Monday November 16, 2009
Largest U.S. Homosexual Publisher Shuts Down, Closing Major Gay Newspapers
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The largest publisher of homosexual newspapers has shut down, leading to the closure of a string of homosexual newspapers, including the influential Washington Blade, which had just celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the news first broke when employees at the Southern Voice, a homosexual weekly paper in Atlanta, discovered the keys changed and the doors locked on Monday morning, with a sign informing them that their parent company Window Media LLC had closed.
Window Media LLC had hoped to establish a chain of thriving gay and lesbian journals across the country. However, financial difficulties already endemic to the struggling newsprint industry and the current recession reportedly made it impossible for the publisher to maintain its extensive news acquisitions.
The company was forced into receivership by the federal Small Business Administration earlier in the year upon discovering that it had insufficient capital to remain afloat. The decision means that the SBA has the ability to sell off Window Media assets, but potential buyers would also have to pay off the debt accrued to these publications at federal rates.
Window Media owned the Washington Blade, Houston Voice, South Florida Blade, David Atlanta, and 411 Magazine. All these homosexual publications have closed as well, and their websites no longer function.