Ca. 5000 BC Creation of rock drawings at Ti-n-Lalan ... - NLA-OKC

BC
Ca. 5000 BC
Creation of rock drawings at Ti-n-Lalan, near Fezzan in Libya,
showing an animal headed creature with a gigantic penis, and
an animal/man hybrid, having sex.
Ca. 2500 BC
Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, in the Sumerian poem cycles that
constitute one of the oldest known pieces of literature, meets
Enkidu, the only man who rivals him for strength and bravery.
They become lovers and particularly enjoy wrestling with each
other.
2355 - 2261 BC
The reign of Egyptian King Pepy II Neferkare who, in what
may be history’s first homosexual short story, makes nocturnal
visits to have sex with his general, Sisinne. [Dynes]
Ca. 1900 BC
Destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Too bad the
bible is not more explicit about the reason. The interpretation
hinges on the Hebrew word meaning “to know.” The term is
used 943 times in the Old Testament; only 15 of these times is
it a euphemism for sexual activity. In the New Testament, the
only reference to Sodom (Luke 10:10) identifies the sin as
inhospitality. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah probably had
nothing to do with sexuality. [AA]
1503-1354 BC
The reign of Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut who adopted male
dress and even wore a false beard.
Ca. 1250 BC
The Ani Papyrus shows the rite of the “animation of the
phallus.” It appears to be one of the earliest recorded examples
of a blow job.
Ca. 1000 BC
The Israelite King Saul demands of David, as a bride-price for
his daughter Michal, 100 Philistine foreskins.
Ca. 730 BC
“Krimon warms the heart of Simias” is one of several lines of
homosexual graffiti that constitute one of the earliest know
uses of the Greek alphabet. [AA]
7th Century BC
Ashurbanipal, the last Assyrian king, dresses in women’s
clothing most of the time. The cross-dressing is used to justify
his eventual overthrow. [TOL]
600 BC
After this date it becomes customary for Greek hoplites, the
upper class warriors who fight in the phalanx, each to take a
boy of 12 as a lover to train until he is 18 and can hunt and
fight. In Crete a ritual kidnapping consecrates the pairing.
580s BC
Sappho’s famed girls’ school flourishes on the isle of Lesbos.
Her love poems to students are the earliest known lesbian
writings. [AA]
Ca. 540 BC
The Etruscan Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia, with its fresco
depicting one man anally penetrating another.
418 BC, Dec. 25
Birth of Epaminondas, one of the great military geniuses of the
ancient world. Like other Greek warriors he loved boys, but for
him delight in boys was complete, he never married or
produced an heir. His two favorite boys fell in battle and, by his
order, were buried with him in his tomb. [Greif 82]
382 BC, April 18
Birth of Philip II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great.
In 350 BC he leaves on a military expedition, taking with him
800 boys to be used for the pleasure of himself and his officers.
378 BC
The Sacred Band of Thebes is formed. This military unit
consists entirely of 150 male couples and is based upon the
belief that men fighting alongside their lovers would die rather
than shame one another. [TOL]
356 BC, July 20
The birth of Alexander of Macedonia—known to history as
Alexander the Great—king, general, world conqueror, and
lover of men, particularly Hephaiston—whose death in 324 he
mourns extravagantly—and the eunuch slave boy Bagoas, who
had been a favorite of Persian King Darius.
338 BC
The Sacred Band of Thebes is annihilated by Philip of
Macedonia and his son Alexander at the Battle of Chaeronea.
The 300 stood their ground and perished.
333 BC
Alexander of Macedonia begins his campaign to conquer the
Persian Empire, and takes Egypt and much of Asia before
turning back in central India.
324 BC
The death of Hephaiston, lover of Alexander the Great. [G30]
323 BC, June 10
Death of Alexander the Great.
300 BC
Addeaus of Macedonia is quoted as saying, “When you meet a
boy who pleases, take action at once. Don’t be polite, just grab
him by the balls and strike while the iron is hot.”
186 BC
The Roman Senate attempts to suppress the Bacchanalian rites
in which, according to the historian Livy, there is more
debauchery among the men with each other than with the
women.
100 BC, July 13
Birth of Gaius Julius Caesar in Rome. “Wife to every man and
husband to every woman.” [Greif 82]
71 BC
Revolt of Roman slaves, led by Spartacus. The revolution is
crushed by consuls Pompey and Crassus and the slaves are
crucified along the Appian Way.
10 BC, Aug. 1
Birth of Claudius, Emperor of Rome. Robert Graves’ novels,
and Masterpiece Theater’s production of I Claudius
enlightened us, but not about Emperor Claudius’ contributions
to the gladiatorial games or of his male lovers.

1 BC
Publication of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, the first self-help sex
manual.
1-999 AD
12 AD, Aug. 31
Birth of the future Roman emperor, Caligula.
26 AD
The Roman Emperor Tiberius (born Nov. 16, 42 BC) retires to
Capri, where he indulges in all forms of sexual exploration.
39 AD, Sept. 4
Birth of the future Roman Emperor, Titus. He was not a
Tiberius or Caligula or Nero, or even a Claudius, but he did
complete the coliseum, the site of some of the bloodiest
activities in Roman history.
41 AD, Jan 21
Roman Emperor Caligula killed by a guard who had been
frequently forced to kiss the royal middle finger in public, and
other things in private. (Birth Aug 31, 12 AD) [Greif 82]
45-68 AD
Reign of Nero (born Dec. 15, 37 BC) who, as Emperor of
Rome, would elevate torture to new heights as a spectator
sport.
53 AD, Sept. 15
Birth of Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who became the Roman
Emperor Trajan, the first non-Italian emperor. His
accomplishments were many, not only in battle, but in the
construction of public works. All of the ancient sources discuss
Trajan’s homosexuality candidly, differing only in the stories
used to illustrate his sexual preferences. [Greif 82]
69 AD, April 15
The Roman Emperor Otho (Marcus Salvius Otho), who
literally rose to power on his knees before Nero, stabs himself
in the heart.
76 AD, Jan. 24
Birth of Hadrian, who would become Emperor of Rome and
lover of the beautiful Antinoüs (July 16 c. 110) who drowned
himself in the Nile at age 21, perhaps in a self-sacrifice to save
the life of his lover and master.
79 AD, Aug 24
Vesuvius erupts, thereby preserving the homoerotic and other
sexually explicit wall murals that would surely have been
destroyed by later Christian “civilizations.”
188 AD, April 4
Birth of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known as the
Roman Emperor Caracalla. Gay—but not leather—he certainly
set the standard for a bath house! [Greif 82]
3rd century AD
Sebastian, a handsome young Roman Centurion is beloved by
the emperor Diocletian, who turned against him when he
embraced Christianity. He was stripped and tied to a tree and
shot full of arrows by his fellow Centurions. He survives only
to die many years later in a second martyrdom when he is
stoned to death. St. Sebastian has been called the patron saint
of gays, and the patron saint of SM.
