Word spread quickly across the country on newswires Monday that Window Media LLC had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and GLBT publications in several United States cities, including the flagship Washington Blade would be liquidated. Still, steadfast and passionate journalists – now former staff members – vowed to reemerge in independent form.

Such news not only left our hearts heavy, as the newspaper of record of our nation’s capital has ceased operation, but it also left us and many others concerned about the fate of the respected newspaper’s historical archives – 40 years of GLBT history dating back to Stonewall – in the hands of a bankruptcy trustee.

It was no secret that Window Media had been in serious financial trouble, but employees said they expected a reorganization or sale – not liquidation.

Window Media and sibling entity Unite Media published several gay and lesbian newspapers, including the Blade, the Houston Voice, South Florida Blade, David Atlanta, The 411 Magazine and Atlanta’s Southern Voice. All production ceased on Monday morning and the offices closed, a result of escalating financial distress first disclosed publicly in February.

It was reported then that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) had placed Avalon Equity Fund, the owner of Window Media and Unite Media, in receivership. A court filing from August 2008 showed that Avalon failed to maintain the level of capital required by its contract with SBA, the agency from which Avalon had borrowed $39 million for investments in GLBT media properties and other ventures since 2000.

According to reports, the company’s financial trouble stemmed from a number of factors. Besides an industry-wide drop in advertising revenue amid the economic meltdown, mainstream publications are writing more about gay and lesbian issues, reducing dependency on niche publications such as those previously owned by Window Media.

Undoubtedly, the Blade’s former owners were unhappy to hear of the paper’s demise.

“I’m very saddened and distressed,” said Don Michaels, an original owner and publisher of the Washington Blade. “To me, the Blade has always had value in this community. I just find it unbelievable that the SBA wouldn’t accept an offer from somebody or that somebody in this community wouldn’t step forward. …1 I know the media climate is bad, but still the Blade has history, a valuable history.”

We couldn’t agree more.

More than any other gay newspaper in the country, the Blade prided itself on embracing the ethics of the mainstream press that call for objectivity in reporting. Some in the mainstream press and in the GLBT community saw the Blade as the community’s paper of record.

Still shocked about the closure of Windows Media, GLBT communities across the nation are left scratching their heads, trying to figure out who will fill the void.

There might however be a silver lining. The liquidation of these publications frees up a very talented group of individuals to rise up.

Speaking as the former editor for the Washington Blade, Kevin Naff, admitted the staff knew there were problems and suspected Chapter 11, with reorganization, but didn’t expect the abrupt closure – and the Chapter 7.

Nonetheless, Naff said the staff is “united and all sticking together.” Naff and Blade publisher, Lynne Brown, are already talking of launching a new venture and believe they have funding.

“We hope to re-emerge as a new entity without all the Window Media baggage,” Naff said. “We will re-emerge as a leaner, meaner operation without all the very expensive suite of offices. We’re going to shed some of the corporate trappings. And we will re-emerge as a leaner operation that will make money on day one.”

The former staffers certainly hold promise and said they hope to get an edition out in the next couple of weeks. “We’d rather get it out sooner, rather than later. We’re not going to sit on our hands. That’s the goal.”

We wish them the best in their new ventures and look forward to these talented individuals once again giving a voice to the GLBT community in our nation’s capital, as well as to smaller communities around the country.

This sudden cease in operation of such publications leaves the Gay & Lesbian Times not only Southern California’s largest weekly GLBT publication, but it bumps us up to being the largest weekly GLBT publication in the nation. This is an ascension we do not take lightly, but one we hold with great honor and pride in becoming.

We certainly understand the importance of smaller owned publications that are in touch with the community and the resources it offers.

It was just a year ago that San Diego held the largest protests in response to the passing of Proposition 8. Publications just like the one you’re reading right now, along with our other hometown publications Rage Monthly, San Diego Pix, Lavender Lens and FlawLes, helped spread the word and give coverage. Emerging Web based forms of media are also important in this role, allowing daily up to the minute electronic information to be disseminated.

Still, while a generation has grown acclimated to living in America’s Finest City – with a community where we can be comfortable being out and proud – we must remember the young kid who just stepped off the bus, new to town from Kansas. For him the box on the street labeled Gay & Lesbian Times holds the key to resources and infinite possibilities ahead of him.

Once the new kids on the block, we are reminded that without the gay newspaper of record, we wouldn’t have a rough draft of our history – and for that we are bitter sweetly grateful. We look forward to the new door opened in the GLBT community with the “window” closure.