A Leather Life Exclusive: Leather Leadership Conference 8 Explores “Routes to Power”

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #233, April 30, 2004)

The eighth annual Leather Leadership Conference (LLC8) recently took place at the Hilton Airport Inn, in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, La. This year’s theme was “Routes to Power.” About 270 people attended LLC8, some coming from as far away as Israel.

Among the Leather Leadership Conference’s stated purposes are “to develop and strengthen the leadership and management skills of existing and potential new SM/Leather/Fetish community leaders and activists” and to “develop and promulgate broad-scope SM/Leather community policy.”

The conference was started in 1997 by leather- and GLBT-community activist John Weis. He modeled LLC on Creating Change, a leadership conference presented annually by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

I was at LLC8 as co-host of a presentation by International Mr. Leather 2003 John Pendal, who traveled from London to talk about “International Leather Perspectives.” You’ll read more about our presentation in an upcoming Leather Life column; you can see what Pendal has to say about his LLC8 experience at <www.iml2003.com>.

The conference opened Friday night, April 2, with a keynote speech by Travis Wilson of Houston, Texas. Wilson, who currently heads The New Club, one of Houston’s largest and most active BDSM organizations, has been involved in the scene for more than 25 years. You can read his entire speech at <www.leatherleadership.org/llc8/LLC8keynote.htm>.

A total of 44 seminars were scheduled on Saturday. They were divided into 6 topics, or “tracks”: Community Issues and Power, Economic Power, Organizational Power, Defending Our Lifestyle, Personal Power, and Legal/Political Power. Conference attendees were strongly encouraged to pick one track and attend the seminars associated with that track.

Although I had intended to ignore this recommendation, I wound up sticking to the “Defending Our Lifestyle” track, and I was not disappointed. Every presentation I heard was excellent.

Saturday’s first “Defending Our Lifestyle” presentation was “Weathering the Storm” by Jack McGeorge, the UNMOVIC weapons inspector in Iraq who was outed as kinky by the Washington Post. It was fascinating, and a bit disturbing, to hear McGeorge tell his story of enduring a twelve-day media firestorm and its aftermath. But his presentation went further, offering lessons that could be useful to anyone suddenly thrust into a public controversy—or anyone wanting to be supportive of someone else who found themself in such a position. (Read the outline of his presentation at <www.leatherleadership.org/library/weatheringstorm.htm>.

Larry Manion, a member of the LLC Board from the St. Louis area, presented “It’s 2004: What’s Next?” Manion led the audience in considering recent events including the article about BDSM in the Jan. 19, 2004 issue of Time Magazine (<www.time.com/time/2004/sex/article/bondage_unbound_growing01a.html>), gay marriage protests across the nation, two BDSM events getting thrown out of host hotels last fall, and the few ragtag picketers who were at that very moment in front of our host hotel. Led by Manion, the audience tallied all these events—were we winning or losing? Where do we go from here? How best can the leather/BDSM community meet the challenges facing it?

Alan Maclachlan, a member of the LLC Board from New Orleans, and Jack Rinella, a leather/BDSM writer and educator from Chicago, teamed up to present “Hanging Ten on a Wave of Historical Inevitability.” Their thesis: Change “creates new social arrangements which frequently lead to conflict with entrenched ways of doing things.” An examination of the history of the struggle for gay rights in Chicago became a metaphor and a possible roadmap for the struggle for leather/BDSM sexual freedom.

Jay Wiseman, author of the classic SM101 and many other books, has been attending law school recently. He put his training as a mediator to work in an interesting seminar on community disputes and conflict resolution.

Dr. Charles Moser presented “The DSM and Internalized BDSM Negativity.” The “DSM” here is not the last three letters of “BDSM”—it stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (4th Edition, Text Revision), published by the American Psychiatric Association. This book of psychiatric diagnoses still lists Sexual Sadism and Sexual Masochism as valid diagnoses for mental illnesses requiring treatment. Moser discussed how these diagnoses support oppression of BDSM participants, how they affect the way BDSM participants feel about themselves, and why they do not belong in the DSM.