205, March 8
Birth in Emesa, Syria, of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who
would become Heliogabalus, the boy Emperor of Rome. In 217
he became priest of Elagabal in Emesa. Then, on April 14, 218,
his grandmother Julia Maesa arranged to have him declared
Emperor of Rome by the Tenth Gallican Legion. Blatantly
homosexual, he was married twice in one night, choosing a
well hung charioteer as his husband and a boy named Hierocles
as his wife. He sent out his agents to round up the men with the
largest penises in the Roman empire. Eventually his own
guards shoved a sword up his ass and dumped him in a sewer.
He was 17. [Greif 82]
222, March 11
Murder of Heliogabalus. (Born March 8, 205) [Dynes]
342 AD
The emperors Constantius and Constans, having inherited
much of the empire of their father Constantine, call for
“exquisite punishment” for homosexuality. [AA]
390 AD
The Roman Emperor Theodosius sets the punishment for
homosexuality as death by burning.
400 AD
Vatsyayana compiles the Kama Sutra which is said to include
erotic wisdom dating back to 1000 BC and up to the compiler’s
own time. [EEW 93]
533 AD
Byzantine Emperor Justinian I decrees that homosexuality and
blasphemy are equally to blame for famines, earthquakes, and
pestilence. He orders castration for offenders. [AA]
693 AD
The Council of Toledo declares that “sodomists” have
infiltrated the Church and orders that clerics who lay with men
should be degraded, exiled, and damned.
809-813
Reign of Abbasid Caliph Al-Amin of Baghdad, whose mother
becomes dismayed by his preference for male eunuchs and
packs his court with girls disguised as boys. These
“ghulamiyyat” then become a fashion in many Moslem courts.
955-964
Reign of Pope John XII who loves both boys and muscular
young men. He dies at the age of 26 from a stroke while having
sex with one of his beautiful young men.
1000-1499
1032 - 1044
Reign of Pope Benedict IX, who has been called the Christian
incarnation of Heliogabalus. (See 205, March 8.)
1106, Sept. 28
Robert II, gay son of William the Conqueror, is captured in
battle and imprisoned for the rest of his life.
1073
All known copies of Sappho’s lesbian love poems are burned
by ecclesiastical authorities in Constantinople and Rome. [AA]

1076
Archbishop Lanfranc in England orders a priest’s benediction
on a marriage, but for another 100 years poor people continue
to marry without benefit of clergy.
1157, Sept. 8
Birth of Richard Plantagenet, Richard Lion Heart, Richard I,
King of England and Duke of Aquitaine. His lover for many
years was Philip, King of France. He was one of the era’s most
widely respected generals. But he produced no heirs and
eventually his loathsome brother John ascended to the British
throne. The result was the Magna Carta.
1210 - 1215
The Council of Paris declares sodomy to be a capital offense.
This marked the start of a militant anti-sodomy campaign by
the Catholic Church. [AA]
1252
St. Thomas Aquinas begins his theological teaching. He
declares that God created sex organs exclusively for
reproduction; homosexual acts were thus “unnatural” and
heretical. [AA]
ca. 1260
The Legal school of Orleans orders that women found guilty of
lesbian acts have their clitoris removed for the first offense;
that they be further mutilated for a second offense; and burned
at the stake for a third.
1268, Oct. 29
Frederick of Baden, Duke of Austria, willingly joins his
condemned lover, 16 year old Conradin of Sicily, the last
legitimate Hohenstaufen (Born March 24, 1252), and they are
buried alive together. [Greif 82]
1292
Europe’s first known execution for sodomy takes place in
Ghent. [AA]
1307, Oct. 13
Philip IV of France orders the arrest of all members of the
Knights Templar. In the following years hundreds of Templars
are imprisoned, tortured, and/or burned because of their
supposed toleration of “acts against nature” as sinless.
1310, Oct. 12
The Knights Templar are put on trial for heresy in France. Most
recant the confessions made under torture, expecting pardon
from Pope Clement V, which is not granted. The French crown,
and the church, thus gain control of the order’s great wealth.
1323
In one of the earliest recorded trials for sodomy, Arnold of
Verniolle is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment
with a diet of bread and water. Despite stiff church prohibitions
against sodomy, the trial record shows that Arnold had little
trouble finding sex partners. [AA]
1326
Hugh le Despenser the younger, the second lover of Edward II
of England, is killed by hanging after his genitals have been cut
off and burned before his eyes, upon the order of Edward’s
wife, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. [Greif 82]
1327
Edward II of England is murdered by the insertion of a red hot
poker into his rectum. (Birth April 25, 1284) [Greif 82]
1350
Welsh poet Daffyd ap Gwilym produces explicit ballads like
“The Penis” and “Deer Copulating.”
1373, Sept., 28
Birth of the painter Caravaggio, whose short, violent life
encompassed drinking, brawling, murder & sodomy. [Greif 82]
1431, May 30
Birth of Joan of Arc, at Rouen, France. She led the French
armies against the British invaders and won battle after battle.
Then she was captured by the British in Normandy and
condemned to be burned at the stake because she refused to
stop wearing men’s clothing. Abandoned by most of the
French, her friend Gilles de Rais tried to rescue her but was too
late.
1440, Oct. 26
Gilles de Rais, best friend of Joan of Arc, is executed in
Nantes, France, for the torture and murder of hundreds of
children. (Born Jan. 10, 1404)
1450-1453
Pope Nicholas empowers the Spanish Inquisition to investigate
and punish homosexuality. [AA]
1469, May 3
Birth of Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian political philosopher. His
book The Prince is a masterwork of mind control. [Greif 82]
1471-1484
Reign of Pope Sixtus IV. His reign is purchased by his lover
Pietro Riario who runs the church, including the Spanish
Inquisition, until his death in 1474. After that time, Sixtus
entertains himself by having muscular young men strip and
fight to the death, the survivor becoming his bed partner. When
Sixtus was ill, his physicians prescribed mother’s milk. The
pope suggested that the juice of young men would suit him
better.
1474
A Rooster is burned at the stake for “the heinous and unnatural
crime of laying an egg”.
1475, March 6
Birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti (death 1564), Italian
sculptor, painter and poet. Not a leatherman himself but
certainly gay. And where would we be without his David to
become, among other things, FeBe’s logo, and his wrestlers in
a 69 of testicle torture!
Ca. 1480
Pico of Mirandola in “Against the Astrologists”, describes a
male acquaintance who is sexually excited by being whipped
before sex. This is the first known case-history of a masochist.
