Do Bears Dance in the Woods? Minnesota Bear Ball Debuts

Article published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #289, June 23, 2006)

PHOTO: DJ Corliss will be in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Bear Ball weekend.

During the weekend of July 7-9, the number of bear sightings in downtown Minneapolis will rise markedly. Bears from all over will be in town for the first-ever Minnesota Bear Ball. (For the uninitiated, the “bears” being discussed here are members of a gay subcommunity of easy-going and often furry men.)

A local bear group, North Country Bears, maintains a full calendar of monthly events and routinely attracts 150-200 bears (and their admirers) to its Bear Bar Night at Trikkx in St. Paul on the fourth Friday of each month.

In past years, North Country Bears also presented a summer Bear Camp, but last year’s event was cancelled, leaving an open spot on their calendar. This year that spot is being filled with the MN Bear Ball weekend.

Event organizer Chris Gores is working with the board of North Country Bears to organize the MN Bear Ball events. Gores has attended other bear events such as Chicago’s annual Bear Pride celebration, the International Bear Rendezvous in San Francisco, and Chumley’s Bear Cruises. The idea occurred to him that Minnesota should host this kind of event. “We have fun with the local crowd,” says Gores, “but we wanted to attract bears from other cities.”

The weekend’s events start Friday evening with an Italian Bear Lasagna Dinner. Friday night’s private UnderBear Ball at The Bolt (next door to The Minneapolis Eagle) will feature DJ Corliss playing “real music for real men.” Corliss Resor, who formerly lived in Minneapolis and won the “Mr. Bear Minnesota” title in the mid-90s, now lives in Las Vegas and is the proprietor of Personal Pop, his own custom DJ service.

Imagine a gay circuit party, but with bears on the dance floor instead of (or in addition to) circuit boys, and you’ll have an idea of the kind of atmosphere Resor intends to create. “Sometimes it’s a challenge to get bears on the dance floor,” Resor says, so he’ll be playing “more masculine music with more male vocals, more tribal and more sexual than the usual cookie-cutter dance music.”

Saturday’s events include a Wet Fur Pool Party. This event will be held at a private residence and swimwear will be optional.

The bear watching will be especially interesting Sunday afternoon during Bears-on-a-Stick—three hours of touring the Minneapolis riverfront riding a Segway scooter. The tour also includes refreshments at the Mill City Museum. Other Sunday activities are a Cigar and Boxer Barbecue at the Minneapolis Eagle or a Bear Salmon Run at Nami Sushi.

All proceeds from MN Bear Ball events (and a silent auction to be held as part of the weekend) will benefit Outfront Minnesota and the Minnesota AIDS Project.

For more information about events and pricing, or to register online for either the weekend package for individual events, visit <www.mnbearball.com>.

Host hotel for the weekend is The Residence Inn at the Depot (425 S. 2nd St.). The hotel is within walking distance of most of the weekend’s venues. Rooms include free breakfast and free high-speed internet. Contact the hotel for room rates and availability.

The board of North Country Bears is assisting with the MN Bear Ball both by helping sponsor the weekend and by helping to provide volunteers for the event. If you would like to volunteer, please contact <host@mnbearball.com>.

International Mr. Leather 2006: Oh, Canada!

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #289, June 23, 2006)

Want proof that the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest is truly international? Canada swept the competition this year, winning both the International Mr. Leather medal and the International Mr. Bootblack trophy.

This year’s IML host hotel was Chicago’s famous Palmer House, which gave the contest a different feel after three years at the Chicago Hyatt Regency. The Palmer House is old, massive and elegant as opposed to the Hyatt being modern, sleek and elegant.

And while the Hyatt had one massive exhibition space for IML’s Leather Market, at the Palmer House the Leather Market sprawled from elegant ballroom to elegant ballroom over two floors. The shopping was still great, however. (There were over 100 vendors including, from the Twin Cities, Gear Essentials and Marc Debauch Erotic Art.)