Other seminars in other tracks included “Transfriendly Spaces,” “Alpha Bottoms: Being a Leader in a D/s World,” “The Economics of Conventions,” “Tribalism: A Balanced Approach to Club Government,” “Surviving Burnout in the SM Lifestyle,” and “Grassroots Organizing for Beginners.”

Another notable seminar was a screening of a preliminary version of “50 Years of Success: The Satyrs Motorcycle Club,” a documentary film made by Satyrs members who also happen to be involved in the movie industry. (Well, the club is based in Los Angeles.)

Sunday morning’s agenda was panel discussions and Q&A “town meetings” by track: “What Makes Groups Work,” “Professionalism versus Volunteerism,” “Organizational Responsibilities,” “Separatism, Pansexuality and Political Power,” “Out or Not: Public or Private Lifestyle,” and “Texas Sodomy Decision.”

The conference ended with a closing keynote address by Dossie Easton, noted author of The Ethical Slut and other books.

Following Easton’s keynote address, Jared Keen, of the LLC8 Programming Committee, presented “A Destination Proclamation: A roadmap for change in the leather community.” This document, available at <www.leatherleadership.org/library/LLC8proclamation.htm>, represents “a compilation of points accumulated from responses to questions presented to attendees of LLC8.” After listing nine points, the proclamation notes that “If each community embraces one of these points, or even part of a point, the Leather Movement will begin to be recognized as a political, economic, and social influence in the world.”

In addition to the documents cited above that are available at The Leather Leadership Conference’s website (<www.leatherleadership.org>), there are many other documents from past conferences.

Next year’s LLC9 will be held in Phoenix, Ariz. And get ready, Minnesota, because plans are being made to submit a bid to host the conference in the Twin Cities in 2007.

That’s only three years from now. Time to get busy.

PHOTOS:

Travis Wilson

Jack McGeorge

Larry Manion

Alan Maclachlan

Jack Rinella

Dossie Easton

Interview: Carl Byrd, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #232, April 16, 2004)

It is six days after Carl Byrd became the new Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004. I’m sitting in his living room with him and his dog, Gus. (His partner, Chris, is at the gym.) I catch him slightly off-guard with my first question:

Tell me your life story up to this point in twenty-five words or less.

My life story. Okay—

Just kidding. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Gainesville, Florida and went to high school and college there. I was actually born in Landstuhl, Germany. I was an Army brat—my dad was in the Army so we moved around a lot—but basically I grew up in Florida and the south.

Which college did you attend?

I graduated from the University of Florida in 1989 with a degree in fine arts and graphic design. I moved to San Francisco in 1992, and lived there for eight years working in advertising, and then lived in L.A. for a couple years, working in the entertainment industry, and then moved to Minneapolis, where I do fashion and retail advertising, in 2001.

Have you given any thought to how your professional credentials could add to your title experience?

Well, you know, I’ve thought a lot about it. If it’s trying to get a message out, or trying to be a face that can raise the profile of the leather community, or talk about the issues that are important to the leather or gay communities—being a marketer and an advertiser, that’s what I do every day. I problem-solve when it comes to getting people’s attention or making people understand your message. If I can harness that talent that I have for marketing and advertising, and use it for the leather community, that would be cool.

What prompted you to enter the Mr. Minneapolis Eagle contest this year?

Chris had competed last year and was first runner-up to Gregg White, and that was a great experience for him. This year we talked about it, and I asked him if he wanted to do it again—if he had wanted to, I wouldn’t have competed. But he said he thought maybe I should do it.

I wanted to do it because I wanted to show how much the Eagle and this community, the leather community that embraced me, how much they meant to me. My relationship with Chris blossomed out of this community, and I’ve made some really amazing close friends because of the leather community here. And the Minneapolis Eagle is my favorite bar of my gay life as a gay man. Chris and I like having a good time there. We love Ed, and all the people who work there are great, great guys.