[wd]
1494
Christopher Columbus’s physician on his second voyage to the
new world, wrote that the behavior of the natives was,
“Detestable! Nauseating! Disgusting!” It was common practice
among these Carib tribes to castrate boys captured from enemy

villages and keep them as lovers until they were eighteen, then
they were killed and eaten.
1500-1599
1500s
Elena de Cespedes, a Spanish woman who lived as a man and
married a woman, is discovered and immolated.
1513
Balboa, while exploring what is now Panama, described
homosexual activities among the natives as “Abominable.” He
threw 40 of the offenders to his dogs. [AA]
1520, June 30
Inca Emperor Montezuma II dies at Tenochtitlan, Mexico. He
is know to have cannibalized the boys he sodomized. [Greif 82]
1526
A Spanish historian wrote that Carib men had lovers that they
did not intend to smother in butter and spices. These lovers
were distinguished by wearing “naguas” or short skirts and
jewelry their lovers had given them.
1530
In an Inca town in northern Peru, shortly after being conquered
by the Spanish, there were fifteen women for every man, the
men had been burned for suspected homosexual activities. By
1580 the area was still known for its gay activity.
1533
The “buggery” law is passed in England decreeing a penalty of
death. This is the first time the offense is covered under civil,
rather than church, law. [AA]
1541
The birth of the painter El Greco (death 1614). “His men are
martyrs or conquerors; in their gaunt visages he traces the
weariness and the final exhaustion of the body in surrendering
to the mystical vision, or the savage meditation of those
entrusted with the flagellation of Heretics.”
1550
In “Lectiones antiquae” Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus
describes a man who needs to be whipped to have an erection.
[wd]
1550 - 1555
Reign of Pope Julius III who, upon election as Pope, made his
17 year old lover a member of the College of Cardinals, and
also appointed him Secretary of State. His orgies with teenage
Cardinals were common knowledge. Most were horrified but
the Archbishop of Benevento wrote a book, In Praise of
Sodomy, dedicated to the pope.
1551, Sept. 19
Birth of Henri III, King of France. In the final years of his reign
(he died at 37) he surrounded himself with handsome young
men and abandoned himself to hedonistic joys. He took
particular delight in flogging the backs of penitents marching in
holy procession. [Greif 82]
1563
The Roman Catholic council of Trent concludes that sex is bad
and denounces “paintings calculated to excite lust.” Pope Paul
IV has clothes painted onto the naked figures in
Michelangelo’s painting, Last Judgement, in the Sistine
Chapel.
1564, Feb 26
Birth of English playwright Christopher Marlowe. “All they
that love not tobacco and boys are fools.” [Greif 82]
1570s
Rome: Montaigne reports that at the Church of St. John,
Catholic priests perform same sex marriages. A contemporary
historian reports that same sex couples married in St. John’s are
burned in the city square.
1576
Brazil: Spanish explorers report that some native women “give
up all duties of women and imitate men... Each has a woman to
serve her, to whom she says she is married, and they treat each
other and speak with each other as man and wife.”
1580, April 1
The Netherlands: Civil Marriage is first established.
1583
The Third Provincial Council of Lima, in Peru, tells natives
that “sodomy whether with another man, or with a boy, or a
beast ...carries the death penalty, ...and the reason God has
allowed that you should be so afflicted and vexed by other
nations is because of this vice that your ancestors had and
many of you still have.” [AA]
1585
In one of the earliest recorded cases of masochism, Sister Mary
Magdalene de Pazzi begs other nuns to tie her up and hurl hot
wax at her. She also made a novice at the convent thrash her.
[AA]
1600-1699
1600, March 18
Fourteen year old Catalan de Erauso escapes from a Basque
convent then goes on to serve in the Spanish army dressed as a
man. In 1620 the Pope gives permission for her to continue to
dress in men’s clothing.
1602, July 6
Birth of Jerome Duquesnoy in Brussels Belgium, The eminent
sculptor was working on projects at the cathedral of St. Bavon
in Ghent when he was arrested for sodomy with two acolytes of
the church who had served as his models. He was strangled and
then burned at the stake in 1654. [Greif 82]
1610
The Virginia Colony passes the New World’s first sodomy law,
decreeing the penalty of death for offenders. [AA]
1611, July 27
Birth of Murad IV, Sultan of Turkey. His name was
synonymous with cruelty, torture and unspeakable horror. His
reign was bloody, and the armless, legless, tongueless victims
of his tyranny numerous. [Greif 82]
1619
Virginia: The first slaves are brought to North America. Quaker
John Woolman later notes that despite their not being allowed
legal marriage, “Negroes marry after their own way.”

1624
Richard Cornish of the Virginia Colony is tried and hanged for
sodomy. He is the first person in America known to be
convicted of this offense. [AA]
1624 - 1653
The rule of Nzinga as King of Angola, this female to male
cross-dresser fought and won many battles against the
Portuguese army.
1625, Feb. 7
In Virginia, Thomas Hatch is sentenced to a whipping, the loss
of one ear, and seven years of servitude, for daring to speak
against the execution of a man for the crime of buggery.
1631
Mervyn Touchet, the Earl of Castlehaven, is put on trial for
sodomy. He is found guilty and beheaded. [AA]
1631
Rembrandt sells rude etchings, thought to be of his wife
pissing.
1638
Massachusetts orders every town to “dispose of all single
persons.” In Connecticut, bachelors are taxed 20 shillings a
week.
1639
The German doctor Johann Heinrich Meibom describes the
sexual excitement of some men when whipped in De usu
flagrorum. He reasons that this is because the sperm fluid in the
kidneys is heated by whipping and then descends to the
testicles. Variations on this theory will dominate the thinking
on SM until the 19th century. [wd]
1641-42
The Massachusetts Bay Colony incorporates the language of
Leviticus 20:13 (against male homosexuality) into its laws.
Other New England colonies soon follow suit. [AA]
1649
Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon are charged
with “lewd behavior each with other upon a bed” in Plymouth
MA. Charges against Hammon are dropped, but Norman is
convicted and has to make a public confession. She is the first
woman in America known to be convicted of lesbian activity.
[AA]
1644, April 10
Birth of John Wilmot, later Earl of Rochester, British writer.
His poetry extols the joys of every possible type of human
coupling.
1654
Execution of Jerome Duquesnoy (born 1602), court sculptor of
Flanders. He is found guilty of sodomy with two church
acolytes who had served as his models, strangled and burned at
the stake. His brother, François, also a sculptor, created
Brussels’ famous Pissing Boy fountain.
1655
The colony of New Haven expands its definition of sodomy—a
capital offense—to include sexual relations between women.
[AA]
1659
In France, by Royal decree, secret marriages and abductions
are summarily abolished.
1661
In New England, the first Colonial divorce. Massachusetts
averages one a year until 1760.
