It’s generally assumed that leather culture got s start the 1940s, as an offshoot to post-World War II motorcycle clubs that began poppg up around the same time. Gays had flocked drov to large ci followg Blue Discharg om the army, a way of removg homosexuals om service, as dishonourably dischargg and imprisong gays beme impractil wh the huge number of recs durg WWII. It led to large groups of homosexuals ci like Los Angel, San Francis and Chigo.
Contents:
- HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEATHER AND THE GAYS
- IN HONOR OF LGBT HISTORY MONTH: GAY LEATHER HISTORY.
- GAY HISTORY: WELE TO THE LEATHER FRATERNY (1976)
- NFL ACH KEV MAXEN MAK SPORTS HISTORY BY G OUT AS GAY
- NFL'S KEV MAXEN COM OUT AS GAY, MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OUT MALE COACH MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
- WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAY LEATHER PRI FLAG, AND WHAT DO IT MEAN?
HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE
There are a wi variety of trends LGBT culture. However, one of the thgs most easily associated wh gay culture is that of leather wear. Leather is one of the most intified ems wh gay… * leather gay history *
In fact, most people who have studied gay men’s leather subculture attribute s velopment as arisg om biker the years immediately followg the Send World War, leather beme a hallmark of many motorcycle clubs, particularly on Los Angel, New York, and San Francis. It was also this character that some gay men began to emulate their style, leadg to the first associatn between leather and gay of Leather wh the Gay CommunyThe leather subculture expand quickly the gay muny due to the tablishment of leather bars. This served as another outcroppg of leather and grew to s own subculture wh the gay muny, later spreadg to the lbian muny and to cis-het culture as Evolutn of Leather SubcultureTradnal leather subculture the gay muny found self fallg out of favor the 1980s.
Colton Hayn jt paid homage to legendary homoerotic artist Tom of Fland by postg pics of himself wearg an all-leather outf to his Instagram recently, and let's jt say we're ready to ri wh Colton anywhere he wants to take the Arrow and Teen Wolf alum looks great wolfed out ont of the mera (he's set to appear the new, recently-announced Teen Wolf movie on Paramount+ alongsi his old -star Tyler Posey), we have to say we prefer when he's sportg leather rather than of Fland immortalized an entire homoerotic look for gay men via his inic drawgs and pictur. Although fetish clothg is no longer a unique exprsn of the Queer world, there is a wily regnized parallel between the creased visibily of Gay and Lbian inti and superficial fetish ntemporary culture, transformg somethg that was ially the prerogative of sexual activi limed to the scene, later seen more extensively popular culture or any se transcend by lumari.
The whole of fashn, startg om the big brands to fast-fashn, has for some time vampirized the s of the imagary leather that origally belonged to the homosexual muny, still returng today outfs that are parad practilly all the great menswear brands. So when the war end, they sought sanctuary motorcycle clubs where they met others who shared a like-md disaffectn wh the nformist culture of post-WW2 the spac, leather clothg was everywhere, signallg a masculy allurg to gay men who were weary of beg picted as effemate.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEATHER AND THE GAYS
* leather gay history *
The naive belief that sex is simply an born stct still exerts s power, but most gay men and lbians know that the sex they have was not nate or entirely of their own makg, but learned—learned by participatg, scen of talk as well as of fuckg.
It is now jeopardy even wh the gay movement, as gay men and lbians are more and more drawn to a moralizg that chim wh homophobic stereotype, wh a wizened utopianism that nf our matury wh marriage to the law, and perhaps most sidly of all, wh the privatizatn of sex the fantasy that mass-mediated belongg uld ever substute for the public world of a sexual culture.
This emergg activist stance, lled gay liberatn, engaged civil prott and nstcted an unrstandg that beg “gay” was more than a medil ndn or viant sexual practice, but a distct, posive cultural inty subject to shared opprsn (Weeks, 2016). Meanwhile, mastream lbian and gay activism grew more stutnalized and creasgly emphasized morate requts for civil rights—as the 1993 March on Washgton—while leather, bisexual, and trans people ntued to ph for cln the movement (Warner, 1999).
IN HONOR OF LGBT HISTORY MONTH: GAY LEATHER HISTORY.
Free Onle Library: In honor of LGBT history month: Gay Leather History. by "Liberty Prs"; Women's issu/genr studi Gay men Appreciatn * leather gay history *
In 1979, the “Gays Unr 21” ntgent SF mand to have their rights taken serly by both straight and gay adults, who were “acceptg straights’ posn that young people have no sexualy, ” and “excludg om the larger gay muny” (Gays Unr 21 Contgent, 1979).
