(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #452, September 27, 2012)
Allow me to introduce you to Derek Harley, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2012. Allow him to introduce you to Mr. Friendly, the new face (literally) of HIV stigma awareness. Harley is the team captain for Team Friendly Minnesota.
Tell me about Mr. Friendly.
Mr. Friendly is the new face of reducing HIV stigma. His face is a positive and a negative sign, so someone who wears this symbol is saying, “Positive or negative, I’m here for you. Regardless of your HIV status, we’re all in this together.”
How did you get hooked up with Mr. Friendly?
I was introduced to Mr. Friendly at the International Mr. Leather contest three or four years ago. I have a lot of very close friends who have tested positive. They needed support, and we’ve been there for them all throughout their journey of acceptance. I’ve seen some stigma-related incidents happen with them, and I just think this is a conversation that our city and our community needs to have. Speaking openly and honestly about HIV and reducing stigma is going to make our community better.
How did Mr. Friendly get started?
It was started by Dave Watt, a former Mr. Michigan Leather titleholder. He competed and won his title in September, 2008, and during his title year he started the Mr. Friendly program.
Why is the Mr. Friendly program needed? What does it hope to accomplish?
Reducing HIV stigma will make the world a better place for those living with HIV. It is going to increase testing, decrease transmission, and just overall make the world a friendlier place.
Give me an example of HIV stigma.
I think a lot of people don’t realize that they might be inducing stigma in conversations they have. They might think they're open-minded to individuals who are positive, but when it comes down to it, maybe they’re not so much. An example I like to use is the question, “Are you clean?” On its face it doesn’t seem offensive, but if you look at the opposite side of that, you’re implying that someone who is not negative and has a positive status is somehow dirty. And that doesn’t make that person feel very good.
Mr. Friendly is needed because we have to put it out there that the way you interact with someone who is positive can have a deep impact on how they feel about themselves. If we make them feel dirty or unwelcome or that they’re outcasts, we are degrading them as a person.
And, really, the status is just a part of who they are. They’re living with HIV, but it’s not necessarily what defines their lives. Many people I know who have HIV don’t go around every day thinking about the fact that they have HIV and don’t wear a big sign that says, hey, I have HIV. But that’s how they’re treated when they disclose their status.
For years I’ve seen phrases in online profiles such as “DDF/UB2” (“drug and disease free, you be too”).
In phrases like that there’s stigma attached all over the place, and not necessarily just referring to HIV. If you start dictating exactly what your terms are, you close the door to a conversation. Mr. Friendly is about having that conversation, having an open and honest conversation about statuses. Why can’t I just ask, “Hey, are you positive or are you negative?” and from there have a conversation about that, and define what’s safe for a particular person? But if you initially shut down the conversation by stating a demand of “drug and disease free, UB2,” it closes the door to having that conversation.
How can people get involved with Mr. Friendly and Team Friendly Minnesota?
We had a launch party on Sept. 15, and we’re doing a second one to reach out to the 18+ crowd on Sept. 20. From there we’d like to see the program do something along the lines of monthly outreach at different bars. And we want to get Mr. Friendly pins into the bars, so that even if we’re not doing an outreach event people can get an information card that talks about Mr. Friendly, and a pin they can wear to show that they are status-friendly folks.
(Visit the Mr. Friendly website at <Mr. Friendly.info>. There is also a Facebook page for Team Friendly Minnesota—search for “Mr. Friendly” on Facebook.)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Atons Celebrate 40 Years
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #450, August 30, 2012)
The Atons of Minneapolis recently celebrated “40 Years of Devotion” in high Egyptian style at their Gopher XX run. In addition to celebrating a milestone anniversary, the Atons hosted a semi-annual meeting of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs (MACC), an organization that coordinates activities among member GLBT leather clubs.
The actual event took place Friday through Sunday, July 20-22, but many members of the Atons had been at the camp setting things up since the previous Tuesday. The amount of detail the club put into planning and presenting this run was staggering.
On Friday afternoon the registration table was set up in a portion of the camp’s main lodge which had been turned into a breathtakingly elaborate simulation of an archeological dig. One entire cabin was turned into an ancient Egyptian burial chamber, the better to host an almost continuous series of cocktail parties. The ceiling of the chamber appeared to be held up by some impressive-looking columns that one Atons member just happened to have in his basement. (Or was it his garage?)
Friday night’s opening ceremonies featured an epic pageant drama (narrated by your humble columnist) about the three kingdoms of ancient Egypt, their panoply of gods, and how the pharaoh Akhenaten sought to replace them all with one god: the Aten, or sun god, from which the Atons take their name.
For the ceremony, members of the Atons wore elaborate headdresses, masks and costumes as they portrayed some of the more notable ancient Egyptian gods. Then, a mummified Aton (Kyle Truss), representing both the pharaoh Akhenaten and the sun god, was carried to the front of the ceremonial area and was cut out of his mummification wrappings. He was seated in a place of honor and surrounded by the other gods, who then removed their costumes and stood before the crowd as the modern-day Atons.