1661 - 1750
All the Southern colonies—and Massachusetts and
Pennsylvania—pass laws prohibiting interracial sex and
marriage.
1662-1723
The reign of Emperor Kang Xi, who first took the steps to
prohibit consensual homosexuality in China.
1677
Using the newly invented microscope, Dutch researchers
Leeuwenhoek and Ham observe human sperm for the first time.
[wd]
1681
The young Count de Vermandois, the son of Louis XIV of
France by Louise de La Valliere, applies for admission to a
secret fraternity of homosexuals active, but underground, in the
French Court. Because the young count is so indiscreet in his
activities, his father discovers his orientation, and the existence
of the fraternity. Louis has his son whipped in his presence and
then exiles him.
1694
First mention of the Cerne Abbas Giant, a huge chalk drawing
on the side of a hill near Dorchester, England. The naked giant
with club and erect phallus is supposedly prehistoric. But why
was it not noticed until now? Some suspect a 17th Century
hoax designed to annoy the Puritans.
1694, Nov 21
Birth of François Marie Arouet, better known as the French
philosopher/writer Voltaire. He once ended a letter to a male
friend, “I kiss your rod.” Should we consider Candide a
masochist?
1698
Kristian Franz Paullini confirms Meibom’s theory in Flagellum
salutis, but claims that blood is warmed by whipping, which
then excites the sperms in the testicles. [wd]
1700-1799
1700s
In the Prussian state of Württemberg, cripples and blind
persons are not permitted to marry.
1712, June 28
Birth of Jean Jacques Rousseau (death July 2, 1778). By his
own reports, except for one relationship, the artist was a
lifelong unfulfilled masochist, dating from a school spanking
when he was 11. In one affair, he had a Mistress who
dominated him thoroughly, but even she refused to re-enact his
much desired spanking. [JWB]

1720
Anne Bonney and Mary Read, partners who dressed as men
and sailed the seas, are tried for Piracy.
1730, Sept. 17
Birth of Baron Frederick von Steuben, aid to Frederick the
Great, who was in charge of training the Prussian army until
there were objections to “indecent liberties” with young men.
He then offers his services to the Continental Army in America
and joins Washington at Valley Forge. There he organizes and
disciplines the men into a powerful striking force. When he
retires he adopts two handsome young men to become his
heirs, and he probably continues to train and discipline them.
[Greif 82]
1730, Nov. 6
The future Frederick the Great of Prussia, 18, (born Jan. 24,
1712) is forced by his father to watch the torture and beheading
of his lover, Lt. Hans Hermann von Katte, after the two of them
were caught trying to run away together. Later as king, on
learning that a particularly well-endowed soldier had been
arrested for “bestiality with his horse,” he is reputed to have
replied, “Fool, don’t put him in irons; put him in the infantry.”
1730-31
Authorities announce the discovery of an extensive
homosexual network in Amsterdam. Three hundred
prosecutions resulted and 70 people, including boys as young
as 14, were executed. [AA]
1740, June 2
Birth of the Marquis de Sade. [Greif 82]
1740
China’s first sodomy laws are enacted by Manchu Qing regime,
which outlaws male homosexuality. [AA]
1749
Publication of Fanny Hill, by John Cleland. The novel about a
London prostitute is immediately suppressed, but it has enjoyed
enormous popularity for more than two centuries.
1749, Jan. 29
Birth of King Christian VII of Denmark, whose physician
assigned him a sadistic male lover who beat him regularly.
[Greif 82]
1753, Sept. 20
Birth of Tippu Sahib, the last maharajah of Mysore, who
spends his life resisting British designs on India. The “Tiger of
Mysore” demonstrates his feelings for the British by personally
supervising the gang rape of each captured soldier. [Greif 82]
1753, Oct. 18
Birth of Jean Jacques Regis de Cambaceres in France. Under
Napoleon he became the primary architect of the Napoleonic
Code. He was discreet, but not secretive, about his
homosexuality, and it was through his influence that the
Napoleonic Code, and many later laws based upon it, legalized
private consenting homosexual acts between adults. (Died:
Mar. 8, 1824)
1754, Sept. 9
Birth of William Bligh, later to become renowned as Captain of
H. M. S. Bounty. He survived the mutiny and the long voyage
in an open boat, while all of the mutineers perished on Pitcairn
Island. And he certainly knew how to have a man flogged!
1755, Sept. 4
Birth of Hans Axel, Count von Fersen, in Stockholm Sweden.
General, statesman, and lover of three different Swedish kings.
The reason for his horrible death has never been satisfactorily
explained. A savage mob tore him to pieces in the streets of
Stockholm as police looked on and did nothing. He had been
beaten with canes and umbrellas and then kicked to death.
[Greif 82]
1758, May 6
Birth of François de Robespierre, a leader of the French
revolution. He led in sending many of the nobility, and their
supporters, to the torture chambers, and to the guillotine. He
ended up there himself.
1763, Oct. 29
By order of the King of France, the Marquis de Sade is
committed to Vincennes fortress for excesses committed in a
brothel which he has been frequenting for a month.
1768, Apr. 3
On Easter Sunday, at about nine o’clock in the morning The
Marquis de Sade accosts Rose Keller, she accompanies Sade in
a cab to Arcueil. There, in his rented cottage, he orders her to
undress, threatens her with a knife, and flogs her.
1772, Sept. 3
Verdict: The Marquis de Sade, and his man servant Latour, are
found guilty. The former of crimes of poisoning and sodomy,
and the latter of the crime of sodomy, and are condemned to
expiate their crimes at the cathedral porch before being taken to
the Place Saint-Louis “for the said Sade to be decapitated…
and the said Latour to be hanged by the neck and strangled…
then the body of the said Sade and that of the said Latour to be
burned and their ashes strewn to the wind.” On Sept. 12, Sade
and Latour are executed in effigy on the Place des Precheurs, in
Aix.
1775, July 9
Birth of Matthew Gregory “Monk” Lewis in London. A master
at writing the silly, overripe 18th Century Gothic romance
novels that are still fun to read. In his Ambrosio, or the Monk
(1795), Ambrosio is seduced by a woman driven to blind
nymphomania by demons, who enters the monastery and
Ambrosio’s bed disguised as a boy. His sins are found out and
he is tortured by the Inquisition, sentenced to death, and
bargains with the Devil, who destroys him. [Greif 82]
1776, Jan. 17
M. Trillet comes to La Coste to claim his daughter, who is
known in the chateau as Justine. During an argument with the
Marquis de Sade, Trillet fires a pistol shot at him almost point
blank, but misses. He runs off to the La Coste township where
he babbles about what has happened. Later Catherine (a.k.a.
