The nation’s oldest LGBTI newspaper, the Washington Blade closed today after having just turned 40 years old.

The Washington Blade, owned by Window Media, the nation’s largest owner of gay newspapers, also closed the South Florida Blade, Southern Voice, Houston Voice, David Atlanta Magazine, bitchsession.com, Genre Magazine, and the 411 Magazine.

Neither employees or the public received notice or warnings about the closures.

At 11:20 AM EST the Washington Blade tweeted, “Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today.  Thank you for your support.”

“The thing to keep in mind is that this is not just Southern Voice,” stated Southern Voice Editor Laura Douglas-Brown. “This is also the Washington Blade, which has been the gay paper of record for our country for the last 40 years. And David Magazine and the paper in Fort Lauderdale.  It’s not just a loss for the employees, but the gay community as well.”

“No one was in it just for the job,” Douglas-Brown says. “Everybody was in it for the cause too, in their own ways.  People have put up with a lot difficulties over the past year, and have hung in there because they cared.  It’s tragic and I’m desperately sorry it ended this way, especially for the people who’ve worked so hard.  The closure didn’t happen because of a lack of need for our publications.  It didn’t happen because of a lack of hard dedicated work by local staff. And that’s the shame of it…It’s a sad tale, how it all came crashing down.”

Employees arrived at work this morning at all of the newspapers locations to find the doors locked and a sign posted on the front door.

The Washington Blade won countless awards over its 40 year publication, and was recognized by the Associated Press, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.  Kevin Naff, the editor of Washington Blade told POLITICO: “The Blade staff is united and ready to continue the paper’s long-standing mission.”

The only surviving gay newspapers are the San Francisco Bay Times, Windy City Times (Chicago), Q-Notes (North and South Carolina), and a handful of others.

Earlier this year, United We Stand (Kentucky) the official blog of Kentucky Equality Federation since 2005 was permitted to became independent of the organization.  United We Stand has since established a new website, and is set to begin paper-printing sometime in 2010.