How did you prepare for the Mr. Eagle contest?

I thought about what I wanted to communicate—the epitome of a leather man, what they look like. Again, as a marketer, I wanted to communicate that for the visual part of it. I did reading on leather protocol and leather history. A lot of things I had known—you kind of learn things over the years—but I wanted to start being able to articulate and speak with conviction about those things. And I’m still growing and learning as a person who’s involved in the leather community. So I’m by no means the veteran, but I wanted to be able to communicate what I do know and what I do understand.

What did you think when you won the contest?

I wasn’t prepared. Obviously, I had hoped. But part of me didn’t think it would happen. I was overwhelmed, and very excited.

And, honestly, you go back to when you were 15, growing up in Florida, and you were skinny, and you’re half-white and half-Japanese, and didn’t know who you were. You might have questions about your ethnic identity, your sexual identity, you’re doubting your masculinity and your validity as a man.

And to flash forward to being a 37-year-old man, and be in a contest where you’re supposed to exhibit all those things—exhibit masculinity and the qualities of a leather top, or someone who’s supposed to be an example or a role model. And that was overwhelming. Because even though you know you’re an intelligent person, you know you’re supposed to validate yourself, you don’t need external people or sources to really validate you—don’t we all, on some level, want to be validated by our peers? And I mean peers, you know. That was an honor, and it was very humbling. I wasn’t prepared for how much it really meant to me.

Next year, when you step down, what do you want to be able to say you accomplished during your title year?

First of all, I hope to make everyone proud at IML, that’s my first immediate goal. And with the momentum of that, regardless of the outcome there, I basically want to be a servant to the leather community in Minneapolis this next year. At the end of the year I want everyone in the leather community and the judges to feel like they made the right decision, and that I contributed, and that I had a positive impact on this community.

Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #231, April 2, 2004)

On Sunday evening, March 14, Carl Byrd of Minneapolis was chosen as Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004 from a field of six contestants. First runner-up was Danny Pelletier of St. Louis Park; second runner-up was Jack Roach of Eau Claire, Wis.

Sponsored by 1-800GAYLIVE, this year’s contest actually started the previous Friday night with a Meet-and-Greet in the Eagle. Private contestant interviews were held Saturday afternoon.

Even though it’s the Mr. Minneapolis Eagle contest, Sunday evening’s stage portion of the contest was actually held next door at The Bolt, which was packed. The space worked well, with The Bolt’s higher ceilings allowing better staging than has been possible in previous years when the contest was held in the Eagle.

Emcee for the evening was Minneapolis Eagle and Bolt manager Brian Anderson. Judges were Tim Forte, the first Mr. Minneapolis Eagle (1999); Gregg White, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2003; and your humble columnist.

Byrd will go on to compete in the 2004 International Mr. Leather contest (<www.imrl.com>), Memorial Day weekend in Chicago.

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Jack Roach works his way through the crowd during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Jack Roach onstage during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Carl Byrd works his way through the crowd during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Carl Byrd, right, onstage with emcee Brian Anderson, left, during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Contestant Bradley Gavin works his way through the crowd during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Contestant Bradley Gavin, right, onstage with emcee Brian Anderson, left, during the Keg Walk segment of the contest.

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Contestant Mark Mastalir during the Q&A portion of the contest.

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Danny Pelletier during the Q&A portion of the contest.

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Mark Mastalir entertains the audience with a hot scuba-diving story during the Erotic Reading portion of the contest.

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Contestant Dan Lynch working the phone during the Erotic Reading portion of the contest.

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Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2003 Gregg White, right, with emcee Brian Anderson, left, shortly before White sashed his successor.

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Steven Due, left, and Gregg White, right, Mr. Minneapolis Eagles 2001 and 2003.