Justine) sends someone to find her father, who returns to the
chateau. Here she tries to calm him, but Trillet, who has
brought four other men back with him, flies into another rage
and fires a second shot into a courtyard where he thinks Sade to
be. All five men then flee.
1776, Feb. 13
The Marquis de Sade is arrested by inspector Marais at the
Hotel de Danemark, on the rue Jacob in Paris and taken to

Vincennes fortress where, at 9:30 that night, he is formally
entered as a prisoner.
1776, April 18
In a letter from the Marquis de Sade to his wife: “I am in a
tower closed in by nineteen iron doors, with light reaching me
only through two little windows, each with a score of iron
bars.” He complains that in over the two months he has been in
prison he has been allowed only five walks of one hour each,
“in a sort of tomb about forty feet square surrounded by walls
more than fifty feet high.”
1776, Sept. 7
After winning a trial, and escaping from author-ities, the
Marquis de Sade is again incarcerated at Vincennes prison.
1778, March 10
Lt. F. G. Enslin is drummed out of the Continental Army for
“attempting to commit sodomy with J. Monhart, a soldier.”
1780s
In the United States, colonial laws become state constitutions.
Bigamy is prohibited, the marriage of a lunatic is void, and age
requirements are set. Marriages can be annulled for impotence
and blood relations.
1782, July 12
The Marquis de Sade completes the manuscript of his
“Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man.”
1784, Feb. 29
The Marquis de Sade is transferred from the Vincennes prison
to the Bastille.
1785
The Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue includes the
phrase “gentlemen of the back door” as a slang term for gay
men.
1785, Oct. 22
The Marquis de Sade begins the final revision of his draft of a
major work, The 120 Days of Sodom or The School for
Libertines.
1788
The French doctor François Amedée Doppet confirms the
theory of Meibom and Paullini (see 1639). He expands it by
pointing out that women always have warm vaginas after
whipping. At the end of his article, Das Beisseln und sein
Auswirkunauf den Geschlechtstrieb, he gives safety tips for
flagellants. This is the first known SM safety text! [wd]
1788, Mar. 1
The Marquis de Sade begins work on his short novel Eugenie
de Franval, which he completes in six days.
1789, July 2
The Bastille logbook notes that “The Count de Sade shouted
several times from the window of the Bastille that the prisoners
were being slaughtered and that the people should come to
liberate them.”
[Note that de Sade was never actually a Marquis, but he was a
genuine Count.]
1789, July 4
At 1:00 AM, as a result of a report made to Lord de Villedeuil
on the Marquis de Sade’s conduct on July 2, he is transferred to
Charenton Asylum by Inspector Quidor.
1789, July 14
The Bastille is stormed and the Marquis de Sade’s cell is
sacked. His furniture, his suites, linen, his library and most
important, his manuscripts are “burned, pillaged, torn up and
carried off.”
1790, Apr. 2
de Sade is released from Charenton Asylum.
1791
Justine by the Marquis de Sade (1740-1841) is first published
in France.
1791, Oct. 22
First performance at the Theatre Moliere of Sade’s Le Comte
Oxtiern ou les effets du libertinage. A second performance
occurs two weeks later which gives rise to a disturbance and
causes Sade to suspend further performances.
1792
Civil marriage is established after the revolution in France.
1794
Prussia becomes the first German state to abolish the death
penalty for homosexuality (which had been in effect since
1532), and replace it with flogging and imprisonment.
1800-1849
1800s
Washington DC, We’wha, a two-spirit leader and
representative for the Native American Zuni tribe, is married to
a man.
1801, March 6
Sade and his publisher, Nicolas Masse, are arrested. Police
searches find manuscripts and printed works, including Juliette
and La Nouvelle Justine and a tapestry depicting “the most
obscene subjects, most of which were drawn from the infamous
novel Justine.”
1801, April 2
The Minister of Police decides that a “trial would cause too
much of a scandal which an exemplary punishment would still
not make worthwhile.” So, de Sade is “placed” in Sainte-
Pelagie prison as “administrative punishment” for being the
author of “that infamous novel Justine” and of that “still more
terrible work Juliette.”
1805
Publication of Ein Jahr in Arkadien (A Year in Arcadia), by
Herzog August von Sachsen Gotha, the first homoerotic book
in the German Language. [AA]
1809
New York: In Genton vs Reed, the state Supreme Court
recognizes common-law marriage, which won’t be declared
void until 1901.

1809, Mar. 31
Birth of Edward Fitzgerald, English writer who cruised the
Suffolk docks “looking for some fellow to accost me and fill a
very vacant place in my heart.” [Greif 82]
1809, Dec. 29
Birth of William Gladstone (death May 19, 1898). The fourtime
Prime Minister of England was dedicated to self
flagellation both to punish himself for impure thoughts and to
achieve a pleasure from the act, which he then repented. [JWB]
1810
The Napoleonic Code is instituted in France. It eliminates all
laws forbidding homosexuality. [AA]
1810
The mother of a schoolgirl accuses Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie,
mistresses at a boarding school for girls, of “improper and criminal conduct”
with each other. The British courts debate whether a sexual relationship
between women was even possible. Lillian Hellman used this plot 120 years
later as the basis for her play The Children’s Hour. [AA]
1813, April 28
Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, who lead the defense of Moscow
against Napoleon, dies of a heart attack while having sex with a
soldier.
1814, Sept. 13
On this day Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled
Banner.” This deserves a healthy “so what” from most readers
of this list. But Key set his flag-waving poem to music
originally titled “Anacreon In Heaven.” The Anacreonitics,
who delighted in copying the Greek poet’s style, seemed to
miss the subject, which was largely about boys he diddled. OK,
whatever the etymology the anthem is unsingable.
1814, Dec. 2
Death, at Charenton Asylum of Donatien Alphonse Francois de
Sade, the “Marquis.”
1820, May 12
Birth of Florence Nightingale. She is alleged to have said, “I
have lived and slept in the same bed with English Countesses
and Prussian farm women... No woman has excited passion
among women more than I have.”
1821, Nov. 11
Birth of Feodor Dostoievski (death Feb. 9, 1881). The writer’s
letters to his beloved Anna are peppered with direct references
to his fetish for her feet. His contemporary, Turgenev, called
him “The Russian Marquis de Sade,” perhaps suggesting more
than the Anna letters reveal.
1824, Nov. 6
In France the Marquis Astolphe de Custine is sadistically gangraped
by a group of soldiers with whom he had made an
assignation.
1825, Aug. 28
Birth of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, German sexologist and activist.
[Greif 82]
1826
Karl Ernst von Baer discovers the human ovum. [wd]
1828
The English Parliament closes a loophole in its definition of the
capital crime of buggery. It would no longer be necessary to
demonstrate “The actual Emission of Seed” to convict someone
of buggery or rape. [AA]
1828
First publication, in Leipzig, Germany, of the Memoirs of
Casanova.
