The former staff of the Washington Blade has managed to knock out a new gay paper in less than a week.

The DC Agenda appeared on newstands Friday, less than a week after gay publisher Window Media shuttered its most recognizable newspaper launched over 40 years ago. Blade staff was informed of the weekend decision to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Monday.

The filing sealed the fate of six LGBT newspapers, including the Atlanta-based gay weekly Southern Voice, as well as the Houston Voice, David Atlanta, South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine. The company closed down three additional properties over the summer: HX Magazine, the New York Blade and monthly glossy Genre.

“Don't judge us too harshly,” DC Agenda Editor Kevin Naff said in the paper's inaugural run. “The edition of DC Agenda you're holding is a modest early iteration of what we hope to achieve in the wake of Washington Blade's sudden closing this week.”

“It's been a tough week for us, but we are buoyed by the outpouring of support from people all over the city and beyond. … The strength of the Washington Blade did not lie in its brand name – it came from the spirit of those who worked passionately to serve and inform our community. Those people are still here.”

“Our work continues,” he added.

Window Media's troubles began soon after they received a $39 million Small Business Administration loan that critics say was squandered on a series of misguided acquisitions. Questions, however, remain, such as why did the company chose to liquidate the iconic Blade when several suitors say they were prepared to take control of the paper.

Nicholas F. Benton, owner the Virginia-based weekly the Falls Church News-Press, told New York-based Gay City News that he had won a September bid to buy the Blade.

“They told me I had won the bid,” Benton told Gay City News.

SBA spokesman Michale L. Stamler said the decision to liquidate did not come from his organization.

“SBA has not been a part of any decision not to sell these newspapers. SBA supported the sale of the newspaper assets owned by Window. It was SBA, acting as receiver, that solicited offers to purchase the newspapers, and passed the offers it received to Window/Unite Media,” he said in an email to Gay City News.

The future of DC Agenda, headed by publisher Lynne Brown, and its 18-person staff, presumably working for free at the moment, remains cloudy as other gay media outlets, including gay media icon the Advocate, continue to struggle amid a weak economy that has hit publishers especially hard.