On Saturday morning, breakfast was followed by the MACC meeting, which was followed by games: horseshoes, where the horseshoes were clothes hangers and the post was a full-size Egyptian mummy that was losing its wrappings; a how-fast-can-you-piece-together-these-ancient-Egyptian-ruins jigsaw puzzle; a radio-controlled toy dune buggy drive through an obstacle course of obscene ancient Egyptian ruins, along with both male and female Sphinxes; and a large-size Pachinko game.
Lunch was, appropriately, mid-eastern gyros and pita, along with fine American sweet corn. The afternoon was leisurely, a perfect time for a nap in the hammock or a dip in the swimming pool that the Atons had installed for the weekend.
For Saturday evening’s banquet the main lodge was turned into an Egyptian temple whose walls were decorated with embossed hieroglyphics. (Somebody had to measure the dimensions of the lodge, design the wall panel layout to fit those dimensions, design the inscriptions on the panels, fabricate and decorate the panels, haul them to the site and install them in the lodge. What did I say about how much planning was involved in this run?)
Banquet entertainment after dinner was provided by Nina DiAngelo, from the Gay 90s show lounge, who performed first as Judy Garland and then as Liza Minnelli. Also after dinner, a surprise: In appreciation for his many years as a member and leader of the club, as well as for his leadership of the leather and GLBT communities, the Atons presented Sam Carlisle with a Leadership Award.
After the banquet, the Atons presented more entertainment: In a romp through the music of the decades of the Atons’ existence, six Atons members performed as the Village People in “YMCA,” did an exercise tableau to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” shook their pompoms to “Mickey,” and, inevitably, had a go at the Go-Go’s “Walk Like an Egyptian.”
Sunday morning’s breakfast included the traditional awards and recognition ceremony. The award trophies were all Egyptian-themed, of course, and were some of the best-crafted awards I’ve ever seen presented at a run. Then another surprise: The Atons announced that they were making Angel Rodriguez, a former Atons member who has remained heavily involved with the club’s activities, an honorary full member of the club.
After 40 years, the Atons of Minneapolis are now one of the longest-running gay leather clubs. But more than that, they are now one of the oldest GLBT community organizations of any type. That’s something to celebrate.
The Atons of Minneapolis recently celebrated “40 Years of Devotion” in high Egyptian style at their Gopher XX run. In addition to celebrating a milestone anniversary, the Atons hosted a semi-annual meeting of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs (MACC), an organization that coordinates activities among member GLBT leather clubs.
The actual event took place Friday through Sunday, July 20-22, but many members of the Atons had been at the camp setting things up since the previous Tuesday. The amount of detail the club put into planning and presenting this run was staggering.
On Friday afternoon the registration table was set up in a portion of the camp’s main lodge which had been turned into a breathtakingly elaborate simulation of an archeological dig. One entire cabin was turned into an ancient Egyptian burial chamber, the better to host an almost continuous series of cocktail parties. The ceiling of the chamber appeared to be held up by some impressive-looking columns that one Atons member just happened to have in his basement. (Or was it his garage?)
Friday night’s opening ceremonies featured an epic pageant drama (narrated by your humble columnist) about the three kingdoms of ancient Egypt, their panoply of gods, and how the pharaoh Akhenaten sought to replace them all with one god: the Aten, or sun god, from which the Atons take their name.
For the ceremony, members of the Atons wore elaborate headdresses, masks and costumes as they portrayed some of the more notable ancient Egyptian gods. Then, a mummified Aton (Kyle Truss), representing both the pharaoh Akhenaten and the sun god, was carried to the front of the ceremonial area and was cut out of his mummification wrappings. He was seated in a place of honor and surrounded by the other gods, who then removed their costumes and stood before the crowd as the modern-day Atons.
On Saturday morning, breakfast was followed by the MACC meeting, which was followed by games: horseshoes, where the horseshoes were clothes hangers and the post was a full-size Egyptian mummy that was losing its wrappings; a how-fast-can-you-piece-together-these-ancient-Egyptian-ruins jigsaw puzzle; a radio-controlled toy dune buggy drive through an obstacle course of obscene ancient Egyptian ruins, along with both male and female Sphinxes; and a large-size Pachinko game.
Lunch was, appropriately, mid-eastern gyros and pita, along with fine American sweet corn. The afternoon was leisurely, a perfect time for a nap in the hammock or a dip in the swimming pool that the Atons had installed for the weekend.
For Saturday evening’s banquet the main lodge was turned into an Egyptian temple whose walls were decorated with embossed hieroglyphics. (Somebody had to measure the dimensions of the lodge, design the wall panel layout to fit those dimensions, design the inscriptions on the panels, fabricate and decorate the panels, haul them to the site and install them in the lodge. What did I say about how much planning was involved in this run?)
Banquet entertainment after dinner was provided by Nina DiAngelo, from the Gay 90s show lounge, who performed first as Judy Garland and then as Liza Minnelli. Also after dinner, a surprise: In appreciation for his many years as a member and leader of the club, as well as for his leadership of the leather and GLBT communities, the Atons presented Sam Carlisle with a Leadership Award.
After the banquet, the Atons presented more entertainment: In a romp through the music of the decades of the Atons’ existence, six Atons members performed as the Village People in “YMCA,” did an exercise tableau to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” shook their pompoms to “Mickey,” and, inevitably, had a go at the Go-Go’s “Walk Like an Egyptian.”
