by Alexander Rodriquez and Gisselle Palomera
(Alexander Rodriguez is the publisher of the Los Angeles Blade. Gisselle Palomera is its editor. The following pieces ran in the newspaper’s April 4, 2025, issue and are reprinted here with permission.)

March 24 marked the eighth anniversary of our newspaper. Even as the political attack on the queer community wages on, we continue the legacy that Los Angeles Blade founder Troy Master began. Our promise to the LGBTQ community is to continue to bring you the latest in political, social, entertainment, nightlife, and activist news, for and by the community. Our voice will stay steady and strong and remain the leading news source for and by the queer community.

In addition to bringing you the latest in news, we will continue to highlight leaders from the community from the social and political world. Our initiative to build bridges with the Latinx community continues through our close relationship with CALÓ NEWS with weekly reporting on issues that affect both groups. This year we will be kicking off Pride season with the return of our Best in LA Awards show, coming back bigger and better than ever.

Among our new initiatives this year, we are returning to the community with a series of free panels and discussions, covering important issues that are affecting the community, queer and beyond. We will be working with our power partners from the non-profit world, government offices, and social organizations to remain active and visible in an effective way.

We are also growing our local writing team to better reflect the diversity that exists around us.

We continue to be Los Angeles’ only LGBTQ bi-weekly newspaper and the city’s largest, most frequently distributed media in print and online. Our sister newspaper, the Washington Blade, is the nation’s longest-running LGBTQ newspaper founded in 1969. It is also the only LGBTQ media member of the White House Press Corps.

As the new publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, I will work hard to honor the brand of the Blade and the work that Troy, our previous journalists and editors, and our community partners did to make us who we are today. A very heartfelt thank you to our readers and advertisers who continue to support our efforts.

Despite what is going on socially and politically towards the queer community, we will continue to thrive.

— Alexander Rodriguez

Today marks our eighth anniversary as SoCal’s LGBTQ+ news source and we want to thank you all for the support through the years. The Los Angeles Blade was founded in 2017 by Troy Masters, two years after he moved to Los Angeles in search of community and a fresh start for the next stage in his journalism journey.

He founded the Los Angeles Blade because he saw the overwhelming need for accurate and unbiased news reporting for the LGBTQ+ community during a time when many other mainstream news outlets were overlooking the stories that affected our communities, such as the AIDS crisis.

In our everyday work since then, we aim to cover the issues that not only affect us, but that also inform us and spotlight our amazing talents, skills and ability to unite. We always aim to be a beacon of light, education and information for our communities because under this current administration, Trump has seemingly vowed to take us back into the Dark Ages and erase any and all progress we have painstakingly made throughout time.

My goal as editor is to include voices that make up our community and continue building trust with those voices, so that our work can serve you and everyone else under the LGBTQ+ and QTBIPOC umbrellas.

It’s true, democracy dies in darkness and as members of the media, we must double down in our efforts to provide accurate, informative and relevant news to our communities, now more than ever.

The Blade has seen leadership shifts within the last six months, including myself, and we hope that these changes encourage you to support us and see how we continue growing.

Please reach out to us to discuss how we can better serve you or our communities. Don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and donate to the Blade Foundation if possible.

Thank you all so much for your trust and support during these particularly difficult times.

— Gisselle Palomera

GUEST COMMENTARY
Volume 27
Issue 3