Girl Complex
Ms. Alameda County Leather 2016
I produce events for Alameda County Leather Corps and I also do marketing for Catalyst SF. My favorite leather item is my custom made
My favorite leather item is my custom made harness.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization? If so Please tell me about all your Sponsors (feel free to include a copy of their logos and a urls to their websites) and your involvement with them in 100 words or less. My first sponsor is Alameda County Leather Corps, that is the leather, levi and uniform club that I am a member of and the current title holder for. My second sponsor is the Knight Hawks of Virginia, that is the first club I ever joined and I am currently the only girl member. My third sponsor is Inked Kenny Photography, I started stalking Inked Kenny’s work through a friend and have been in love with his amazing work ever since.
www.acleather.org
http://www.knighthawksofva.com http://inkedkenny.com
Tell me about your favorite charity. United Negro College Fund – I attended a HBCU and I relish in that experience. The UNCF supports Historical Black Colleges and Universities and has given tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to African American college students.
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. I love community service. I ran for my current title because I knew it would be one that I would have to raise money for my local area charities while at the same time increasing the exposure of our presence to non leather folks to our community in a way that is approachable.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack? I am a leather woman because when Tom of Finland was painting he forgot to include women. I am a leather woman because I want to love in the way that Tom of Finland portrays in his pictures. I am a leather woman because I love the smell of leather and I love the look and feel of it against my naked skin. I am a leather woman because my little heart has been kinky since it arrived.
Who is your favorite Leather Woman…Why? Vi Johnson - Vi Johnson is part of my herstory as a black woman in leather. Vi Johnson’s dedication to preserving the his/herstory of the leather, fetish history is very inspiring to me.
What do you feel is the most dangerous mis-information passed through traditional & social media affecting our community today, and how would you combat it should the opportunity arise? The most dangerous misinformation that I believe is passed about our community is that we are somehow abnormal or defective. And that our abnormality is that the way we love is wrong. I would combat that by telling them that the family we have built under the umbrella of leather builds a community that I have not seen replicated in the world. We bring men and women together and support not only each other but the general world around us. Leather grow.
Name: Micky Rebel
Title: Oregon State Bootblack, 2015
City/ State: Portland, Oregon
Events:
Co-Producer of PDX BootLab
Volunteer for Portland Pets and Handlers and was a board member for 3 years.
Bootblacks regularly on the PDX Bootblack stand at The Eagle Portland
Favorite Leather/fetish Item: My collar, it took me 4 years of service to my Sir to earn it.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization? o I am proud to be sponsored by Blackout Leather Productions, the producer of the Oregon State Leather Contest. BLP raises funds for charitable organizations in our local community, hosts the Rose and Thorn awards to honor outstanding Leather people, and supports their titleholders to go on to represent Oregon in international competitions. Come and join us for the 2017 Mr. Oregon State Leather, Ms. Oregon State Leather, Oregon State Bootblack and Oregon State Puppy contests August 11-13th. http://blackoutleather.org/
Tell me about your favorite charity. o While there are many organizations that I support, one of my favorites is Outside In. It is an organization dedicated to helping homeless youth and other marginalized people in the greater Portland Metro area move towards improved health and self-sufficiency. They do this through providing medical care, mental health treatment, advocacy and connecting individuals with the services they need to live the lives they want. Outside In caters to the specific needs of under-served populations like the LGBTQIA community and the homeless. They even have programs to help homeless pets. http://outsidein.org/
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. o Service is a gift and every contribution counts, from donating a few dollars to a worthy cause, seeing an opportunity to help out at an event, or holding a position on the board of an organization. Volunteering has helped me maintain greater focus and reach higher goals. I’m so fortunate to come from a community that values service so favorably and shows gratitude to those that give.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack? o I found my identity as a Leather Woman through developing myself as a Bootblack. Before learning to bootblack, I rarely interacted with others. I was painfully shy. My Sir insisted that I learn the trade, indicating, “It will be good for you.” As a result, bootblacking has radically changed my life. I began to notice how I could be of use to others and my inward focus reflected outward through volunteering. Through these acts of service to my Sir and my Community, I found myself. I am now a confident Leather Woman and accomplished Bootblack in all areas of my life.