1830
Publication in France of the two volume work La Marquise de
Gange, of which de Sade is the anonymous author.
1833, Jan 28
The birth of Charles George “Chinese” Gordon, military hero
of Imperial Britain and martyr at Khartoum. He was fond of
picking up street urchins, bathing them, feeding them and
mending their clothes with his very own needle and thread.
[Greif 82]
1834 - 36
Heinrich Hoessli, a Swiss milliner, publishes his two volume
set Eros: On the Love of Men, in German. It collected all the
examples he could find of homosexual love in ages past—
Greek, Roman, and Persian love poems and manuscripts—and
was one of the first books in modern times to give a positive
view of homosexuality. [AA]
1835, June 15
Birth of Adah Isaacs Menken (death Aug. 25 1868). This most
famed sexpot of the Victorian age was the star of “Mazeppa.”
She flashed apparent nudity in the face of Emperor Franz
Josef—he liked it. She was also the lover in reality, or publicly
held fantasy, of many famous men including numerous
crowned heads and chiefs of government. She was once paid
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti to spend the night with poet Charles
Swinburne, giving him the flogging he wanted, possibly in an
attempt on Rossetti’s part to convince the poet that women
were desirable sex partners. [JWB]
1836
Death of Therese Berkeley who supervised a flagellant brothel
at 28 Charlotte St., London. Ms Berkeley is the inventor of the
Berkeley bench/horse, a specialized piece of furniture for
flogging and bondage. [R]
1836
The last execution for homosexuality takes place in Britain,
although the death penalty for homosexuals will remain on the
books until 1861. [AA]
1836, Jan 27
Birth of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, author of Venus in Furs.
The man who put the “M” in SM.
1837, April 5
Birth of British poet Charles Algernon Swinburne who wrote
many lines in praise of switches on asses.
1840, Aug. 14
Birth of German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in
Mannheim, Germany. [wd]
1843
Massachusetts repeals its 138 year old antimiscegenation law.

1843
Hungarian physician Heinrich Kaan publishes his report named
Psychopathias sexualis, reinterpreting sins of the flesh as
psychological disorders. The theological terms “deviation,”
“aberration,” and “perversion” are introduced into medicine.
[wd]
1844
In The Queen vs. Millis, common law marriages are declared
illegal in England.
1844, March 30
Birth of Paul Verlaine, poet and lover of poet Arthur Rimbaud
(born Oct 20, 1854). He was imprisoned for two years after
shooting his lover. He wrote Sonnet to an Asshole which begins
“Dark and wrinkled like a deep pink, / It breathes, humbly
nestled among the moss / Still wet with love...” [Greif 82] The
letters of Verlaine, published in Rimbaud: Complete Works,
reveal that the relationship was also SM involving the verbal
humiliation as “cunt,” etc. of the older poet.
1844, July 25
Birth of Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia. The great American
artist specialized in painting muscular, nude male models, nude
male athletes and nude male bathers. [Greif 82]
1844, Aug. 29
Birth of Edward Carpenter, the great English “sexual
emancipator.” Believing the effeminacy of “Uranians” a myth,
he affected a form of macho dress, as did his working-class
lover George Merrill. This makes them both look, almost a
century later, awfully contemporary. [Greif 82]
1844, Oct. 15
The birth of Friedrich Nietzche (death Aug. 25 1900). The
philosopher was not an ardent of SM, but listed among the four
women in his life one married woman whom he flogged during
sex and who, dressed as a man, beat him senseless before
another sexual encounter. Also, a photo of Nietzche shows him
as one of two gentlemen horses “pulling” a cart on which Lou
Andreas-Salome (not “the” married woman) crouches with a
knotted whip raised. [JWB]
1846, Feb. 20
New York City policeman Edward McCosker is dismissed for
“indecently feeling the privates” of a male passerby while on
duty.
1850-1899
1854, Feb. 16
Birth of English writer Horatio Forbes Brown. When he died in
1926 his executors burned most of his unpublished works,
attempting to hide his taste for sailors, footmen and other
strapping members of the lower orders. One of his surviving
poems depicts a boring society musicale in which every stanza
ends with the line, “But I liked their footman John the best.”
[Greif 82]
1856, May 6
Birth of Sigmund Freud in Freiberg, Austria. [wd]
1857
French physician B. A. Borel champions the concept of
physical and mental “degeneration” that is also used to explain
“incorrect sexual behavior.” The concept will dominate
psychiatric thinking until Freud. [wd]
1857, Feb. 22
The birth, in London, of Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-
Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, army officer, and
homosexual.
1858, June 12
Birth of Henry Scott Tuke, British painter and grand master of
romantic boy painting. He was an athlete who took great pride
in his splendid body and was obsessed with painting nude boys
and successfully experimented with developing a special
technique for capturing on canvas the effect of sunlight on
naked skin. [Greif 82]
1861
England eliminates the death penalty for male homosexual acts;
offenders are now subject to imprisonment for ten years to life.
[AA]
1862, Aug. 6
Birth of Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, professor of classics at
Cambridge where the students were only too happy to satisfy
his tastes as a boot-fetishist. He wrote of one young man, “I
liked him to stand upon me when we met.” [Greif 82]
1864, Sept. 1
Birth of Roger Casement in Ireland. In the course of British
consular service, he exposed the atrocious conditions imposed
on gatherers of wild rubber in the Congo and similar conditions
in South America. He was knighted for his services. But,
though an Ulster protestant, he became an ardent Irish
nationalist. He was arrested and tried for treason. What sealed
his doom was the admission as evidence of his diaries which
recorded all of his sexual encounters, itemizing both the
amount of the transaction (if the stud was for hire) and the size
of his equipment. It made for sensational evidence in 1916:
“Stanley Weeks, 20, stripped, huge one, circumcised; swelled
and hung quite.” “Enormous 19 about 7” and 4 thick; into me.”
Casement was hanged on Aug. 6, 1916, a martyr for more than
Ireland.
1865, July 15
Death of James Miranda Barry (1795-1865), a Major General
and Surgeon in the British Army with a highly distinguished
career and a reputation as a rake who was known to flirt openly
with the best looking women in the room. When a charwoman
was preparing the body for burial it was discovered that the
Major General was female. [Greif 82]
1866
Superstition & Force by Henry Charles Lea published in
Britain. Edited and republished as The Ordeal by Edward
Peters in 1973.
1867, Aug. 29
While speaking to a conference of jurists in Munich, Karl
Ulrichs becomes the first known person in modern times to
publicly declare himself a homosexual (though not using that
word) and to speak out in favor of gay rights (obviously, not
using those words). [AA]
1869
Karl Maria Kertbeny, writing anonymously, uses the term
“Homosexual” in a pamphlet calling for repeal of Prussia’s

sodomy laws. This is the earliest know use of this term. It
began appearing in US medical journals in the 1890s and in
general usage during the 1920s.