Sunday morning’s breakfast included the traditional awards and recognition ceremony. The award trophies were all Egyptian-themed, of course, and were some of the best-crafted awards I’ve ever seen presented at a run. Then another surprise: The Atons announced that they were making Angel Rodriguez, a former Atons member who has remained heavily involved with the club’s activities, an honorary full member of the club.
After 40 years, the Atons of Minneapolis are now one of the longest-running gay leather clubs. But more than that, they are now one of the oldest GLBT community organizations of any type. That’s something to celebrate.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Leather and Politics, 2012
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #448, August 2, 2012)
It’s an election year. And Chuck Renslow, founder and executive producer of International Mr. Leather and co-founder of the Leather Archives & Museum, would like to have a word with you.
On Sunday, May 27, at the beginning of this year’s International Mr. Leather Contest and Show, Renslow made a speech in which he first implored audience members to document their personal history for the Leather Archives & Museum: “If it’s not recorded, it cannot be saved.”
Then Renslow’s speech turned to politics: “A few weeks ago during an election year, when it could hurt him the most, President Obama became the first president to champion gay marriage.” This statement was met with over twenty seconds of wild cheering and applause from the audience. Then Renslow continued:
“As you can imagine, the right wing conservatives are energized. And the only way to offset them is to become energized ourselves. More than any other time in your lives, you need to become active and involved in the campaign for the President of the United States.
“We need to re-elect President Obama this year. This year, the choice is between a history-making man who stands up for the gay community and tells the world we must have civil rights, or—or, if he is defeated, we will live under Mitt Romney, a self-[described] Mormon conservative who believes that marriage is for one man and one woman—even though at one time his religion espoused [marriage between] one man and several women.
“Now, in general, I support religious freedom and the freedom of choice. But when your freedom is used to deny me my freedom, you no longer represent me or my people.
“If you are not actively involved in helping to re-elect President Obama, you absolutely need to do it. Nothing less than the future of our civil rights [is] at stake.”
It’s an election year. And Chuck Renslow, founder and executive producer of International Mr. Leather and co-founder of the Leather Archives & Museum, would like to have a word with you.
On Sunday, May 27, at the beginning of this year’s International Mr. Leather Contest and Show, Renslow made a speech in which he first implored audience members to document their personal history for the Leather Archives & Museum: “If it’s not recorded, it cannot be saved.”
Then Renslow’s speech turned to politics: “A few weeks ago during an election year, when it could hurt him the most, President Obama became the first president to champion gay marriage.” This statement was met with over twenty seconds of wild cheering and applause from the audience. Then Renslow continued:
“As you can imagine, the right wing conservatives are energized. And the only way to offset them is to become energized ourselves. More than any other time in your lives, you need to become active and involved in the campaign for the President of the United States.
“We need to re-elect President Obama this year. This year, the choice is between a history-making man who stands up for the gay community and tells the world we must have civil rights, or—or, if he is defeated, we will live under Mitt Romney, a self-[described] Mormon conservative who believes that marriage is for one man and one woman—even though at one time his religion espoused [marriage between] one man and several women.
“Now, in general, I support religious freedom and the freedom of choice. But when your freedom is used to deny me my freedom, you no longer represent me or my people.
“If you are not actively involved in helping to re-elect President Obama, you absolutely need to do it. Nothing less than the future of our civil rights [is] at stake.”
Thursday, July 5, 2012
International Mr. Leather 2012
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #446, July 5, 2012)
Your humble columnist has traveled to Chicago for the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest every Memorial Day weekend since 1994. Every year brings a new group of contestants and judges, and new vendors in the Leather Market, mixed with long-standing traditions and longtime friends. Here are my notes on the 2012 edition of the International Mr. Leather weekend, which ran from Thursday, May 24, through Monday, May 28.
Thursday: The weekend has its unofficial kickoff at the Leather Archives & Museum with a roast of Eric Gutierrez and Jim Deuder, the men who, respectively, held the International Mr. Leather and International Mr. Bootblack titles the past year. This is the first year the Bootblack titleholder is being roasted along with the soon-to-be-former International Mr. Leather.
Friday, noon: The Leather Market opens—over 100 vendors, many of them occupying bigger spaces than they have in previous years. The Market is packed, and many people are carrying purchases. The economy must be improving.
Friday evening: At the IML opening ceremonies we meet the weekend’s 48 contestants representing nine countries (a 49th contestant is unable to compete due to illness). Two contestants represent Minnesota: Derek Harley, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2012, and Jared Collinsworth, Mr. Twin Cities Leather 2012. We also meet the five contestants in the concurrent International Mr. Bootblack contest; Minnesota is represented by Bootblack Mike.
And there’s much more: Scavenged bricks from the recently demolished Gold Coast Bar (501 N. Clark St.), for many years the home bar of IML, are presented to former Gold Coast owner (and IML founder) Chuck Renslow. The Jeffrey Payne Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Dave Rhodes, publisher of The Leather Journal. Mona Noriega, a commissioner with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, welcomes everyone to Chicago and congratulates the two couples who will be “civil unioned” (!) during the IML weekend. The co-emcees for the weekend, Karen Ultra and John Pendal, International Mr. Leather 2003, keep things moving at a brisk and entertaining pace.