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Tim Forte (right), the first Mr. Minneapolis Eagle (1999) and one of this year’s contest judges, with his partner John Christensen (left).

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Carl Byrd, the newly-sashed Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004.

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Left to right: First runner-up Danny Pelletier, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2004 Carl Byrd, second runner-up Jack Roach.

The Voice of Experience: Painfully Obvious by Robert Davolt

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The Envelope, Please

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #229, March 5, 2004)

At the 2004 Pantheon of Leather Awards, recently held at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, the award winners were:

Man of the Year: Jack McGeorge, Woodbridge, Va. A longtime pansexual BDSM community leader, McGeorge is the UN weapons inspector in Iraq who survived a media firestorm when he was outed as kinky by the Washington Post (“Leather Life” column, Lavender Issue 198).

Woman of the Year: Mary Elizabeth Boyd, Arlington, Va. Hailed in Washington, D.C. and around the world as “The First Lady of Leather,” Boyd for many years has graced the leather community with her intelligence and taste. She will be one of the judges at this year’s International Mr. Leather contest.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Alan Selby, San Francisco. Selby, the “S” in Mr. S Leathers, has made a second career of doing volunteer work. In 1983 Selby was among the first volunteers in the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital. At age 74 he still volunteers at San Francisco’s Stop Aids Project.

Community Choice (Men) and International Award: John Pendal, London. This year’s International Mr. Leather is also this year’s only multiple award recipient. Check out his website (<www.iml2003.com>) for thought-provoking writing, great photos and a chance to win his 100th-anniversary Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Community Choice (Women): sheryl dee, San Diego. Former Ms San Diego Leather and current American Leatherwoman, dee is creator of the Leather Girl Network (<Leather_Girl_Network@yahoogroups.com>).

Forbear Award: Joseph Bean, Kahului, Hawaii. Bean is a noted leather writer, artist, editor, lecturer, and the first Executive Director of The Leather Archives and Museum.

President’s Awards: Mark Leno, San Francisco; Chris Reynolds, Las Vegas; Steve Sampson, Tucson, Ariz. Formerly a San Francisco Supervisor and now a California Assemblyman, Leno is the first out leatherman to hold a position as a state legislator anywhere in the United States. Reynolds is a long-time member of the Nevada leather community, past president of LUC (Leather Uniform Club) of Las Vegas and on the board of NLA: Las Vegas. Sampson founded Butchmann’s Academy as a gay male SM training academy in 1994; Arizona Power Exchange is continuing the Butchmann’s tradition with a series of leather heart and spirit weekend intensives (<www.arizonapowerexchange.org/academy>).

Non-Profit Organization of the Year: Brother Help Thyself, Washington, D.C. Brother Help Thyself was formed in 1978 by the Capital Area Board of Leather/Levi Motorcycle Clubs. In the past 21 years the organization has raised over $1.24 million and distributed it to 97 groups in the Washington and Baltimore areas.

Large Club of the Year: Mama’s Family and Northern California Regional Award: Sandy “Mama” Reinhardt, Dublin, Calif. Ten years ago Sandy “Mama” Reinhardt began her adopted leather family, which now includes over 500 leatherfolk from the San Francisco area and beyond. Led by Reinhardt, the group has raised over $1 million for charity in just the last two years.

Large Event of the Year: American Brotherhood Weekend (ABW) 2003, Washington, D.C. The ABW weekend (<www.AmericanBrotherhood.com>) celebrates the bonds of leather family and revolves around four contests that make up that family: American Leatherman, Leatherwomen, Leatherboy and Leathergirl.

Small Club of the Year: L.A. boys of Leather, Los Angeles. This club is for submissives of any gender who identify as “boys” (www.LAboL.org>). Its members are seen working and assisting at events and contests in southern California and around the country.

