The New York Blade was founded in 1997 as a New York edition of the Washington Blade. The paper immediately came under fire from gay rights advocates because of indications that it would be half-owned by News Communications; straight ownership.[2] They were also criticized for choosing objective reporting over LGBT advocacy and not having an editorial page.[2]
When the New York City Police department started a campaign to hire LGBT police officers, they placed advertisements in the newspaper.[3]