Friday evening, later: The hotel is in full party mode, and major eye candy is everywhere. One ballroom is filled with men in singlets and other athletic gear, while in another ballroom the dance music pounds and the crowd sweats at the San Francisco party.
Saturday: On the schedule are caucuses and receptions for Windy City Boys Troop, Chicago Hellfire Club, Leather Archives & Museum, International Ms Leather, People of Color in Leather, and one of several Leather Recovery meetings. And there’s always shopping at the Leather Market.
Saturday evening: It’s time for Pecs & Personality, where the contestants wear as little as possible while being as funny, sexy and entertaining as possible. It’s fun watching co-emcees Ultra and Pendal put the contestants through their paces, and the surprise questions asked of each contestant elicit some great answers. But I notice more than a few of the contestants looking back at the emcees while they answer their question instead of addressing their answers to the audience, which would be more effective. Future IML contestants, take note.
After Pecs & Personality, more parties: a bootblack reception, the Onyx dance party and, for puppy-play enthusiasts, Woof Camp 2012.
Sunday afternoon: It’s the weekend’s big event, the 34th annual International Mr. Leather Contest and Show. After an opening number by talented cabaret artist Sharon McNight (among her many CDs is Songs to Offend Almost Everyone), the contestants are introduced; the judges and tallymasters are introduced; there is a touching tribute to the late RJ Chaffin, who for many years ran the IML Leather Market; and then leather columnist Vern Stewart (taking over from the late Marcus Hernandez, also a leather columnist) announces the Top 20 Finalists. Derek Harley, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2012, is the nineteenth finalist announced, and there are loud cheers from the large Twin Cities contingent in the audience.
The finalists then present 90-second speeches and strut their stuff in the physique competition to the wild enjoyment and approval of the audience. While the judges finish their duties and the tallymasters total the scores, the winner of the International Mr. Bootblack competition is announced: Nick Elliott, from Portland, Oregon. (Bootblack Mike, representing Minnesota, is first runner-up.) Then McNight and surprise guest Bruce Vilanch present an over-the-top reading of an excerpt from the “mommy porn” bestseller 50 Shades of Grey.
At last, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Second runner-up is Kevin Jordan, Mr. DC Eagle 2012, from Washington, D.C.; first runner-up is A.C. Demidont, Mr. Eagle NYC 2012, from New York, N.Y.; and the new International Mr. Leather is Woody Woodruff, Mr. Michigan Leather 2012, from Farmington Hills, Mich.
Your humble columnist has traveled to Chicago for the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest every Memorial Day weekend since 1994. Every year brings a new group of contestants and judges, and new vendors in the Leather Market, mixed with long-standing traditions and longtime friends. Here are my notes on the 2012 edition of the International Mr. Leather weekend, which ran from Thursday, May 24, through Monday, May 28.
Thursday: The weekend has its unofficial kickoff at the Leather Archives & Museum with a roast of Eric Gutierrez and Jim Deuder, the men who, respectively, held the International Mr. Leather and International Mr. Bootblack titles the past year. This is the first year the Bootblack titleholder is being roasted along with the soon-to-be-former International Mr. Leather.
Friday, noon: The Leather Market opens—over 100 vendors, many of them occupying bigger spaces than they have in previous years. The Market is packed, and many people are carrying purchases. The economy must be improving.
Friday evening: At the IML opening ceremonies we meet the weekend’s 48 contestants representing nine countries (a 49th contestant is unable to compete due to illness). Two contestants represent Minnesota: Derek Harley, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2012, and Jared Collinsworth, Mr. Twin Cities Leather 2012. We also meet the five contestants in the concurrent International Mr. Bootblack contest; Minnesota is represented by Bootblack Mike.
And there’s much more: Scavenged bricks from the recently demolished Gold Coast Bar (501 N. Clark St.), for many years the home bar of IML, are presented to former Gold Coast owner (and IML founder) Chuck Renslow. The Jeffrey Payne Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Dave Rhodes, publisher of The Leather Journal. Mona Noriega, a commissioner with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, welcomes everyone to Chicago and congratulates the two couples who will be “civil unioned” (!) during the IML weekend. The co-emcees for the weekend, Karen Ultra and John Pendal, International Mr. Leather 2003, keep things moving at a brisk and entertaining pace.
Friday evening, later: The hotel is in full party mode, and major eye candy is everywhere. One ballroom is filled with men in singlets and other athletic gear, while in another ballroom the dance music pounds and the crowd sweats at the San Francisco party.
Saturday: On the schedule are caucuses and receptions for Windy City Boys Troop, Chicago Hellfire Club, Leather Archives & Museum, International Ms Leather, People of Color in Leather, and one of several Leather Recovery meetings. And there’s always shopping at the Leather Market.
Saturday evening: It’s time for Pecs & Personality, where the contestants wear as little as possible while being as funny, sexy and entertaining as possible. It’s fun watching co-emcees Ultra and Pendal put the contestants through their paces, and the surprise questions asked of each contestant elicit some great answers. But I notice more than a few of the contestants looking back at the emcees while they answer their question instead of addressing their answers to the audience, which would be more effective. Future IML contestants, take note.