Small Event of the Year: Twelve Days of Christmas (Hooker and boys Productions), Baltimore. Now in its fifth year, this fundraiser combines the talents of the drag, leather, GLBT and rodeo communities to raise money for charities and remind people of the true spirit of the holidays.

Business of the Year: Cell Block, Chicago. The Cell Block has been an integral part of Chicago’s leather/fetish scene for years. The bar hosts the International Mr. Rubber contest every year in November.

Business Person of the Year: Tori Bowen (Club Quest), Chicago. Bowen co-produces My Vicious Valentine, an large pansexual BDSM weekend in Chicago. Bowen stood her ground when the event was attacked by right-wing conservative religious forces and, in response to the attacks, created a watchdog website: <www.fightinghate.org>.

Couple of the Year: George Hester and Danny Alford, New Orleans. Members of the Lords of Leather, New Orleans’ only leather-oriented Mardi Gras krewe, Hester and Alford are both active on the international leather scene.

Canadian Award: Douglas Connors, Ottawa. As Mr. Leather Ottawa-Outaouais 2003, Connors created a Leather Luau event with demonstrations and workshops and launched Northern Sash, Canada’s first electronic magazine for and about sexual minorities.

Florida Regional Award: Karen McGee, Jacksonville, Fla. McGee is Ms World Leather 2002 <www.msworldleather.com/winner2002.html> and the immediate past president of CODE 12 JAX, a leather/levi club in Jacksonville. She is a passionate advocate for homeless people living with HIV.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Award: Timmy Snyder, Baltimore. Tim has served as an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter at leather events for the last eight years. He is a member of Hooker and boys Productions (see “Small Event of the Year,” above).

Midwest Regional Award: Thom Dombkowski, Chicago. Dombkowski was co-founder of Chicago House, the midwest’s first residence program for people living with AIDS. After many years as Chief Judge for the International Mr. Leather contest, he continues to mentor the next generation of leathermen.

Northeast Regional Award: Bob Forbes, Syracuse, N.Y. Involved in leather for over 20 years, Bob is a multiple titleholder, contest promoter, fundraiser, mentor and club member (Journeymen of Syracuse). He founded a grassroots AIDS organization in Syracuse in the late 1980s.

New England Regional Award: Rich “RTB” Trevino, Boston. Trevino is American Leatherman 2002 and a long-time member of The Brotherhood, a Boston-based leather charity organization.

Northwest Regional Award: Bill “The Hun” Schmeling, Portland, Ore. For three decades erotic artist Schmeling has been crafting hot, sensual, masculine images for the leather community. See his art and meet the artist at major leather events or visit his website: <www.hunart.com>.

Rocky Mountain Regional Award: Rich Dockter, Denver. Dockter has built Thunder in the Mountains (www.thunderinthemountains.com) into one of the BDSM community’s most noted annual leather educational events, drawing sellout crowds from around the world.

South Central Regional Award: Mark Frazier, Dallas. Owner of the Dallas Eagle, Frazier founded South Plains Leatherfest and helps produce the annual Ms World Leather event. He recently directed a documentary film dealing with the difference between SM and abuse.

Southeast Regional Award: Ami “gypsie” Offenbacher, Durham, N.C. Offenbacher maintains and posts the Triangle Munch Group (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) Calendar of Regional Events (<www.openweave.org/tmg/calendar.txt>) to nearly 100 groups and lists twice a month.

Southern California Regional Award: Stephen Blackwell, Los Angeles. Blackwell founded the L.A. boys of Leather (see above) in 2002. As Mr. L.A. Leather 2003, he was second runner-up at International Mr. Leather 2003.

PrideAlive Announces On-Line Newsletter

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #228, February 20, 2004)

PrideAlive, an outreach program of the Minnesota AIDS Project targeted at bisexual and gay men, recently began publishing a new bimonthly newsletter in an on-line, web-based format. Since the first (Jan.-Feb. 2004) issue is billed as “The Fetish Issue,” it may be of special interest to readers of this column.