1869, Dec. 8
In Austria, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch begins correspondence
with Fanny Pistor, a.k.a. Baroness Bogdonoff, a.k.a. Mistress
Wanda, his Venus in Furs.
1870
The first American novel to touch on gay themes, Joseph and
His Friend, by Bayard Taylor, is published. But the
homosexual elements are so subtle that a nongay reader could
easily miss them. [AA]
1872, Aug. 21
Birth of artist Aubrey Beardsley, who drew many men with
gigantic phalluses and many asses being caned. Beardsley’s
professional affiliation with Oscar Wilde ruined him and he
died from tuberculosis less than three years after Wilde’s
famous trial. It is believed that Beardsley was not himself gay
and that his ruin was largely a case of “guilt by association.”
[Greif 82]
1872
The newly formed German empire adopts a penal code that
includes the infamous Paragraph 175, outlawing male
homosexuality. The new law becomes a catalyst for the nascent
German homophile movement. [AA]
1873, Jan. 28
In France the birth of writer Sidomie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-
1954) who wore a bracelet engraved “I belong to Missy.”
1874
For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke published
in Australia. US edition in 1973.
1875, March 7
Birth of Maurice Ravel, French composer. Gay but no record of
his being into leather. However, his Bolero is among the best
dungeon music possible, talk about slow build up to an exciting
crescendo!
1875, April 15
Balloonists Sivel and Croche-Spinelli die in a fall over India.
Buried together in Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, their
monument depicts them lying together, naked, hand in hand,
partially covered by a sheet. [TOL]
1877, April 30
Birth of Alice B. Toklas. “Throughout most of her life, this
selfless woman’s major occupation was the care and
maintenance of Gertrude Stein.” [Greif 82]
1879, Jan. 1
The birth of E. M. Forester, British novelist, who had as his
lover for half a century a virile, handsome, married, London
policeman who granted his most elemental wish: “to love a
strong young man of the lower classes and be loved by him and
even hurt by him.” [Greif 82]
1879, July
The first erotic magazine, “The Pearl, a Journal of Facetiae
and Voluptuous Reading,” consisting of stories with
flagellation themes and attributed to Algernon Charles
Swinburne, is distributed among high society. It lasts for 18
issues until December 1880. [wd]
1882
In Pace vs Alabama, the USA Supreme Court upholds a law
that makes interracial adultery more serious than intra-racial
adultery, arguing that interracial couples would produce
genetically inferior offspring.
1882, Feb. 2
Birth of James Joyce, avant-garde novelist who made his lover,
Nora Barnacle, into a dominant of whom he begged beatings
and floggings “in earnest.” We don’t know if she said yes or
no. [JWB]
1885
The British Parliament at first tables the Criminal Law
Amendment Act which made all acts of “gross indecency”
between males, whether in public or private, an offence
punishable by up to two years imprisonment. However, a rally
that the Purity Campaign organizes in Hyde Park attracts a
crowd of thousands and on this wave of hysteria the law is
rushed through parliament. It became known as “The
Blackmailer’s Charter” and was the law under which Oscar
Wilde was later tried and convicted.
1885, Sept. 11
The Birth of D. H. Lawrence, a man who has come to be seen
as the high-priest of heterosexual love. But it is know that at
one time Lawrence had become so friendly with a handsome
farm boy named William Henry that his wife Frieda adamantly
refused ever to allow the young man to enter the Lawrence
house. Whatever his sexual proclivities were, his writing was
the major concern of censorship in the US, and when the likes
of Lady Chatterley’s Lover were finally cleared by customs, the
“damn!” had really broken.
1886, Feb. 22
The Birth of William Seabrook (Died Sept. 20, 1945). This toprated
writer about exotic places (from personal experience) was
equally famous among the literati for his elaborate, long-term
bondage of beautiful, young women. [JWB]
1886
The Austrian police physician Richard von Krafft-Ebing
publishes the first edition of his Psychopathia sexualis with
110 pages and 45 case histories. He creates the diagnosis of
“paedophilia” and adopts “sadism” from earlier French usage.
“Masochism” is not introduced until the sixth edition. [wd]
1887
The state of Pennsylvania raises its age of consent from 10 to
16, after a campaign by the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union and the White Cross Society.
1888, Aug 15
The birth of Thomas Edward Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia,
who was captured, caned and raped by Turkish soldiers, and
who loved it so madly he hired Robert Bruce to flog him
regularly after he returned to England. [Greif 82]
1888, Aug 16
The birth of Edgar Montillion Wolley, better known as the
American actor Monty Woolley. His taste was for black men,
generally supplied by an assortment of New York pimps. He

fell in love with one and they lived together for years as lovers.
[Greif 82]
1889
A male brothel is discovered at 19 Cleveland St. in London’s
West End. The Scandal becomes the talk of society and many
important figures, including Prince Albert Victor, second in
line to the throne, are rumored to be implicated. [AA]
1889, July 5
Birth of Jean Cocteau, French artist, writer and filmmaker. One
of the many customs regarding polite Parisian pissoir manners
was known as the “privilege du cape.” This allowed a
Frenchman who could not find a convenient pissoir to approach
a gendarme and ask him to extend his cape so that he could
take a leak behind it. One of Cocteau’s favorite amusements
was to choose a handsome young cop and pretend that he was
drunk. With luck he could get his trouser buttons undone by the
helpful gendarme—and possibly more. Uncooperative victims
wound up with wet shoes. [Greif 82]
1890s
The “gay ‘90s” were the time Florenz Ziegfeld started the
modern commercial exploitation of muscular males in
vaudeville exhibitions of strength. He made the German
strongman Eugen Sandow a household name as Sandow the
Magnificent. Sandow often appeared wearing only a large fig
leaf. [Hooven 95]
1891
Publication of A Problem in Modern Ethics by John Addington
Symonds, it provides a systematic review of scholarly literature
on homosexuality. [AA]
1892
The New York Times becomes the first US newspaper to use
the word “lesbian” in a news story: “Lesbian Love and
Murder” about a suicide pact made by two young women after
their parents forbid them to see each other. [TOL]
1892, June 5
Birth of Ivy Compton-Burnett, British novelist whose work has
been called “morality plays for the tough-minded,” and who
lived most of her life in total subservience to Margaret
Jourdain, a scholar and expert in 18th Century furniture. [Greif
82]
1893
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing first uses the term
“homosexual” and attributes it to an indelible personality trait,
rather than to a sexual activity. [Hooven 95]
1893, Feb. 20
Birth of Bill Tilden, first American to win at Wimbledon (died
1953). He was considered one of the greatest athletes of the
20th Century, but was snubbed by the tennis world when his
homosexuality became known.