Who is your favorite Leather Woman…Why? o I could pick any number of Leather Women pioneers who have pursued equality and promoted bootblack visibility as my favorite Leather Woman. I appreciate all those contributions with my whole heart; however, my favorite Leather Woman is my friend Jesbian. I look up to her in so many ways. She gives beautiful service, she is young but accomplished and represents the contributions of the next generation that is so hungry to engage in leadership roles. Jesbian consistently seeks out littles and critters to make space for individuals that often don’t have a refuge in leather spaces. She is fun, witty, kind and caring. She is someone that I love dearly and respect enormously. She positively impacts the lives of every person she meets in every corner of the world. She is Leather.
Mina Hart
President of the Salt Lake City girls of Leather
Executive assistant for Sin in the City
Founder of Meow Mixx- a queer womens bar night
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization? If so Please tell me about all your Sponsors (feel free to include a copy of their logos and a urls to their websites) and your involvement with them in 100 words or less. Denver Bound, where I first learned rope skills and found community. I later became one of their teachers
Black Boots- a local gay men's organization that has been supportive and encouraging to the local women's community and helped our group and others with event logistics, connections and support
President of the Salt Lake City girls of Leather- these ladies are my heart and keep me encouraged and energized
Utah Leaf and Leather- I am a board member and representative of the women's community within this group. This group pairs my love of cigars coupled with my love of the Leather community.
Tell me about your favorite charity. I truly love the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. They do amazing work in the constant battle for sexual freedom and tirelessly fight for human rights. The work they put in gives me the rights I have today and I am incredibly grateful for their sacrifices.
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. Community service is what creates the cohesion in a community. Some of my most precious memories have come from real work put in my myself and my community. It isn't always about teaching a class or being in front of an audience. Sometimes the events that create the bonds of a community are helping to landscape your community space or helping to build a library so those after you can have access to that knowledge. Community service builds strong communities.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack? Leather is about freedom. Freedom to express oneself authentically and without judgment. Leather is about honor. Honoring oneself and others, keeping our history close to our hearts while we forge on and create new experiences and traditions for ourselves. Leather is about integrity- about holding on to your own beliefs and values no matter what storms you may weather. Leather is about respect. Respect for my community, myself and for the beliefs and traditions of others. Finally, Leather is about sex. Embracing one's sexuality and allowing ourselves to find the deep, raw, animal passion that we have learned to bury and deny. As a leather girl, I hold all of these things dear. I hold my community and my chosen family close, knowing that I have the freedom to be myself whatever self that may be. I hold pride in the leather I wear and in the Leather I am
Who is your favorite Leather Woman…Why? There are so many incredible women who have come before me and who walk with me.
If I had to pick, I would say Lolita Wolf. She is down to earth, open about her sexuality, clever and witty. She finds strength in submission and fights tirelessly for sexual freedom.
My own story mirrors hers in many ways with the road to discovering, being comfortable with, and embracing my sexuality. I am grateful for her openness, encouragement and volunteerism that supports this community.
Elisa
Great Lakes Bootblack 2016
Metro Detroit, Michigan
Community events:
Weekly kink and fetish educational classes by the BOE in metro Detroit.
I co-host a monthly sex and play party called Fevered Nights.
I just restarted the Detroit Area Bootblacks' Laboratory with access to a new venue space.
Maybe it's cliched, but my favorite leather item is definitely my custom engineer boots. I have very hard-to-fit calves and these have been the first pair of boots that truly and comfortably have fit me from day one. I wear them to bars and events but I also wear them to hard work meetings or on days when I'm feeling tired and scared and like I need my people, my community, walking with me.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization?