At Thursday’s opening ceremonies, the IML contestants (this year there were 51) were introduced alphabetically and drew numbers to determine their order of competition for the rest of the weekend. One other event of note (or, more accurately, notoriety) took place Thursday evening: IML 2005 Michael Egdes’ step-aside speech.

Egdes eloquently described the state of the leather nation and all the issues currently facing us, and throughout the speech he was constantly interrupted by enthusiastic applause from the audience.

But the speech went a bit long—some said it ran 51 minutes, others 57 minutes—and the near-record length of the speech ended up being a topic of conversation (and good-natured kidding) for the rest of the weekend.

To his credit, as Leather Journal publisher Dave Rhodes observed, Egdes’ speech “was filled with good content, did not trash anyone in the leather community and he mercifully did not sing.”

Friday evening started on a melancholy note with a ceremony of remembrance for the late Thom Dombkowski, who for many years was IML’s Chief Judge. Tears were then dried and claws sharpened in order to roast outgoing IML Michael Egdes. Other Friday evening events included the International Bootblack, Don’t Mess with Texas and Florida parties, as well as a first-ever SmokingHOT Guys party held in the Palmer House’s Windsor Lounge (the only smoking area in the hotel).

The International Mr. Leather weekend has grown to be about networking as much as contests. On Saturday the following workshops and gatherings were available if one could tear oneself away from the Leather Market: a Leather Archives & Museum general membership meeting; IML Boy Gathering; Mental Health Professionals discussion group; People of Color leather leadership forum; Chicago Hellfire Club party; a neo-pagan workshop and ritual presented by Brotherhood of the Phoenix; a Positive Force Chicago Meet & Greet for HIV-positive men; a(nother) cigar party; the International Ms Leather party; the BLUF party for men who enjoy wearing breeches, leather and other uniforms; and the San Francisco party.

IML’s physique prejudging, affectionately known as “Pecs and Personality,” was presented Saturday evening in the Grand Ballroom at the Palmer House. Each IML contestant got a chance to show off both his pecs (and in most instances almost everything else) and his personality by answering a humorous question posed by the emcee of the weekend’s events, Brad Balof.

Then it was time for more parties—I mean networking—including Canada’s Maple Leaf Party, the Onyx dance party, the Puppy Party and the Leather Archives & Museum’s 15th-anniversary celebration.

The City of Chicago’s official Memorial Day Parade had marched on State Street, right in front of the Palmer House, on Saturday. On Sunday there was a second parade on State Street—except this time all the marchers were wearing leather, and they were marching to the International Mr. Leather Contest at the legendary Chicago Theater, conveniently located a few blocks from the Palmer House. Last year the contest was at Navy Pier, this year at the Chicago Theater—after all these years, IML has definitely hit the big time.

This year’s contest was the shortest in recent memory, and maybe the shortest ever. After all the contestants had been introduced, “Mr. Marcus” Hernandez (leather columnist for the Bay Area Reporter in San Francisco) had the honor of announcing IML’s top 20 finalists. In announcing Mr. Minneapolis Eagle 2006 Mark Beckler as a finalist, Hernandez paid Beckler a special compliment when he said, “If it was up to me to marry one of these guys, this would be him.”

At the end of the evening, when the competition was over and while the tallymasters figured out the winner, the audience was entertained by the legendary Bruce Vilanch. He ended his comedy routine by inviting the audience to join with him in shouting one of the legendary punch lines he wrote for Bette Midler as Sophie Tucker (all together now): “Ernie, get off my back!”

And with that, it was time to announce the winners: The new International Mr. Bootblack is Benjamin Palmer from Vancouver. For International Mr. Leather: Second runner-up is Philippe Lepine, Mr. Fetish Switzerland 2006-2007; first runner-up is Larry Golubski, Mr. Long Beach Leather 2005; and the new International Mr. Leather 2006 is Mr. Leather Montreal 2006 Bo Ladashevska.