The origs of gay leather the Uned Stat are somewhat unclear, but popular acunts discs a wave of gay men who were discharged om the ary followg World War II, bed wh a rebell, mascule image of black-clad motorcycle gangs the 1950s (Addison, 2012). The LAPD raid the Black Cat 1967 (beatg patrons and pturg one bartenr’s spleen), a Homophile Effort for Legal Protectn fundraiser at the Black Pipe 1972, and the Mark IV baths “slave ctn” fundraiser for gay chari 1976: an effort which volved roughly a hundred officers, two helipters, a dozen vehicl (Los Angel Leather History, 2021; Rub, 1982b; S. Cg distorted media bigotry, fagbashg, and “the opprsn of our liftyle wh the larger gay/lbian muny, ” Brian O’Dell found New York’s Gay Male S/M Activists (GMSMA) 1980, and the Lbian Sex Mafia (LSM), a New York lbian S/M group, was found the followg year (Rub, 2015).
Marc (1986) scribed police harassment of “leather fags” San Francis, LAPD nducted a seri of raids of leather bars 1988 (Los Angel Leather History, 2021), and 1987 Operatn Spanner began Bra: an effort which would ta hundreds of gay men and charge dozens of nsensual players wh “asslt” and “unlawful woundg”—16 were nvicted and eight imprisoned (S.
GAY HISTORY: WELE TO THE LEATHER FRATERNY (1976)
The Leather Fraterny, the leather culture classified ad and rrponnce anizatn was found by John Embry (1927-2010) the early 1970’s durg the formative years of Dmmer magaze. The materials here beg about 1973. Fraterny appears to have grown out of Embry’s leather-oriented mail-orr publishg ncern and bimonthly brochure distributed Los Angel gay bars, each unr the name Robert Payne. The Fraterny ads were an tegral part of the early DRUMMER magaze issu. * leather gay history *
Although members of New York’s Gay Liberatn Front ntt claims of her centraly Pri’s origs (San Francis Bay Tim, 2021), there is documentatn of her marchg the 1980s (Unknown, 1980s, 1987) and servg on the anizg mtee for the 1987 March on Washgton (S/M-Leather Contgent, 1987). In January of 1970, Perry had officiated a weddg ceremony for two lbians (Warner, 1999), led 250 homosexuals a march for police reform LA (Los Angel Leather History, 2021), and a hunger actn on the steps of the LA Feral Buildg for gay rights (Los Angel Leather History, 2021). Cycle MC (a NYC gay motorcycle club) participated New York’s first Pri para 1970 (Hardy, 2003b; Los Angel Leather History, 2021), and a leather-clad motorcycle briga ro Harleys Los Angel that same year, which “tend to shock straight spectators to silence” (The Advote, 1970).
By 1986 the Society of Jan, the Outsts (a lbian S/M group) and the 15 Associatn (a gay male S/M group) joed forc an official S/M muny ntgent (Rub, 2015), fieldg more than a hundred marchers and nng a booth at Civic Center plaza (Bay Area SM Communy, 1986, 1987). Ste (2021) argu that para anizers the early 1990s mostly disuraged BDSM marchers om displayg whips and chas, or engagg overt BDSM displays, and while Memphis went so far as to ban mors om any event even scribg sadomasochism (not to mentn homosexualy! A flurry of articl explored the dynamics of assiatnism vs radil exprsn, of Branis’ inty as a trans dyke vs the predomantly cis gay men who opposed the performance, and of the difference between an east ast leather culture eager for tablishment acceptance vs a wt ast leather culture which embraced rebell self-exprsn.
In the US, the moral panic of the “Lavenr Sre” and McCarthye purg of homosexuals durg the 1950s ma this activism hazardo, and homophile anizatns proceed ( very broad terms) wh assiatnist utn: nouncg gay men’s “swish” mannerisms and pursu of sex. In the late 1960s, the nascent gay liberatn movement (particularly New York) began to cultivate media ntacts the mastream and alternative prs: articl Harpers and Village Voice began to discs homosexual issu (Armstrong & Crage, 2006). Misters om the Council held a prs nference followg the event and lled out the police partment, the ACLU fend the victims, and meetgs between police and homophile activists “dramatilly curtailed” police harassment (Armstrong & Crage, 2006; Penngton, 1988).