PrideAlive’s aim (quoted from the program’s mission statement) is “to promote, create, and sustain a healthy community.” To this end PrideAlive works to involve gay and bisexual men in health education (both as learners and as volunteer group facilitators) as well as political action and civic participation. Representatives of PrideAlive can be found providing safer-sex information and supplies—and even HIV testing—at bars, parties and cruising grounds.

The program also provides many forms of social opportunities: Gay/Bi Movie Nights, discussion forums called “chats,” and special events such as their annual “Hand Hold-In” at the Mall of America, skating parties and softball. (Last year PrideAlive won Lavender’s award for “Outstanding Social Group/Organization.”)

The new on-line newsletter <www.pridealive.org/life/index.php> replaces Pride Alive’s former ink-and-paper newsletter. PrideAlive is holding a “Name That Rag” contest—submit a name for the still-nameless newsletter and you might win a fabulous prize.

The “cover” of the Jan.-Feb. newsletter features a large photo of a hand dipping into a can of Crisco. Clicking on the photo takes the reader to the contents of the newsletter itself, where the lead article is a “Hands-On Guide” to fisting. Two side-by-side columns of type offer information and guidance for both bottoms and tops. An article of this nature and length hardly exhausts the topic, so I thought it was good to see that the article ends with an invitation to contact PrideAlive for more information.

In the next article, “How To Be A Good Sex Party Host,” PrideAlive announces that their Ultimate Sex Party Hosting Kits (assortments of condoms and lube “in a fabulous box”) will soon be available for order through the PrideAlive website.

“What Kind of Pig Are You?” presents everything you ever wanted to know—and possibly more—about the risk levels of various body fluids. It’s good information, although definitely not for the squeamish. When peoples’ health is on the line, though, perhaps blunt is better than polite and evasive.

After a promotional blurb for PrideAlive’s chats, the next article is “Ready to be Bound, BOY?” Subtitled “A slutty bottom bitch’s guide to being a good sub,” it’s a look at boundaries, negotiation, honesty and safewords. There’s even sample scene dialogue illustrating how a safeword works.

“What’s the Sound of One Hand Typing? The Ins and Outs of Cyber-Slutting” deals with safety and practicality issues concerning cyber-sex, webcams, and hooking up over the internet.

There’s even an advice column by Snookie, a funny-looking but very smart dog. In this issue the pooch answers a question about using Crisco as a lube (it’s not a good idea to share your can of Crisco with others; at parties, try passing out Crisco sticks instead, so everyone can have their own). Snookie also shares information on the proper cleaning of sex toys.

The primary focus of the new on-line newsletter is health education, but PrideAlive will also be producing a ’zine that is issues-driven and participant-led. An article called “Get into the ‘zine’ scene!” discusses how the ’zine project is structured and how people can participate in the project. (Three ’zine meetings have already been held, but there are two more scheduled for the evenings of March 3 and 24.)

“The Fetish Issue” serves as a good introduction to fetish-related topics for folks who are “just curious” or who are newly into the scene, and it can also serve as a refresher/reminder for more experienced players. It will be interesting to see what future issues of the newsletter bring.

After you’re read the newsletter, check out the rest of the PrideAlive website. You’ll find a calendar of monthly events put on by PrideAlive and others, and lots of links to other community resources.

All About Pantheon

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #227, February 6, 2004)

Oscar®, Emmy, Tony®, Grammy®—those are the big four entertainment awards, honoring the year’s best achievements in film, television, stage and recordings. Leather has its own version of these awards, the Pantheon of Leather Community Service Awards—but even though they’ve been awarded for fourteen years, they still don’t have a nickname. This year’s Pantheon of Leather awards ceremony will take place Feb. 14 in the auditorium of the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago.

Pantheon of Leather was created and originally produced by The Leather Journal and its publisher, Dave Rhodes. Several years ago Pantheon of Leather was split off from The Leather Journal and became a non-profit organization with its own board of directors, of which Rhodes is the president.