Minnesota Leather Pride: “100% Leather”

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #288, June 9, 2006)

PHOTO: Supplied now: Graphic of 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride Dog Tag art. Available on Wednesday, if that’s not too late: Photo of 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride Dog Tag on neck chain.

ART OR It’s June—time again for Minnesota Leather Pride. Dovetailing with this year’s Twin Cities GLBT Pride theme (“100% Pride, 0% Prejudice”), this year’s Minnesota Leather Pride theme is “100% Leather.”

The collectible 2006 edition of the Minnesota Leather Pride dog tag boldly proclaims this year’s theme, and it also gets you reduced admission prices at certain 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride events. Get yours for $5, while supplies last, at Cockpit Project, Dreamhaven Books, Gray’s Leather, Query Booksellers, Rainbow Road or Smitten Kitten (ask merchants about 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride discounts). Or buy your dog tag from members of the Minnesota Leather Pride committee at upcoming meetings and munches and at all 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride events.

Or maybe you’d like a free dog tag? During June, purchase a $99 early-bird registration package for next year’s Minnesota-hosted Leather Leadership Conference XI (April 20-22, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis) and get a free 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride dog tag. You’ll also get free admission to the Leather Smorgasbord on June 17 and the Temporary Piercing Workshop on June 18. All told, that’s a $22 value free when you register now for next year’s Leather Leadership Conference XI. Registration forms will be available at meetings, munches and all Minnesota Leather Pride events; visit <www.leatherleadership.org/LLC11> for more details.

This year’s Minnesota Leather Pride events are listed below. Information was current at my deadline but is subject to change. Updates will be posted at <www.MNLeatherPride.org>.

Saturday, June 10: 100% Ready! This year’s Minnesota Leather Pride kicks off with the Minnesota Storm Patrol Beer Bust at The Minneapolis Eagle, 5-8 P.M. Free admission, $5 for beer/soda bust. Designated charity is Camp Heartland.

Friday, June 16: Leather Roundtable Discussion: What Gets You High? A discussion of positive energy forces in the leather community—and those that should not be there. Over the Rainbow Bar, St. Paul, 7-9:30 P.M. Free admission. After this event, head to Atons Fetish Night at The Minneapolis Eagle. Fetish-of-the-month: Biker gear. 10 P.M. to midnight. Free admission.

Saturday, June 17: Leather Smorgasbord, an afternoon of workshops on humiliation, water sports and positions of submission—a little something for everybody. Patrick’s Cabaret, Noon-4 P.M. $10 admission (or $7 with your 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride dog tag).

Sunday, June 18: Temporary Piercing Workshop led by Dr. Fiendish. Patrick’s Cabaret, 1-3 P.M. $7 admission (or $5 with your 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride dog tag).

Monday, June 19: Fifth Annual Kinky Poetry Reading at Smitten Kitten. 7-9 P.M. Free admission.

Thursday, June 22: Leather/Fetish Swap Meet. Clean out your closet, then fill it up again! Plans also call for entertainment, in the form of demonstrations, while you shop. Over the Rainbow Bar, St. Paul, 7-10 P.M. Free admission.

Friday, June 23: Fetish Ball. Wear your best leather/fetish gear. Featuring the ever-popular Floggapalooza and introducing the new and exciting Cane-o-rama! Saloon, 9-11 P.M. Free admission.

Saturday, June 24: GLBT Pride in Loring Park. Visit (or hang out at) the Leather Pride booth. 9 A.M.-6 P.M. Free admission. Or, for something 100% Sensible, and a bargain as well: MSDB CPR/First Aid Classes are kink-friendly and include Red Cross certification. 9 A.M.-6 P.M. (CPR 9 A.M.-1 P.M., First Aid 2-6 P.M.) $50 tuition (or $30 for MSDB members or with your 2006 Minnesota Leather Pride dog tag). Classes are also available separately. Advance reservation required, visit <www.MSDB-MN.org> for full details. (Payment must be received by June 15.)