After Pecs & Personality, more parties: a bootblack reception, the Onyx dance party and, for puppy-play enthusiasts, Woof Camp 2012.
Sunday afternoon: It’s the weekend’s big event, the 34th annual International Mr. Leather Contest and Show. After an opening number by talented cabaret artist Sharon McNight (among her many CDs is Songs to Offend Almost Everyone), the contestants are introduced; the judges and tallymasters are introduced; there is a touching tribute to the late RJ Chaffin, who for many years ran the IML Leather Market; and then leather columnist Vern Stewart (taking over from the late Marcus Hernandez, also a leather columnist) announces the Top 20 Finalists. Derek Harley, Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2012, is the nineteenth finalist announced, and there are loud cheers from the large Twin Cities contingent in the audience.
The finalists then present 90-second speeches and strut their stuff in the physique competition to the wild enjoyment and approval of the audience. While the judges finish their duties and the tallymasters total the scores, the winner of the International Mr. Bootblack competition is announced: Nick Elliott, from Portland, Oregon. (Bootblack Mike, representing Minnesota, is first runner-up.) Then McNight and surprise guest Bruce Vilanch present an over-the-top reading of an excerpt from the “mommy porn” bestseller 50 Shades of Grey.
At last, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Second runner-up is Kevin Jordan, Mr. DC Eagle 2012, from Washington, D.C.; first runner-up is A.C. Demidont, Mr. Eagle NYC 2012, from New York, N.Y.; and the new International Mr. Leather is Woody Woodruff, Mr. Michigan Leather 2012, from Farmington Hills, Mich.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Atons of Minneapolis—40 years of leather brotherhood
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #445, June 21, 2012)
Forty years ago, in the spring of 1972, a group of Twin Cities leathermen got together and formed the Atons of Minneapolis.
Things were a lot different in 1972. What was then known as the Gay Liberation movement had caught fire after the Stonewall uprising three years before, in 1969, but was still in its infancy. The first Gay Pride celebration took place in Minneapolis. And 1972 also was several years before the start of the AIDS crisis.
Before the formation of the Atons, there was no place for leather culture in the Twin Cities. The few men who were into leather were for the most underground about it. Jim Courtney, one of the founding members of the Atons, recalled recently: “I was told you don’t wear your leather in town. You go out of town [to wear it]. Nobody seemed to want to have their friends know that they were interested in that sort of thing.”
Larger cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York were seeing an influx of military personnel returning from World War II who, while serving in the armed forces, had discovered they were attracted to others of their own sex. These men were banding together to form the first gay leather clubs and motorcycle clubs. The oldest gay motorcycle club still operating is the Satyrs of Los Angeles, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Atons are not a motorcycle club, although many members over the years have owned and ridden motorcycles.
Courtney’s partner at the time, Larry Daniel, had been visiting some friends who were part of New York City’s leather community. He had returned to Minneapolis wanting to host a leather “run” (party) in Minneapolis, and a group of men came together to put the run together. The run became Aqua 1, the group became the Atons, and Daniel became the club’s first president. Aqua 1 was an in-city run (as opposed to the club’s current camping runs in the country), and visitors were lodged in Atons members’ homes rather than at a hotel. About thirty people attended Aqua 1, including many members of the Second City Motorcycle Club of Chicago, with which Courtney had been involved when he lived in Chicago before relocating to Minneapolis.
From that beginning, the Atons, for forty years now, have been a part of the Twin Cities GLBT and leather community. The club’s life can be described in terms of its events and activities.
The club’s year starts shortly after New Year’s Day with an Officer Installation Banquet, a relatively formal gathering at which the club’s officers for the year are sworn in and other awards and recognitions may be given. In spring, the Atons hold a smoker and rush party at which people from the community can meet the members of the club and find out more information about either Associate or Full memberships. (Disclosure: your humble columnist is an honorary full member of the Atons.) Candidates for full membership first go through a period of being a Pledge.
Also in spring, the club for many years hosted Eros, one of their two major semi-annual parties.
July brings two major events. Every other year the club presents their Gopher run, an elaborate camping weekend with games, parties and a banquet. During non-run years, the club hosts a more informal camp-out weekend at the same campground.
Themes of previous runs have included Gopher U, an academic-themed run; a Close Encounters alien-themed run; and a Trailer Park run. The club’s 25th-anniversary run was unusual in that it was held in the fall, in town, and in a hotel. In keeping with the theme of that run, “A Renaissance—Renewing the Ties that Bind,” the highlight of the run was a trip to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This year’s run, Gopher XX, will be the high point of the club’s 40th-anniversary celebration. (See below for more information.)
In addition to hosting a run every other year, members of the Atons travel to runs presented by other clubs, both in the Twin Cities area and by clubs in other areas of the U.S. and Canada. Over the years, club members have traveled to runs in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and elsewhere.
The club’s other major semi-annual event historically has been a Halloween party held in late October or early November.
At the beginning of December, the Atons host an annual holiday fundraiser, which historically has included has included both a food drive and silent and live auctions benefitting a nonprofit charity, often an AIDS-related organization such as The Aliveness Project, Open Arms of Minnesota, or Every Penny Counts. Besides the auctions and food drive, the holiday fundraisers have featured the services of bootblacks and barbers, as well as holiday photos with Leather Santa.