The nomination process for this year’s awards began last September. Nominations are open—anyone can nominate and anyone can be nominated. (This occasionally causes controversy of the how-did-that-so-and-so-get-nominated type.) Nominations consist of a person’s name, address and other contact information, and—most importantly—a brief statement about why the person is being nominated.

Once the nominations close around the end of November, all the nominees, and all the statements about what they have done to deserve an award, are compiled to produce a very large document (this year’s was 65 pages, single-spaced). This document is then sent to the members of the awards selection committee, which consists of the recipients of Pantheon awards the previous year. The selection committee votes, the votes are tallied, and the award recipients are presented with handsome crystal trophies at the Pantheon award ceremony. This year’s awards selection committee chose from 248 nominees in 24 categories.

(Disclaimer: The following unofficial descriptions of the Pantheon categories have been composed by your humble columnist, and represent his opinions based on his observations of Pantheon over the years.)

Some of the most visible categories at Pantheon are Man of the Year, Woman of the Year and Couple of the Year. If the Pantheon awards themselves are leather’s equivalent of the Oscars®, these categories are leather’s equivalent of getting one’s mugshot on the cover of Time Magazine. The honorees in these categories have generally been active—and perhaps visible, perhaps not—on a national/international/communitywide basis for the past year (and probably for a lot longer).

It’s worth noting that given the nature of the leather/BDSM community, “Couple of the Year” is not necessarily a simple concept to grasp. The couple in question might be female-female, male-male, male-female, Master/slave, Daddy/boy (or boi, the feminine version)—you get the idea. And one year the “couple” was a threesome.

The Forbear award goes to a community pioneer, someone who once did something that is now recognized as trendsetting or trailblazing. It makes no difference whether the award recipient is still actively involved with the leather/BDSM community or whether they stepped out of the limelight years ago—their accomplishments are still remembered today, and the community is better off for their having been a part of it.

Leather clubs are some of the community’s most cherished organizations, because for many years the clubs were the community. The Pantheon award for Club of the Year was split several years ago into Club of the Year (Large) and Club of the Year (Small). Likewise the Club Event of the Year award now comes in (Large) and (Small) flavors. How large is large, and how small is small? Clubs and events generally classify themselves since there are no set guidelines written into the Pantheon rules. (The unofficial word is that a large club would probably have upwards of 100 members, and a large event would have 250 or more attendees.)

Many businesses depend on the leather/BDSM community for their existence, and the community in turn depends on them. Sure, you can buy a leather vest at a mainstream leatherwear store. But whips, floggers, and wrist restraints, for example, are not so easy to come by. We can all be thankful for the businesspeople who manufacture and sell the leather and fetish apparel, toys, and all the other accessories we want and need. We can also be thankful for the businesspeople who own, manage and staff the community’s bars, dungeons and other gathering spaces, and for the promoters who organize and present contest weekends and other commercial events. Pantheon has two awards for leather/BDSM-related businesses: Business of the Year and Business Person of the Year.

Pantheon’s Non-Profit Organization award goes to a leather/BDSM community organization that is not a business and not a club or club-sponsored event. Past recipients have included a variety of organizations including charitable foundations, educational projects and political-action groups. So far the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) have each won twice.

In addition to an International Award and a Canadian Award, Pantheon presents awards for community service tied to eleven geographical regions of the United States: New England, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Southeast, South Central, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, Northwest, Northern California and Southern California.

Every year Pantheon also presents a few awards whose recipients are not selected by the above-described nomination and voting process. A Lifetime Achievement Award is selected by the Pantheon board of directors; the Community Choice (Man) and Community Choice (Woman) award recipients are selected by direct popular vote from among those submitting nominations; and the President’s Awards, of which there can be up to three, are selected by Dave Rhodes.

So who will this year’s award recipients be? You’ll find out in a future column.