1992 was a year of change and activism for the gay community: In New York, Lesbians activists fed up with homophobia and sexism, founded The Lesbian Avengers, an activist group with a goal of empowering lesbians and all women to take back their power and rights to live freely and unharmed. British lesbians founded their own chapters later that year.
 
The first openly-gay person to address the national convention of a political party rose to the podium in 1992. Bob Hattoy from California spoke at the Democratic National Convention in New York City and moved the country with his frank disclosure of his AIDS diagnosis, and his confrontation of the Reagan/Bush administrations failures:” “Eight years from now there will be 2 million cases in America. If George Bush wins, we’re all at risk in America. It’s that simple. It’s that serious. It’s that terrible. “
 
The World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental illness in their tenth International Classification of Diseases.

In every corner of the world, 1992 was a year of change.

Following the 1990 murder of a gay activist, The TEAMS Project had been formed in Long Beach. Volunteers wearing white jackets, armed only with flashlights and bullhorns, patrolled the Broadway Corridor on weekends in an effort to deter gay-bashers. It was a time of change and activism.
 
It was during this year of change that the Orange County and Long Beach Blade was launched. Although there were gay publications published in Los Angeles, there was nothing that even remotely addressed the issues facing gay and lesbian readers in Long Beach and Orange County.
 
I wrote for the Blade in the beginning. The political issues that we covered were amazing: I
followed Congressman Bob Dornan, who gave anti-gay speeches on the floor regularly, Congressman Bill Dannemeyer who mortgaged his home to fund an AIDS black-listing measure, and many others.
 
It was important to keep the community informed, but The Blade served not only as fascinating reading, but as an organizing tool. Readers could find out about issues and find meetings to go to. The Long Beach Community Business Network (LBCBN) was founded in 1992 to serve as a networking and support organization for gay owned and gay friendly businesses within the greater Long Beach area, and the Blade announced it.
 

Blade Magazine and Long Beach Post writer Denise Penn.
Community leader CJ Derby kept Long Beach informed with his “Long Beach Insider” column and Lambda past President Marsha Naify and others wrote Long Beach news. The list of reporters who chose Long Beach as their home was extensive and includes past editor David Etheridge and the current editor, Thomas Soule.
 
But the most important thing, for me, was that the Blade provided a means to reach out to people who desperately needed help and support. I can’t count how many teenagers read my articles and contacted the Blade, or me personally for help. Often, I referred them to counselors and helped them find services. Hate crime victims have called – scared and unsure if they should report a crime committed against them – and I have gone with them to law enforcement. There are many people who were helped by the Blade that we never wrote about because it wasn’t in their best interest – and that has always been the most important consideration.
 
Blade publisher Bill LaPointe shares my values. By education, training and philosophy – we are both social workers, and share a commitment to using journalism as a means to educate, inform, and entertain the community – but also to make a difference in the world and change people’s lives.

I congratulate Bill La Pointe and the Blade, and celebrate the Blade’s success in reaching out and creating change over the past fifteen years.

The Blade can be obtained at Hot Java, and many businesses on the Broadway Corridor.