No Minnesota Contestant at IML XXX

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #338, May 9, 2008)

Consider the noble leather contest—alive and thriving in some places, moribund in others.

It will be a blowout year in Chicago as the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest celebrates 30 years this coming Memorial Day weekend. As in years past, many Minnesotans will be among the crush of leather aficionados cheering for competitors from across the nation and around the world—and turning the host hotel (Chicago’s Hyatt Regency on Wacker Drive) into the world’s largest leather bar for the weekend. (Details at <www.imrl.com>. And hurry, because at this writing the host hotel is almost sold out.)

Unfortunately, no one representing Minnesota will be walking across the IML stage this year as a contestant. In recent years the only functioning Minnesota leather title, and the only source for an IML contestant representing Minnesota, has been Mr. Minneapolis Eagle. This year that contest has not yet been held. What gives?

Minnesota has a long history of sending contestants to each year’s IML. And in 1997 one of them—Mr. Minnesota Leather Kevin Cwayna—went on to become that year’s International Mr. Leather.

Now, eleven years later, Minneapolis Eagle owner Ed Hopkins hasn’t been able to find enough contestants to hold this year’s Mr. Minneapolis Eagle contest in time to send the winner to Chicago to compete in IML. It’s not for lack of trying—the first call for Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2008 contestants went out around the beginning of the year.

When I talked to him, Hopkins sounded a bit bewildered and frustrated by the lack of contestants. But at this point, he still wants to be able to present the contest. (He told me, “I always really enjoy that evening at the bar.”) He now plans to hold the contest sometime this fall.

Things are both better (nationally) and worse (locally) for the women’s leather community. The International Ms Leather (IMsL) contest has experienced an amazing rejuvenation in the last two years. But there hasn’t been a functioning women’s leather title based in Minnesota since the end of the last century.

But who cares, right? They’re just beauty contests anyway, aren’t they? Actually, no, they’re much more—although I have nothing against a nice beauty contest, either.

Leather contests have been around as long as they have because they serve several community functions. Whether in a bar in Minneapolis or in a theater in Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles, contests build community by being an out-of-the-ordinary shared community experience. For leather-related business owners and sponsors, leather contests can be good ways to build and strengthen their businesses.

Obviously, each leather contest can have only one winner. But, win or lose, everyone competing in a leather contest experiences a significant rite of passage. For contestants, the act of competing is a declaration both to themselves and to the community that they want to be involved and here’s what they have to offer.

Leather contests and leather titles are an important source of, and often a gateway to, community leadership. I have personally seen this happen over and over. Both locally and nationally, I can point to any number of people making things happen in their communities—and tell you in which contest I first saw them compete.

I recently participated in a dinner-table discussion sparked by the news that the Mr. Minneapolis Eagle contest had been postponed. Others who see the value in leather contests and titles wondered why Minnesota has so few of them, and what it would take to revive them here.

Reference was made to the Mr. Los Angeles Leather title (as shown in the 2004 documentary Mr. Leather), a citywide leather title competition featuring the winners of nine different leather-bar titles. Why couldn’t Minnesota set up the same kind of leather title network?

Of course, the Mr. Minneapolis Eagle title could be an integral part of such a network—but perhaps other Twin Cities bars would be interested in sponsoring a leather title. And what about bars or organizations in Duluth, Rochester, Mankato, or elsewhere in the state? Winners of those contests could then go on to compete for a statewide Minnesota leather title. And, while we’re at it, how about revitalizing a women’s Minnesota leather title as well?

Sounds great—almost like the way things used to be around here. The Mr. and Ms Minnesota Leather titles once were run by the community. (This was before my time, so I’ve only heard stories.) In my early years in the Twin Cities leather community there were many titles and many contests, and I have columns and photos documenting them. And then, for whatever reason or reasons, it all went away, and only the Mr. Minneapolis Eagle title was left. Now, after nine titleholders, it too is on hiatus—I hope only temporarily.

So I’ll still be at IML, and I’ll still be cheering, but I won’t be able to cheer for a contestant representing my state, let alone my hometown. I can only hope that someone from Minnesota who attends IML will be inspired, or will inspire someone else, to compete for the title of Mr. Minneapolis Eagle this fall.

Correction

In my column in Lavender issue 332 (Feb. 15, 2008) I incorrectly said the 2009 Leather Leadership Conference would be in Detroit. The 2009 conference will be in Atlanta, with Detroit hosting the conference in 2010.