Sunday, June 25: Pride March. March with the Leather Pride flag. Meet at 3rd St. and Hennepin Ave. at 10 A.M.—parade steps off at 11 A.M. Then spend the day in Loring Park, and be sure to drop by the Leather Pride booth. Free admission.

Organizational sponsors for this year’s Minnesota Leather Pride celebration are Athenor, Atons of Minneapolis, Erotic Deviance, Knights of Leather, Leather Leadership Conference XI, MiN-KY (Minnesota Kinky Youth), Minnesota Bondage, Minnesota Storm Patrol, MPX (Minnesota Power Exchange), MSDB (Minnesota Stocks, Debentures & Bonds), NSGRA (North Star Gay Rodeo Association), TIES and Whipsters.

Also during Pride Weekend The Minneapolis Eagle will be presenting Scorch Fireball VII—“Confessions on a Parking Lot.” The beer garden opens on Friday, June 23 and closes at 2 a.m. on Monday, June 26. Pansy Division performs at 8 P.M. Saturday evening. On Sunday evening Brat Pack Radio warms up the audience at 6 P.M., followed by an encore performance by Pansy Division at 8 P.M.

The Last Two Centuries of SM

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #287, May 26, 2006)

The image was arresting. On the screen, in black and white, a naked woman was bent over a fainting couch while a naked man was poised to swing a switch at her buttocks.

What made the image more arresting was the fact that it was from the 1800s. And the man was, as they might have said in the nineteenth century, in full arousal.

Thus began “History of the Development of Sadomasochism in 20th Century America,” one of the final presentations of the tenth annual Leather Leadership Conference (LLC) in New York in April.

One of the presenters was Robert Bienvenu, Ph.D., a sociologist who wrote his doctoral thesis on the development of SM as a cultural style in the nineteenth and twenties centuries. The other presenter was Chuck Renslow, a man who lived (and made) some of the history Bienvenu included in that doctoral thesis.

In the first part of the presentation, Bienvenu described SM practices of the nineteenth century and how SM practices changed in the early twentieth century. Nineteenth-century SM imagery was built around “soft,” essentially feminine materials such as silk, lace and fur. Participants in SM scenes either wore everyday clothes or were nude.

Nineteenth-century SM implements were simple, natural and uncomplicated—canes, switches, whips, or birch rods. SM practices of the time were narrowly focused (on the buttocks, for example), ritualistic and predictable (starting with ritualistically exposing the buttocks), and endlessly repetitive (flagellating the buttocks, then flagellating them some more). Creativity and spontaneity were not the objects of nineteenth-century SM.

By the 1920s, SM had changed to a predominantly “hard,” masculine aesthetic. SM imagery of the time revolved around polished leather, latex and metals. When SM participants in the images wore anything, it tended to be specialized fetish attire, following an aesthetic that came to be known as “bizarre.” Photographic backgrounds were urban and industrial. SM implements and situations showed a broadened focus and increasing creativity, ingenuity, spontaneity, complexity and unpredictability.

Bienvenu discussed three major categories of SM culture in the twentieth century: European Fetish (c. 1928), American Fetish (c. 1934-1938), and Gay Leather (c. 1950).

The European Fetish style, which first became identifiable in 1920s Germany, quickly spread to France and Britain, and then around the globe as far as India and Australia.

The American Fetish style started in New York City in the 1930s and also had outposts in California. Originally an offshoot of European Fetish, it soon developed its own distinctly American look.

Both European and American Fetish were predominantly heterosexual, and the two styles shared many elements: bizarre costumes, uniforms, high-heeled shoes and boots, long black gloves, piercing and tattooing, and every sort of sexual apparatus imaginable. Practices included elaborate role play, cross-dressing, female domination, wrestling girls and human ponies.

