By Johann Earle in Washington
As the US’ oldest LGBT publication, the Washington Blade has come a long way in advocating the rights of gays and lesbians in America even as the country now prepares for an election in which gay marriage more than ever could be a deciding factor.
Speaking on Monday to a group of foreign journalists who are presently part of a US State Department’s Foreign Press Service Reporting Tour, Kevin Naff, Editor of the Washington Blade said that issues such as the Defense of Marriage Act and where each party stands on this will matter at the elections.
In addition to the visit to the Washington Blade, the journalists went to the State Department, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, George Mason University, and the University of Pennsylvania among other places. The tour takes the journalists to Washington DC, Annapolis Maryland, Philadelphia and New York City.
The Washington Blade was founded in 1969 as a black and white, one-sheet community newsletter and was distributed in DC area bars. The paper celebrated its 40th anniversary in October 2009. Naff said that readers around the world have come to rely on Blade’s unmatched coverage of LGBT news, earning it the moniker of ‘newspaper of record for the LGBT community’.
Naff said that in 1981, the Washington Blade became one of the first publications to speak of and report on a new ‘cancer’ afflicting gay men. This was even before this new disease had become known as AIDS – the dread of the gay community at that time. NAFF said that for more than a decade, the AIDS issue became a central one for the paper and it featured obituaries of gay men who succumbed to the disease. “It wasn’t until sometime in 1997 that there was no obituary that week,” Naff said.
He said that since then, the newspaper has grown with the 1993 coverage of the Gay Pride parade being the largest issue to date. While the paper is published 24/7 online, its print edition comes out every Friday. However, in 2009 the parent company went bankrupt. This is when he and some other employees of the Blade stepped in and bought the newspaper in bankruptcy court.
In terms of coverage, Naff said that the paper focuses on political issues with regard to gays and lesbians. He said that for this year, the paper covered the process for the Republican Party candidacy and will in the summer be covering both the GOP and the Democratic national conventions. The paper also covered stories in Iraq regarding gays and lesbians in that country with the help of persons living there.
Naff said that while the Blade has been credentialed at the White House, its correspondent there has not been called upon by any press secretary during any of the administrations since Ronald Reagan. Further, he said that President George W. Bush had the Blade’s reporter thrown out of the White House but the Obama administration restored the reporter upon its ascension to office. “We have had terrific access to the Obama Administration. It has been like night and day compared with the Bush years,” said Naff. “We have seen a lot of change during the Obama [presidency],” Naff Said, adding that the President’s recent declaration about supporting gay marriage is historic and that it had opened the floodgate for many other persons and groups to be open in their support of gay marriage.
Naff said that that for a movement that began 40 years ago there has been significant progress, though he bemoaned that there is still no federal protection from employment discrimination – one can be fired for being gay in some states.
Naff was asked whether the movement sought to move too quickly on the question of gay marriage to the detriment of employment discrimination. “It is still legal in 29 states to fire someone because he or she is gay,” Naff pointed out.
He noted that on marriage, people’s minds are beginning to change when they realize that a lot of the rights that straight people take for granted are denied to same sex couples, such as hospital visitation rights and health insurance benefits. “It is not just about walking down the aisle,” he said.
Naff said that the Blade is hoping for an Obama reelection since the paper expects him to further advance the cause of gays and lesbians.
In a proclamation on June 1 for LGBT Pride Month 2012, President of the United States Barack Obama said since he took office, his administration has worked to broaden opportunity, advance equality and level the playing field for LGBT people and communities.
“We have fought to secure justice for all under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and we have taken action to end housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We expanded hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients and their loved ones, and under the Affordable Care Act, we ensured that insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to someone just because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” Obama in his proclamation said.
The President said also that because LGBT rights are human rights, “We continue to engage with the international community in promoting and protecting the rights of LGBT persons around the world.”