I am sponsored by Great Lakes Leather Alliance (http://greatlakesleather.org/), Great Lakes Leather Alliance -- Michigan and the Michigan Band of Brothers.
These are all amazing contests and organizations, but I am especially grateful for the Michigan Band of Brothers, which I've been involved with since the summer of 2014, prior to ever holding a title. We're a gender-inclusive titleholder support and preparation group. I would never have even considered running for my state title in 2015 if not for their generous time in answering questions, convincing me, supporting and helping me.
Tell me about your favorite charity. The Leather Archives and Museum is my favorite charity. I can't express the value in collecting and storing our past, which legitimizes who we are as leather people, in a publicly accessible museum. There is no way to know how to move forward into the future without understanding and relying on who we were and where we have been as a community.
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. I think community service is critical. We are a self-organizing bunch of folks. If someone wants an event, an experience, a venue to exist, that person has to put in the hard work and hours to create it and therefore enrich the community as a whole.
I think that the vast majority of what I do in the leather and fetish communities is community service. I'm fiercely dedicated to education -- I want to be able to play knowledgeably and play with people who are similarly knowledgeable. I want people to feel safe and comfortable to explore edgy experiences and I think that that can only happen with education and mentorship. I'm also fiercely dedicated to creating a culture of sex positivity and I co-host a party for that explicit reason. I think sex positivity happens when we stop talking about how we need a more sex positive culture and instead start enacting it in our play spaces and venues.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack? I first heard someone give a class on Leather 101 and their personal leather journey back in June of 2013. He talked about HIRT -- Honor, Integrity, Respect, and Truth -- and that he looked at himself in the mirror every day and asked whether or not he had HIRT that day. That shook me down to my core. I had always felt that way about my life, but I did not consider that there was a community within the broader fetish community that valued those principles and lived them out every day. I think HIRT, combined with an unwavering commitment to authenticity in all elements of my life and a fundamental respect and interest in our history, is what makes me Leather. I am a Bootblack because it's part of who I am at the deepest core of my soul. I knew it from the first moment that I saw someone doing boots in front of me that I was meant to be that person working on the boots. Bootblacking is the deepest expression of my desires to love and care for people from a position of both power (in terms of technical expertise) and vulnerability (in terms of revealing my desire to serve and trusting that the service will be valued).
Random Colorado Bootblack 2016
Colorado Bootblack 2016
Proud to be a part of MAsT Metro Denver and the Boulder Munch.
My favorite leather would be my Dr Marten boots. They are my foundation and keep me grounded in leather.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization?
I am proud to be sponsored this year by three amazing sponsors. The Leather Colorado Foundation sponsors and facilitates the Colorado Bootblack, Colorado Ms. Leather, Colorado Mr. Leather, Colorado Miss. Leather, and Colorado Mr. Rubber contests. (coloradoleather.org) The Denver Wrangler helps to raise funds for various organizations in the community with their weekly beer busts, and offers their facilities for meetings and other gatherings as they can. (denverwrangler.com) Finally, CJ’s leather has for years sponsored our local community with their fantastic leather products and custom works. Each patch and custom creation or repair is a true work of art. (cjsleather.com)
Tell me about your favorite charity.
The Colorado Center for Alternative Lifestyles is my favorite charity. Although they have only been around since September of 2015 their dedication to our community becomes more and more evident as they constantly seek out new ways of fulfilling their mission of creating a safe space in our community for adults who engage in alternative lifestyles. The communities they strive to serve are those of the LGBTQ+, Non-Monogamy, and Kink, believing that it is up to consenting adults to decide who and how they love. They serve these communities through education on various related topics and are constantly seeking to expand and improve their service. They have expanded their community outreach by teaching classes on mental health first aid and hope to have a crisis hotline and conflict mediation programs for the people of Colorado in the future. (coloradocal.com)
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service.