Twenty years after the development of the American Fetish style, and with essentially no connection to either European Fetish or American Fetish, Gay Leather developed. It was at this point that Bienvenu turned the presentation over to Renslow, who shared his first-person account of leather’s development and history.

Renslow founded Kris Studios and began photographing and publishing male “physique” or “beefcake” photos in 1950. He and his lover, Dom Orejudos (the leather artist known as Etienne), opened Chicago’s legendary Gold Coast leather bar eight years later. In 1979, they founded the International Mr. Leather Contest, of which Renslow is still Executive Producer (and which is in full swing as this issue of Lavender hits the streets). Following Orejudos’ death, Renslow and former Drummer Magazine publisher Tony DeBlase were co-creators of the Leather Archives & Museum in 1991.

Renslow told of being brought up on obscenity charges, and subsequently acquitted. He told of the original group of Chicago leathermen and their search for a place to hang out. They finally found a club that welcomed them, the Gold Coast Show Lounge. Renslow eventually bought the business, shortening the name to “Gold Coast.” The rest, as they say, is history.

When the presentation was over, I was in awe. We have a history—a history that’s fascinating. But because it has been so hidden over the years, most people don’t know it exists.

There’s strength and power in discovering and uncovering that history. No matter what nasty names mainstream society may call us, we now know there have been other people through the years with the same feelings and interests we have.

Knowing we have a history makes it harder for us to accept being marginalized by mainstream society. Knowing we have a history makes it easier to carry on the fight for our own sexual freedom, and for everyone else’s as well.

That’s why this presentation was so affecting. That’s why the Leather Archives & Museum is so important. That’s why studies like Bienvenu’s are so valuable. That’s why Renslow and his contemporaries, and all the other people who have blazed leather/BDSM/fetish trails down through the years, are such treasures.

Bienvenu is currently at work on a scholarly book, “American Fetish,” to be published by Duke University Press. His doctoral thesis can be downloaded as a PDF file, in either compact or expanded multimedia versions, from <www.AmericanFetish.net>.

Marriage, Family, Sex: Fantasy vs. Reality

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #286, May 12, 2006)

Sexual fantasy can be pleasurable. Fantasy applied to politics and public policy is disastrous.

PHOTO: Matt Foreman delivering this speech at LLC X.

Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), recently gave the closing keynote address at Leather Leadership Conference X in New York City. Foreman started by comparing some right-wing fantasies about marriage, families and sexuality with contemporary reality. He talked about the negative consequences of having public policy determined by these fantasies. He analyzed how the GLBT community unwittingly helped create this situation. Finally, he suggested what we can do about it now.

Fantasy: Marriage is “until death do us part.” Reality: 43% of all first marriages end within 15 years, and the rate goes up to 52% for women under 45.

Fantasy: Adultery is an aberration. Reality: According to two recent studies, 69% of those surveyed knew of husbands who had committed adultery; 60% knew of adulterous wives.

Fantasy: People who enjoy so-called kinky sex and porn are a small, twisted minority. Reality: An ABC News poll found 60% of sexually-active Americans say they have had sex outdoors or in a public place; 30% say they and their partner have watched sexually explicit videos; 20% have looked at porn websites; nearly one-third of all single men have been involved in three-ways.

Fantasy: Sex with a “prostitute” is extreme fringe behavior. Reality: 30% of single men 30 years or older have paid for sex.

These fantasies, rather than reality, are driving public policy —with profoundly harmful consequences.

Millions of tax dollars have been taken away from HIV and sex education programs that have been proven to work. That money has instead been spent on “abstinence-only” programs. Evidence is growing that participants in these programs are more likely both to engage in unsafe sex and to become accidentally pregnant.

