The Washington Blade was founded in 1969, originally as "The Gay Blade" by a group of local reporters and is the longest running LGBT newspaper in the country.

This newspaper highlights LGBT issues at the local level in D.C., through individual highlights and Q&A posts, called "Queeries."  They feature national news through reporting on issues to touch on the perspective of LGBT Americans. They produce content regularly to provide commentaries on contemporary issues, and their specialization in LGBT issues has allowed them to remain competitive for several decades. 

The Washington Blade's about page includes a quick overview of the history of the publication:

The Washington Blade was founded in 1969 as a black and white, one-sheet community newsletter distributed in D.C.-area bars. In October 2009, the Blade celebrated its 40th anniversary as an award-winning news source with a large following in print and online. Readers locally and around the world have come to rely on the Blade’s unmatched coverage of LGBT news, earning the paper the moniker “the newspaper of record for the LGBT community.”
 

On their website, they explain that the meaning behind their name: 

"In the Victorian era, the phrase 'gay blade' meant a dashing and charming swordsman. By the early 20th Century, the phrase had come to mean, a 'dashing young man.' By the 1960s, however, sometimes ‘gay blade’ was used interchangeably with phrases like 'confirmed bachelor,' as code for a gay man, generally in the closet." 

The Washington Blade was acquired by Window Media LLC in 2001 and remained under the organization's umbrella until its bankruptcy in 2009. In 2010, members of the original publication bought the trademark for the Washington Blade and brought the paper back.