Nation's Largest Gay Newspaper Publisher Closes

DORIE TURNER

ATLANTA (AP) — The nation's largest publisher of newspapers serving the gay and lesbian community has shut down and plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Employees arrived at work Monday morning to find out about the sudden end to the newspapers owned by Window Media LLC. At Southern Voice newspaper in Atlanta, editor Laura Douglas-Brown said the locks were changed at her office and a note was posted on the door.

She said the company's other publications — including the Washington Blade, Houston Voice and South Florida Blade — were also being closed.

"From my understanding, there was just no more money to keep these companies running," she said in a telephone interview Monday as she sat with her former employees outside their locked Atlanta office. "We had all been told that the companies would be sold. The fact that we were shut down was a complete shock."

The company's financial trouble stemmed from a number of factors. Besides an industrywide 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 Window Media's.