Another example: A new vaccine offers almost 100% protection against the human papilloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer in 10,000 U.S. women each year, killing 4,000. Yet the FDA might not approve it because of pressure from the Christian right, which believes the vaccine promotes promiscuity. Foreman noted this should give us some sense of how people would react if we ever got an HIV vaccine.

How did we get to this sorry state? While mentioning this country’s puritanical heritage and the disproportionate influence of right-wing “Christians” on public discourse, Foreman focused on his analysis of how the LGBT community unwittingly helped to create the situation.

Our community’s modern struggle started as the “gay liberation” movement. Calling ourselves “gay” connoted that we were and are complete human beings—more than just sex acts, which is the image that “homosexual” conjures up.

At our founding we were part of a larger social justice/sexual freedom/social change movement. But we quickly became a movement focusing on specific rights—the right to be free from job and housing discrimination, to be protected from hate crimes, to be able to adopt, and now to marry.

But in focusing on specific rights, we sanitized our lives. We took the “sex” out of homosexual and stopped advancing ourselves as complete human beings. We reduced our movement to seeking specific equal rights, not complete equality based on shared humanity.

And, since we were focusing predominantly on gay-specific rights, we inadvertently isolated ourselves from other communities and causes such as immigrants’ rights and reproductive, racial and economic justice.

The advent of HIV/AIDS meant that the very essence of gay liberation—sexual freedom—was portrayed as killing us. Our opponents and many in our own community saw and still see sex as the culprit, not a virus. Not only did we stop celebrating sexual freedom, we ran away from it.

Disconnecting our sexual lives from the rest of our lives for political purposes has led us to some fantasies of our own. Fantasy: If “those people” (meaning leather people, butch dykes and drag queens) would just go away, society would finally accept us. Reality, according to Foreman: “It doesn’t matter how much you emulate straight society. Our opponents don’t care whether you’re a good gay or a bad gay—they hate you because of who you have sex with, pure and simple.

“And they certainly don’t care if the sex you’re having is vanilla or kinky. It’s all the same to them.”

What can we do about this? Foreman suggested three ways to turn the tide:

1. We need to push a change in society around sex and to break down the facade, and all the ugly laws, policies and hypocrisy that come with it.

2. We must consistently and vigorously call out the sexual hypocrisy of our opponents. “The more those most responsible for propping up the facade are exposed, the quicker it will fall.”

3. Most importantly, we need to come out for sexual freedom in our daily lives. Foreman concluded his speech by saying, “This does not, as some people fear, mean that we need to talk about specific acts or scenes. Rather, it’s talking about our lives in a genuine and honest way. Because if we can’t, if we don’t, believe me—no one else will.”

Tenth Leather Leadership Conference Breaks Attendance Records

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #285, April 28, 2006)

The tenth annual Leather Leadership Conference (LLC) took place Friday, April 7 through Sunday, April 9 at Manhattan’s New Yorker Hotel. This conference was the largest ever with 347 registered attendees from 26 states, 3 Canadian provinces and one European country, Germany. Nine Minnesotans attended this year’s conference in preparation for hosting next year’s conference in Minnesota.

The Leather Leadership Conference is an educational event dedicated to strengthening the leather/SM/fetish community by developing the leadership skills of community members and fostering a greater sense of connectedness between and within community groups.

New this year were two pre-conference institutes held on Friday afternoon. One offered advice and guidance specifically aimed at leather titleholders. The other, which was for long-time leather/SM/fetish community leaders, explored advanced leadership topics including media relations, crisis management and avoiding both personal and organizational burnout.

The highlight of Friday evening’s opening ceremonies was a keynote speech by the honorable Mary Frances Berry, former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In this time when many of our civil liberties are being restricted, Berry framed the fight for “liberty of sexual expression” as a civil-rights and human-rights struggle.

Berry urged building coalitions with other naturally allied groups, such as those fighting for reproductive justice or against abstinence-only sex education, to finally bring about “liberty and justice for all.”

