 33-year-old gay man, was discussing the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates with a few friends as they walked to Cobalt on July 26. At some point in the pre-bar jaunt, the Washington Blade reports, Tuma loudly condemned the alleged bigotry in the case in a sing-song voice: “I hate the police!” he declared. “I hate the police!”
A D.C. police officer, Tuma says, responded with some hate-speech of his own—and a swift arrest. Second District Officer J. Culp, Tuma says, “charged 40-50 feet” toward him, “pushed him against a transformer box,” arrested him, then told him to “shut up, faggot.”
Log Cabin Republicans Seek Discount President
The Log Cabin Republicans, longtime gay conservative group and newfound darling of Meghan McCain, are in search of a new leader—one who’s willing to do less for less. Chairman of the Board Terry Hamilton told the Washington Blade that the organization’s next president “might work less than full-time,” Chris Johnson reports.
“It could take the form of a full-time, or it could take the form of a three-quarter time or something like that,” Hamilton told the Blade. “We haven’t quite decided just exactly what we’re going to be doing.”
Hamilton admitted that while “the organization is currently able to pay its expenses,” it can’t “afford to hire a president with a salary in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Hamilton attributed the discount search to the “times,” which “call for lots of flexibility.”
OMG—the Log Cabin Republicans should totally hire Meghan McCain as their new part-time president! She can lobby for the hipper, gayer Republican party part-time, blog about the hipper, gayer Republican party part-time, and still have time to maintain her Twitter account while penning her lavishly funded memoir. Who cares if she’s not gay, and at times unconvincingly Republican? She sounds “flexible.”
Washington Blade Calls Out Meghan McCain
Political-royalty-turned-blogger Meghan McCain has launched a new campaign to usher gay rights into her hip, young Republican fold—but the gay media is not biting.
In the Daily Beast this week, McCain calls gay rights “one of the [causes] closest to my heart,” and insists that “if the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to get past our anti-gay rhetoric.” Later this week, McCain is slated to address the Log Cabin Republicans at their annual convention, and she works hard on the Beast to build up the the gay conservative group’s inclusiveness as a part of its “core Republican values,” while dissing the Democrats for being the party that’s really anti-gay.
How Long Will Iceland Linger in the Gay News?
Iceland: Newest gay vacation destination?
On Saturday, Jan. 31, Iceland inaugurated “the world’s first openly gay female head of government.” Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a lesbian, is now the nation’s Prime Minister. Predictably, Sigurðardóttir’s appointment set off a wave of excited coverage in the gay (and mainstream) press. But today, “Bladewire,” the Washington Blade’s news aggregator, picked up a follow-up story on the Prime Minister: “Iceland PM Wants Nation to Join EU.”