In addition to these annual events, the club has a monthly meeting for business and fellowship. It also hosts monthly Leather/Levi Dinners that are open to the community.
There also are the spur-of-the-moment social opportunities—members might get together for brunch, dinner, a movie, a motorcycle show, or an art exhibit. Sometimes club members gather to offer help to another member or to a friend of the club.
Finally, the club’s 40 years of brotherhood have taken Atons members through the AIDS crisis—caregiving, supporting, fundraising, and attending funerals and grieving together.
Over the years the Atons have sent members to compete in leather contests, and have sponsored other contestants as well.
For many years, the Atons have worked cooperatively with other local leather clubs including the Black Guard of Minneapolis, the Knights of Leather, the Minnesota Storm Patrol, and an early Twin Cities leather club called the Norsemen. The Atons also are members of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs (MACC), an organization that coordinates activities and events among many leather clubs. Members of the Atons also have been involved in Minnesota’s annual Leather Pride celebration since its beginning.
Why have the Atons lasted, while many other leather clubs in the Twin Cities and elsewhere have come and gone? A Lavender cover story in 1997, on the occasion of the club’s 25th anniversary, branded them “tenacious as hell.” My explanation, based on observing and interacting with the club since 1993: they are a group of intelligent, friendly individuals who maintain high standards. Because of this, they have been continuously able over the years to attract new members who keep renewing the club and perpetuating it and its spirit of brotherhood. That brotherhood has been strong enough that it has lasted and stretched unbroken over 40 years.
The Atons will be celebrating their 40 years of brotherhood July 20-22 at their 40th-anniversary run, “Gopher XX: 40 Years of Devotion.” For details, or to register to attend the celebration, visit <www.atons.net>.
SIDEBAR:
Why is the club called the Atons? The name refers to the ancient Egyptian ruler Akhenaten, who was so distinctive that in 1983 composer Philip Glass wrote an opera about him. Akhenaten, who ruled for only seventeen years, was a revolutionary figure in several ways: First, he attempted to convert the Egyptian religion of the time from the worship of many gods to the worship of one god, the Aten, symbolized by a golden disc representing the sun. Second, while Akhenaten had a wife named Nefertiti, he also had a male lover named Smenkhkare.
In recognition of both his introduction of monotheism and his being one of the first gay historical figures, the club decided to call themselves the Atons. The club is one of the few, in the whole universe of leather clubs past and present, whose name is derived from an Egyptian source.
Forty years ago, in the spring of 1972, a group of Twin Cities leathermen got together and formed the Atons of Minneapolis.
Things were a lot different in 1972. What was then known as the Gay Liberation movement had caught fire after the Stonewall uprising three years before, in 1969, but was still in its infancy. The first Gay Pride celebration took place in Minneapolis. And 1972 also was several years before the start of the AIDS crisis.
Before the formation of the Atons, there was no place for leather culture in the Twin Cities. The few men who were into leather were for the most underground about it. Jim Courtney, one of the founding members of the Atons, recalled recently: “I was told you don’t wear your leather in town. You go out of town [to wear it]. Nobody seemed to want to have their friends know that they were interested in that sort of thing.”
Larger cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York were seeing an influx of military personnel returning from World War II who, while serving in the armed forces, had discovered they were attracted to others of their own sex. These men were banding together to form the first gay leather clubs and motorcycle clubs. The oldest gay motorcycle club still operating is the Satyrs of Los Angeles, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Atons are not a motorcycle club, although many members over the years have owned and ridden motorcycles.
Courtney’s partner at the time, Larry Daniel, had been visiting some friends who were part of New York City’s leather community. He had returned to Minneapolis wanting to host a leather “run” (party) in Minneapolis, and a group of men came together to put the run together. The run became Aqua 1, the group became the Atons, and Daniel became the club’s first president. Aqua 1 was an in-city run (as opposed to the club’s current camping runs in the country), and visitors were lodged in Atons members’ homes rather than at a hotel. About thirty people attended Aqua 1, including many members of the Second City Motorcycle Club of Chicago, with which Courtney had been involved when he lived in Chicago before relocating to Minneapolis.
From that beginning, the Atons, for forty years now, have been a part of the Twin Cities GLBT and leather community. The club’s life can be described in terms of its events and activities.
The club’s year starts shortly after New Year’s Day with an Officer Installation Banquet, a relatively formal gathering at which the club’s officers for the year are sworn in and other awards and recognitions may be given. In spring, the Atons hold a smoker and rush party at which people from the community can meet the members of the club and find out more information about either Associate or Full memberships. (Disclosure: your humble columnist is an honorary full member of the Atons.) Candidates for full membership first go through a period of being a Pledge.
Also in spring, the club for many years hosted Eros, one of their two major semi-annual parties.
July brings two major events. Every other year the club presents their Gopher run, an elaborate camping weekend with games, parties and a banquet. During non-run years, the club hosts a more informal camp-out weekend at the same campground.