On Saturday and Sunday, conference participants could choose from 75 workshops organized along ten themed “tracks”: Activism, Case Studies, Events and Volunteers, Individual Skills, Media and Messaging, Outreach, Professional and Legal, Education, Organizational Development and Personal Enrichment.

The first workshop I attended on Saturday was “Leather 2006: An Overview of Issues Facing the Global Leather/BDSM Community.” In presenting the workshop, International Mr. Leather 2006 Michael Egdes drew on his experiences and travels of the past year. He also introduced Robert Ballin, creator of New York-based Leather Invasion (<www.leatherinvasion.com>), which aims to increase leather’s visibility and acceptance by organizing leather “field trips” to museums and other public spaces.

I next attended “Finding and Dealing With an Event Venue.” Anyone who wants to produce a leather event, or any other kind of event or conference for that matter, needs to know how to negotiate with hotels and/or convention centers. For anyone in that position, this workshop was a goldmine of information and encouragement.

During Saturday’s lunch break, conference attendees could participate in five roundtable discussions with topics such as making leather spaces trans-accessible; submissives, slaves and bottoms in community leadership positions; political conservatives in the leather/BDSM community; a sexual freedom caucus; and a meet-and-greet with the Leather Leadership Conference national board.

After lunch I participated in a two-part workshop on in-depth interviewing and media skills. After all the people I’ve interviewed for this column, it was very interesting and a bit scary to be the one being interviewed. It was a great learning experience—I am now better able to talk in soundbites without sounding like I’m talking in soundbites. During my mock interview I made a few mistakes, but at least I didn’t have to worry about seeing them in print.

The last workshop I attended on Saturday was “Putting Sex Back into Leather,” a discussion of the desirability and feasibility of including, rather than disavowing, sex and sexuality in the political arena.

On Sunday morning I attended two workshops. The first was “Boot Camp—Military Leadership Traits & Principles for a Traditional Leather Approach,” in which I learned that, say what you will about the various branches of the U.S. armed forces, they do know a thing or two about leadership development.

The final workshop I attended was International Mr. Leather founder and executive producer Chuck Renslow and sociologist Dr. Robert Bienvenu discussing the development of SM and leather in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To say it was fascinating and spellbinding is an understatement—this workshop was so good it will be the subject of a future column.

Sunday afternoon’s closing keynote address was by Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He spoke about fantasy—the fantasies surrounding sex and family life that currently drive official government policy, and contrasted them with the way things really are. Again, I plan to write about this topic more fully in a future column.

The conference closed with New York passing the Leather Leadership Conference baton to Minnesota. Your humble columnist made a short speech inviting everyone to Minnesota for next year’s conference (April 20-22, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis). Then the Minnesota contingent threw Minnesota trinkets, including single-serving packets of Spam and event buttons showing a picture of Spoonbridge and Cherry, into the audience. Visit <www.leatherleadership.org> for the official announcement and more details.

Author Jay Wiseman in Minneapolis May 5-7

One of the presenters at the recent Leather Leadership Conference in New York was Jay Wiseman, who conducted a workshop on “Conflict Resolution within the Leather/Kink Community.” He will be in Minneapolis May 5-7 to present that workshop and several others, and to appear at a meet-and-greet and book signing. Space is limited and advance reservations are required for all weekend events; visit <www.msdb-mn.org> for details. (These events are sponsored by MSDB and Smitten Kitten.)

Minnesota Welcomes 2007 Leather Leadership Conference

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #284, April 14, 2006)

GRAPHIC: LLC XI logo

After months of whispering, now it can be said out loud: Minnesota will host the eleventh annual Leather Leadership Conference April 20-22, 2007. The theme of the conference is “The Art of Sharing Power.” The worldwide leather/SM/fetish community is cordially invited to attend.

The Leather Leadership Conference (LLC) is a national organization dedicated to strengthening the leather/SM/fetish community by developing the leadership skills of community members and fostering a greater sense of connectedness between and within community groups. LLC hosts annual conferences where attendees share their knowledge and experience.