Community service is so important for any civilization, and really is the mark of humanity. It reminds us that we are all human and all connected and reinforces those connections. Within the leather community it becomes so much more important for each of us to step up where we can. It’s our legacy, it’s where we’re from and it’s where we’re going. It is the foundation of everything we do. So many of our leaders and legends have given so much to see that we continue to progress, and I believe it is up to each of us to continue that. Whether it is helping to raise funds or by organizing ways we can get together in fellowship, the leather community is based on service to that community. It is built by those who are willing to be of service to our community. We pay no taxes to a leather monarch, we have no elected officials making sure there is funding for the things important to us, what we have at the end of the day is each other.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack?
For me identifying as a bootblack is a core part of who I am. It is how I found my way home. I enjoy caring for leather, and that makes me a leather care specialist. I work on leather as people are wearing it, and that makes me a shoe shiner. I build relationships with those who enter my chair and with the leather. I do what I can to be a recorder and preserver of leather and leather history, and to be a resource to my community. That to me – makes me a bootblack.
Goddess Moon O’Neal
Ms. Los Angeles Leather 2016
Los Angeles, CA
Co-Producer of Club FUK (Femdom play party)
My knee high 20 hole Doc Martins.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization?
The Ms. Los Angeles Leather Organization http://mslaleather.com/ and the Los Angeles Leather Coalition http://lalc.info/ are sponsoring my run. The Ms. Los Angeles Leather Organization produced by Shae Flanigan brought this title back after 17 years and I am honored to have worn the sash for the past year.
Tell us about your favorite charity.
My Favorite Charity would have to You Are Not Alone. Being a suicide survivor myself and having mourned too many lives lost to suicide, I love being part of a movement that is there to help someone to not feel so alone that suicide is the answer.
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service.
Service is about giving back and support. Those willing to give of themselves back to the people and places that helped them when they needed it most; to support in anyway your able to.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack? My love of my community, my desire to see my village to thrive. To be a mentor to the new generation, help them to experience the joys that our ways have to give.
Who is your favorite Leather Woman…Why?
Mistress Melissa Miles. She is the leather woman I hope to be when I grow up. She is the type of woman who doesn’t talk about what she is going to do, she just does it. She leads by action not talk. And she’s slightly scary.
I am Beau Korvin Black.
I live in Seattle, Washington.
You can often find me at the Cuff Complex hanging out with my Leather family and friends.
I am the past Vice President and a current member of the Seattle Boys of Leather. I have recently been one of the hosts for Blood Sweat and Queers; a BDSM play party at the Center for Sex Positive Culture.
My favorite piece of leather would have to be my hunter harness from Bad Daddy Leather.
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization?
I am being sponsored by the Washington State Mr Leather Organization (WSMLO). They are the organization who own the titles of the Washington State Leather contest which includes Mr, Ms, and Bootblack titles. Toby Noon is the current president of the board. I am honored to be representing this organization and my state.
I am also honored to be sponsored by Bad Daddy Leather owned by JJ Whitehurst. JJ is the patriarch of my leather family, The Labyrinthine, and a mentor of mine as well. I will be wearing several pieces made by Bad Daddy Leather during the contest.
Tell us about your favorite charity.
The Seattle Area Support Groups is my favorite charity. They have done so much for the greater Seattle community. They offer peer coaching, peer groups, and voucher programs that allow clients and volunteers tickets to various entertainment venues.
The Seattle Boys of Leather volunteered at the tree lot this last December helping prep and sell holiday trees to local community members. They taught us how to operate a chainsaw. I can now say I am officially "Beaver Certified".
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. Having been part of a service oriented leather club for the last four years, I have learned community service is vital. Now more than ever, we need to come together to offer help and support to our friends, family, and community members.
I have a very service oriented heart. I enjoy doing tasks for others. It makes me happy to make others' lives a little easier.
What makes you a Leather Woman and/or Bootblack?