Themes of previous runs have included Gopher U, an academic-themed run; a Close Encounters alien-themed run; and a Trailer Park run. The club’s 25th-anniversary run was unusual in that it was held in the fall, in town, and in a hotel. In keeping with the theme of that run, “A Renaissance—Renewing the Ties that Bind,” the highlight of the run was a trip to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This year’s run, Gopher XX, will be the high point of the club’s 40th-anniversary celebration. (See below for more information.)
In addition to hosting a run every other year, members of the Atons travel to runs presented by other clubs, both in the Twin Cities area and by clubs in other areas of the U.S. and Canada. Over the years, club members have traveled to runs in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and elsewhere.
The club’s other major semi-annual event historically has been a Halloween party held in late October or early November.
At the beginning of December, the Atons host an annual holiday fundraiser, which historically has included has included both a food drive and silent and live auctions benefitting a nonprofit charity, often an AIDS-related organization such as The Aliveness Project, Open Arms of Minnesota, or Every Penny Counts. Besides the auctions and food drive, the holiday fundraisers have featured the services of bootblacks and barbers, as well as holiday photos with Leather Santa.
In addition to these annual events, the club has a monthly meeting for business and fellowship. It also hosts monthly Leather/Levi Dinners that are open to the community.
There also are the spur-of-the-moment social opportunities—members might get together for brunch, dinner, a movie, a motorcycle show, or an art exhibit. Sometimes club members gather to offer help to another member or to a friend of the club.
Finally, the club’s 40 years of brotherhood have taken Atons members through the AIDS crisis—caregiving, supporting, fundraising, and attending funerals and grieving together.
Over the years the Atons have sent members to compete in leather contests, and have sponsored other contestants as well.
For many years, the Atons have worked cooperatively with other local leather clubs including the Black Guard of Minneapolis, the Knights of Leather, the Minnesota Storm Patrol, and an early Twin Cities leather club called the Norsemen. The Atons also are members of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs (MACC), an organization that coordinates activities and events among many leather clubs. Members of the Atons also have been involved in Minnesota’s annual Leather Pride celebration since its beginning.
Why have the Atons lasted, while many other leather clubs in the Twin Cities and elsewhere have come and gone? A Lavender cover story in 1997, on the occasion of the club’s 25th anniversary, branded them “tenacious as hell.” My explanation, based on observing and interacting with the club since 1993: they are a group of intelligent, friendly individuals who maintain high standards. Because of this, they have been continuously able over the years to attract new members who keep renewing the club and perpetuating it and its spirit of brotherhood. That brotherhood has been strong enough that it has lasted and stretched unbroken over 40 years.
The Atons will be celebrating their 40 years of brotherhood July 20-22 at their 40th-anniversary run, “Gopher XX: 40 Years of Devotion.” For details, or to register to attend the celebration, visit <www.atons.net>.
SIDEBAR:
Why is the club called the Atons? The name refers to the ancient Egyptian ruler Akhenaten, who was so distinctive that in 1983 composer Philip Glass wrote an opera about him. Akhenaten, who ruled for only seventeen years, was a revolutionary figure in several ways: First, he attempted to convert the Egyptian religion of the time from the worship of many gods to the worship of one god, the Aten, symbolized by a golden disc representing the sun. Second, while Akhenaten had a wife named Nefertiti, he also had a male lover named Smenkhkare.
In recognition of both his introduction of monotheism and his being one of the first gay historical figures, the club decided to call themselves the Atons. The club is one of the few, in the whole universe of leather clubs past and present, whose name is derived from an Egyptian source.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Your Humble Blogger
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #444, May 24, 2012)
Here’s an announcement I am thrilled to make: Every previous installment of this Leather Life column—the complete works, the entire corpus, the whole enchilada—is now available on the Web in blog form.
Yes, your humble columnist has also, at long last, become Your Humble Blogger. Every Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine since 1995 (when both the magazine and the column started) is now available at <leathercolumn.blogspot.com>. At this writing that’s over 430 blog posts, so there’s plenty of material to explore.
The new blog supersedes a former Leather Life website, <www.leatherlife.net>, that was started in 2005 but went mostly undeveloped. The former website’s address now redirects to the new blog, at least for the time being.
Articles are presented as originally published in Lavender—more or less. Most of the addresses and telephone numbers, especially in the event listings of the early columns, have been deleted. Some email addresses and website URLs have been left intact, mostly as a matter of historical interest.
All of the text of previous columns is now contained in the blog. Photos that were originally published with the columns will be added in the weeks ahead. Future columns will be added to the blog after first appearing in the print and various online editions of Lavender.
Commenting is enabled for each blog post, so feel free to comment. (I’m sure I hardly need to ask everyone to keep their comments civil, and to not post spam.)
Because the columns were originally published in Lavender, and Lavender is considered a family magazine, the blog is not restricted to readers over the age of 18. If you’re looking for porn, therefore, you will need to look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you’re looking for information and entertaining reading about the life, history and culture of the gay, lesbian and pansexual leather/BDSM/fetish community, I hope you will be happy with what you find at <leathercolumn.blogspot.com>.
Finally, the inevitable shameless self-promotion: Your humble columnist’s first book, Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness, contains some of these columns in expanded form, with updates, cross-references and even footnotes. So if you like what you read in the blog, you will certainly want to own the book.