LLC was inspired by the annual “Creating Change™” leadership-development conferences for the GLBT community presented by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). The first LLC was held in New York City in 1997. New York City also hosted LLC X, the just-completed tenth edition of the conference. The first public announcement that Minnesota would be the host for LLC XI in 2007 was made at the conclusion of LLC X on April 9.

LLC XI is within easy driving distance for folks in other midwestern cities in the U.S. and Canada. Those farther away will find they can make easy, often non-stop, air travel arrangements. (Or, if you’re fed up with the airlines, consider Amtrak.)

Host hotel will be the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis. The hotel, which has earned a four-diamond rating from AAA, offers beautiful rooms and convention facilities. It is convenient to a dazzling variety of restaurants. And it’s connected by the pedestrian-only Loring Greenway to Loring Park, the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Keynote speakers for LLC XI will be New York-based photographer, artist and activist Barbara Nitke, and International Mr. Leather 2003 (and current chair of the Spanner Trust) John Pendal of London, UK.

Besides the keynote speakers, plans for LLC XI include a Friday-night opening cabaret program, a large and varied selection of workshops and seminars on Saturday and Sunday, and closing ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.

LLC XI is a must-attend event for leaders of the leather/SM/fetish community. But it’s also a great place for those interested in becoming leaders. Perhaps you’re a long-time community activist; maybe you’ve recently assumed a leadership role with a club or organization; or you might be new to the community and looking for a way to get more involved. If you care about this community and want to serve it, lead it and help it grow stronger—and you want to spend a weekend with a group of people who are committed to those same goals—you belong at LLC XI.

“The Art of Sharing Power” was chosen as the theme for LLC XI because both “Art” and “Sharing Power” reflect aspects of Minnesota’s leather/SM/fetish community and of Minnesota’s culture, history and politics in general.

Almost from its beginning Minnesota has been a progressive, populist, grassroots-oriented state. Minnesota’s political history is filled with examples of activism and leadership that flow bottom-up rather than top-down.

Not surprisingly, Minnesota’s leather/SM/fetish community shares many of these characteristics. Increasingly, community leadership has been shared by many different individuals and organizations, rather than being dominated by a few leaders or one large organization.

Both Minnesota and Minnesota’s leather/SM/fetish communities have become more diverse in recent years. While Minnesotans still may be stereotyped as Scandinavian and Lutheran (refer to the movie “Fargo”), Minnesota’s citizens and culture have become increasingly diverse in recent decades. For the most part that diversity has been accepted, if not always enthusiastically embraced.

Likewise, Minnesota’s leather/SM/fetish community has grown, and paradoxically both diversified and unified, over the last decade or so. Groups that formerly kept to themselves have started talking with one another, working with one another, and supporting each other’s events.

One of the results of this coming-together has been an amazing succession of annual Minnesota Leather Pride events—produced by, and attended by, members of many different community organizations. With the continuing success of Minnesota Leather Pride, it was felt that perhaps the time had come to take things to the next level by hosting a national, or even international, leather/SM/fetish event.

Minnesota is an art-rich state. The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is considered the capital for the arts in the Upper Midwest—there are two large nationally-known art museums, two nationally-known orchestras, and more theater seats per capita than any other American city (including New York City).

LLC XI will draw on the Minnesota’s amazing artistic and cultural resources to create a rich, stimulating environment—using the arts to help conference participants explore LLC’s traditional topics, community and organizational leadership skills, in a new and unprecedented way.

It has taken many hours from many committed volunteers to bring LLC XI this far, and it will take many more volunteer hours during the next year to make it the profound conference we know it will be. The LLC XI organizing committee invites you to consider attending, consider presenting a workshop, consider volunteering your time to help make this event happen.

Mark your calendar now, and watch the LLC website (<www.leatherleadership.org>) over the coming months for more details.