I am a leather woman who identifies as two-spirit. I am also a bootblack. The two co-exist within me. Being both a leather person and a bootblack to me means having a desire to learn from those who came before me. I also strive to be the best person I can be and to continue to improve daily. I believe strongly in personal responsibility or as my leather family motto states, "Own your shit."
Bootblacking came naturally to me. I enjoy working with my hands and getting dirty. There is something so satisfying about taking a pair of dirty, filthy, sexy boots with a rich history, breathing life back into them so they can play once more.
Name: xiaoyi Drake
Current Title: Southwest Bootblack 2016
City, State : Colorado Springs CO
website (if any) regular community events that you produce or participate (limit 3):
http://www.coloradoleatherfest.com/
http://lokusdorproductions.com/
www.slaveheartbootblack.com
Favorite Leather item in your arsenal of bar/fetish wear *
My harness with club patch would be my all time favorite item in the fetishwear category, unless we are counting Huberds!
Is your run in April sponsored by an Event, bar, club, organization? If so Please tell me about all your Sponsors (feel free to include a copy of their logos and a urls to their websites) and your involvement with them in 100 words or less. I have the privilege of being sponsored by both Trade, a leather bar in Denver CO who helps our local community with beer busts every Saturday and many other events as well as my home club Voodoo Leatherworks, the best damn dungeon in the state (in my opinion.) Voodoo is where I got my start bootblacking publicly and will always be home. They are Leather as well as kink, bdsm and alternative lifestyle friendly with a large focus on education as well as dungeon fun. And they always keep at least one bootblack stand in the dungeon!
https://www.facebook.com/Tradedenver/
http://www.voodooleatherworks.com/
Tell me about your favorite charity. I tend to have more than one favorite for most things. Thank goodness for poly!
There are two charities that really resonate with me and I support.
The first is the Marquis Lifestyle Center, this is currently a small group with a vision of helping destigmatize kink, Leather and BDSM through education both within the kink communities and in the community at large. The plan includes “thinking globally; acting locally” which resonates deeply with me, as we can change the world for the better, to help our people be better accepted and not villainized for our sexualities, yet each of us can only do this within our own areas.
The second is Reclaiming Our Leather History. This group is dedicated to helping find and restore parts of our Leather culture and history, the physical parts of our communities. It is not as common now as it once was for relics and piece of our history to be destroyed, trashed or burnt in ignorance, hatred or fear. Yet as an anthropologist, I know one of the fastest ways to destroy a culture is to destroy its iconography and precious items. Reclaiming Our Leather History helps prevent this by assisting us maintain our culture and our past and keeping a Leather identity both for our past and for our future.
With the help of organisations like these two, I truly believe that as new Leather Folk begin to find this life and their path within it, they will find a strong sense of identity and culture that goes far beyond “ I like hot kinky sex” and that they will find better support and acceptance of themselves and their kinky, BDSM and Leather life because our deep history will be maintained for all of us to learn about and through community outreach and education, we will be shunned less and eventually accepted for who and what we are with equal rights and support for our sexual identities.
Tell me in your own words how you feel about community service. To me service means giving of one’s time, talent and treasure without expectation of return or rewards. When someone is serving the community, the goal is betterment of the community. It is often said that a rising tide raises all ships. When serving the community, each of us gets to be a drop in the ocean of that tide. Getting to join all the people who have come before me and will come after me, as I get to serve and help out in the communities, is a joy. I am a part of something so much larger than me and it simply an amazing experience. It becomes a privilege to serve simply because of that connection. Even scrubbing floors is a joy when I know that in doing that I am helping make the community better. We each work within our sphere of influence and service is one way in which we join forces as an unseen tide helping create the beauty that is our world and our communities.
The Leather Journal was founded in May, 1987. The Leather community was hungry for news magazine that covered clubs, organizations and events. TLJ has successfully met that need for 34 years. We have adapted to change more than once and when the Internet came about we were there by adding www.TheLeatherJournal.com