Here’s an announcement I am thrilled to make: Every previous installment of this Leather Life column—the complete works, the entire corpus, the whole enchilada—is now available on the Web in blog form.
Yes, your humble columnist has also, at long last, become Your Humble Blogger. Every Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine since 1995 (when both the magazine and the column started) is now available at <leathercolumn.blogspot.com>
The new blog supersedes a former Leather Life website, <www.leatherlife.net>
Articles are presented as originally published in Lavender—more or less. Most of the addresses and telephone numbers, especially in the event listings of the early columns, have been deleted. Some email addresses and website URLs have been left intact, mostly as a matter of historical interest.
All of the text of previous columns is now contained in the blog. Photos that were originally published with the columns will be added in the weeks ahead. Future columns will be added to the blog after first appearing in the print and various online editions of Lavender.
Commenting is enabled for each blog post, so feel free to comment. (I’m sure I hardly need to ask everyone to keep their comments civil, and to not post spam.)
Because the columns were originally published in Lavender, and Lavender is considered a family magazine, the blog is not restricted to readers over the age of 18. If you’re looking for porn, therefore, you will need to look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you’re looking for information and entertaining reading about the life, history and culture of the gay, lesbian and pansexual leather/BDSM/fetish community, I hope you will be happy with what you find at <leathercolumn.blogspot.com>
Finally, the inevitable shameless self-promotion: Your humble columnist’s first book, Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness, contains some of these columns in expanded form, with updates, cross-references and even footnotes. So if you like what you read in the blog, you will certainly want to own the book.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Teachable Moments
(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #442, April 26, 2012)
While the Minnesota Marriage Amendment is an unfortunate and unwelcome development, it nonetheless is creating teachable moments—like the following conversation I had recently with a (non-Lavender) co-worker.
This person is very supportive of GLBT people and causes, so I was surprised to hear her say, “I was just walking behind a guy in the skyway, and—why do some gay guys behave like that?” Like what, I asked. “Well, he was swinging his hips and flipping his wrists—you know what I mean. There are some gay men who act like that, and then there are the rest of you, who just act normal.”
I explained that there might be many reasons why someone would act “like that”: Maybe that’s just the way he is. Or he might have been “camping it up” either for fun (perhaps inappropriate in public) or to deliberately upset onlookers (generally not appropriate in public—you won’t get people to sympathize with your cause by antagonizing them). Or he might have been exhibiting learned behavior—when he was young he was told this was the way gay people acted. (All these same possibilities apply also to masculine women.)
Or he might not have been gay. Many effeminate heterosexual men and boys are assumed to be gay and are even sometimes bullied as a result. Too often people assume that one’s gender presentation (masculine women, effeminate men) is connected to one’s affectional preference (lesbian or gay) when, in fact, they’re not always connected.
I also explained that, in my experience, younger people tend to make these assumptions less often than older people, and younger people also grant themselves and others both more freedom and more fluidity in whom they love and how they present their gender image to the world.
I finished by explaining that I hope to see a society that lets everyone be who they are and express themselves authentically, as long as they are being civil and appropriate. An opposite-sex couple flaunting their heterosexuality in the skyway would not be appropriate public behavior, either. But there’s a difference between making out in public and simply holding hands.
I felt I had accomplished something when her response was, “Well, thank you for explaining. Now I’m going to go home and tell all this to my husband—because that guy in the skyway really would have bothered him!”
While the Minnesota Marriage Amendment is an unfortunate and unwelcome development, it nonetheless is creating teachable moments—like the following conversation I had recently with a (non-Lavender) co-worker.
This person is very supportive of GLBT people and causes, so I was surprised to hear her say, “I was just walking behind a guy in the skyway, and—why do some gay guys behave like that?” Like what, I asked. “Well, he was swinging his hips and flipping his wrists—you know what I mean. There are some gay men who act like that, and then there are the rest of you, who just act normal.”
I explained that there might be many reasons why someone would act “like that”: Maybe that’s just the way he is. Or he might have been “camping it up” either for fun (perhaps inappropriate in public) or to deliberately upset onlookers (generally not appropriate in public—you won’t get people to sympathize with your cause by antagonizing them). Or he might have been exhibiting learned behavior—when he was young he was told this was the way gay people acted. (All these same possibilities apply also to masculine women.)
Or he might not have been gay. Many effeminate heterosexual men and boys are assumed to be gay and are even sometimes bullied as a result. Too often people assume that one’s gender presentation (masculine women, effeminate men) is connected to one’s affectional preference (lesbian or gay) when, in fact, they’re not always connected.
I also explained that, in my experience, younger people tend to make these assumptions less often than older people, and younger people also grant themselves and others both more freedom and more fluidity in whom they love and how they present their gender image to the world.
I finished by explaining that I hope to see a society that lets everyone be who they are and express themselves authentically, as long as they are being civil and appropriate. An opposite-sex couple flaunting their heterosexuality in the skyway would not be appropriate public behavior, either. But there’s a difference between making out in public and simply holding hands.
I felt I had accomplished something when her response was, “Well, thank you for explaining. Now I’m going to go home and tell all this to my husband—because that guy in the skyway really would have bothered him!”
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