NFL ACH KEV MAXEN MAK SPORTS HISTORY BY G OUT AS GAY
NFL’s Kev Maxen Com Out as Gay, Mak History as First Out Male Coach Men’s Profsnal Sports Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is g out as gay and makg history. In dog so, he is the first publicly… * leather gay history *
The Annual Remr (and other civil rights actns unrtaken by LGBTQ activists durg the send half of the 1960s) tablished a pattern of anized, visible, and annual march for lbian and gay rights: another key technology for the velopment of Pri.
This was no refully planned, super-straight picketg monstratn of 20 or 30 overdrsed and severely middle-class homosexuals; nor was a p-out, like the “mass meetg” held by a self-styled homosexual lear unr the Arch Washgton Square Park—plete wh hymn-sgg, speakers, and an dience of 40 or 50 tourists om Peoria….
” In tratn, Craig Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Lda Rhos proposed a change at the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) Philalphia: that the Annual Remr be moved to New York Cy on the anniversary of the Stonewall rebelln, and that be open to all ag and manners of drs (Bce, 2016; Sargeant, 2010). Organizers leveraged the works and mailg lists of lol homophile anizatns as well as the nascent gay prs to cement the importance of Stonewall, and reached out to homophile anizatns across the US to plan the first Pri march (Armstrong & Crage, 2006; Bce, 2016). In 1970, The GAA’s Street Theatre Submtee argued that sce gay liberatn’s aim was to produce a culture where rpect is afford to those wh unnventnal sexual exprsn, the most effective thg to do was to champn the most unnventnal type of homosexual: homosexual transvt.
NFL'S KEV MAXEN COM OUT AS GAY, MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OUT MALE COACH MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS
When I burst through the closet doors, my first expensive purchase was a leather harns. I wanted to f , and knew the harns was a staple garment for gay men. But how did we get here? How has the leather harns bee such a veted and symbolic garment among gay men? Unfortunately, the harns, like much of leather history, is one of myth and legend, and very ltle is ncretely rerd. * leather gay history *
By g out, people uld beg to show the world that they existed, but as important would show other lbians and gay men that they were not alone, that through g out all uld e together, and nstct new narrativ about who and what they were…. The 1970s immediately followg Stonewall was a perd of mass sexual experimentatn the major urban ci where gay life flourished—explorg pleasure multiple forms, and different patterns of relatnship, many different venu, challengg the reproductive and monogamo norms of the culture, throwg light on what had been a dark secret, nfed to shameful silence, the all too recent past.
One rult was an explosn of public sex amongst gay and bisexual men, snas, backrooms, parti; another was a flowerg of life experiments, as the 1969 generatn explored new typ of relatnships, new ways of livg sexually, challengg taboos around bodi, age, genr appearance, promiscuy, partnership, and love. Sexual liberatn was for many the sence, the very meang of gay liberatn, and later years many survivors of that first generatn lamented new emphas wh the movement on lbian and gay parentg, same-sex marriage, and chosen fai as an abandonment of that foundg spiratn. Durg the late 1970s and 1980s, activists and anizatns across the US would rpond to anized right-wg opposn by engagg siar normalizg mpaigns, seekg to distance the lbian and gay movement om s ial, radilly clive goals of sexual liberatn.
In 1977 a nservative Christian aln onted by Ana Bryant (a sger and brand ambassador for the Florida Cs Commissn) lnched a mpaign to repeal a recently-passed civil rights ordance Da County which prohibed anti-gay discrimatn hog, employment, and public acmodatn.
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAY LEATHER PRI FLAG, AND WHAT DO IT MEAN?
The “Save Our Children” mpaign argued that the ordance vlated Bryant’s relig eedom, revived long-standg views that homosexuals were dangero and immoral, and synthized a new moral panic that gay schoolteachers would “nvert” and “sexually molt children” (Endr, 2009; Rosky, 2021; Si, 1977). But nowadays, they said, there’s veloped “an attu of tolerance … based on the unrstandg that homosexuals will keep their viant activy to themselv, will not flnt their liftyl, will not be allowed to preach their sexual standards to, or otherwise fluence, imprsnable young people. Further, they are pletely turned off by what they see the way of lewd and lasciv nduct on Castro, Polk, and Folsom Streets as well as at Land’s End and Buena Vista Park, where several Gay men (and women) display their private and more often sexual si public.