My fantastic 15 years at the Blade — hard to summarize
washingtonblade.comLooking back at the nearly 15 years I’ve worked at the Washington Blade, I find it difficult to summarize my time here in a single essay because the state of play has changed so dramatically for LGBTQ people within that period for the better.
When I first started in January 2008, same-sex marriage was only legal in Massachusetts and the idea of advancing that nationwide seemed like a pie-in-the-sky aspiration.
With the public not nearly as supportive as today and continuous losses on the issue at the ballot box, it was a struggle simply to convince Democratic politicians and candidates to support the cause.
Meanwhile, openly gay service members were unable to serve in the military and were being expelled on a regular basis thanks to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The idea transgender people could serve would be a non-starter.