1893, Oct. 30
Birth of bodybuilder Charles Atlas, who, though not gay, made
a major contribution to the beauty of men.
1894
One of the earliest known gay organizations is formed by
George Cecil Ives. The Order of Chaeronea took its name from
the Greek battle of 338 BC at which the Sacred Band of Thebes
was annihilated. [AA]
1894, Feb. 18
John Sholto Douglas, the 8th Marquis of Queensberry, leaves a
card at the Albermarle Club in London addressed “to Oscar
Wilde posing as a somdomite” (sic), triggering the incident that
was to bring about Wilde’s downfall. The Marquis is better
know in other circles as the compiler of the governing rules of
the sport of modern boxing.
1894, June 7
The Blackmailers, a play by John Gray and his lover Andre
Raffalovich, received its one and only performance at the
Prince of Whales Theatre.
1895
Bom-Crioulo, The Black Man and The Cabin Boy by Adolfo
Caninha published in Brazil.
1895, Jan. 1
Birth of J. Edgar Hoover, for many years head of the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. He maintained secret
surveillance files on individuals and organizations, including
gay and other sexually identified ones. He was a homosexual
and homophobe. (Died May 2, 1972)
1895
Oscar Wilde is convicted of committing “indecent acts” with
young lower-class men and is condemned to two years of hard
labor. [AA]
1895, Mar. 9
Official date of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s death from heart
failure as given by his family. This incorrect date is still found
in a large number of texts. Actual date of death: 1905, see
below. [wd]
1895, May 6
Birth of Rudolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filbert Guglielmi di
Balentina d’Antonguolla in Castellaneta, Italy. Better known as
Rudolph Valentino, there is little argument that he enjoyed
male to male sex, was dominated by his lesbian wife, and died
because his macho image demanded that he fight in a boxing
arena. But we love him best for the image of the captured Sheik
hanging from up-stretched arms to that barred window, his
chest bared, his body ready for whatever we desire.
1896
The English researcher Havelock Ellis starts work on his
monumental book, Studies in the Psychology of Sex. [wd]
1897
Archaeologists working in Egypt find some of the lost poetry
of Sappho on papyrus scrolls used to line ancient coffins and to
stuff the carcasses of mummified animals. [TOL]
1897, May 15
Magnus Hirschfeld and five friends found the Scientific-
Humanitarian Committee in Charlottenburg, then a suburb of
Berlin. Their goal was to abolish the antihomosexual Paragraph
175 in German law. The committee dissolved on June 8, 1933
to avoid being banned by the Nazis. Paragraph 175 was still in
force.
1897, May 19
Oscar Wilde is released from Prison in England.

1897, Nov.
Publication of the first English edition of Sexual Inversion by
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), the first book in English to treat
homosexuality as neither a disease nor a crime.
1898, June 5
The birth of Federico Garcia Lorca, gay Spanish playwright
who has the vicious Bernarda Alba, in the play with her name,
shout out to the mob dragging away the adulteress, “Hot coals
in the place where she sinned!”
1898, Sept. 21
The birth in Moscow of artist Pavel Tchelitchew. His cubist
painting, Figures, depicts a rape with three male nudes. [Greif
82]
1898
Der Eigene (The Exceptional) becomes the first gay publication
destined to a long existence, until 1931! Edited by Berlin writer
Adolf Brand who in 1903 founded the Community of the
Exceptional, after Hirschfeld’s, the second gay organization in
Berlin.
1899
The Torture Garden, a novel by Octave Mirbeau, published in
France. First English edition in 1931. REsearch edition, 1989.
1899
Magnus Hirschfeld publishes the first issue of the Jahrbuch der
sexuelle Zwischenstufen (Journal of Sexual Intermediates).
[AA]
1899
Publication of A Marriage Below Zero, by Alfred J. Cohen,
considered the first American novel in which homosexuality is
a central theme. Naturally the homosexual character commits
suicide. [TOL]
1900-1909
1901
The death, in New York, of Mary Anderson. She had lived as
Murray Hall and had married two women.
1902, Dec. 9
Birth of John Alexander Scott Coutts, aka John Willie,
publisher of Bizarre magazine beginning in 1946.
1902
Richard von Krafft-Ebing dies in Graz, Austria at age 62 of
multiple strokes. [wd]
1903, Sept. 10
Birth of Ciril Connolly, English writer who was considered one
of the “bright young men” of the 1920s. Chubby chasers should
note that he wrote: “Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is
wildly signaling to be let out.” OH YES!! [Greif 82]
1903
The British physician Havelock Ellis publishes Studies in the
Psychology of Sex. [wd]
1904, Dec. 17
The birth, in New York City, of artist Paul Cadmus, who
wonderfully portrayed lusty sailors, and had a painting
destroyed by the Navy as being “inappropriate”.
1905
The Memoirs of a Voluptuary, the Secret Life of an English
Boarding School by Anonymous published in Britain. U. S.
edition in 1971.
1905
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch dies in an insane asylum in
Mannheim, Germany. [wd]
1906
Maximilian Harden, publisher of Berlin’s Die Zukunft, prints
an editorial warning of the danger presented by the homosexual
conspiracy. [AA]
1906
In Austria the first publication of Young Torless by Robert
Musil (English edition 1955) a novel depicting a sexually
explosive hazing in an Austrian military school.
1905
The Austrian physician Sigmund Freud publishes his “Drei
Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie.” Sadism and masochism are
described as illnesses resulting from incomplete or faulty
development of a child’s personality. Psychoanalysis, a form of
speculative philosophy with no empirical basis, becomes the
dominating theory in psychiatry for the next 60 years. [wd]
1905, Mar. 2
Birth of Marc Blitzstein, American composer. He was
murdered by a hustler in Fort-de-France, Martinique, in 1968.
1907
A crowd of 2000 shows up for a debate about Germany’s
sodomy law, the notorious Paragraph 175, sponsored by the
Scientific Humanitarian Committee. [AA]
1907
Release of film Love Microbe, the first in which sex is central
to the plot. A scientist isolates the “germ” that causes people to
get the hots for each other.
1907, Feb. 21
Birth of W. H. Auden, English poet. His poem “The Platonic
Blow” was published in Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts in
1965 without his permission. The poem was then issued in a
Trade edition of 300 copies and a “Rough Trade” edition of 5
numbered copies each with “beautiful slurp drawings.” The
first two lines of the poem are, “It was a Spring day, a day for a
lay, when the air / Smelled like a locker-room, a day to blow or
get blown.” [Greif 82]
1907, Sept. 23
Birth of Anne Declos, a.k.a. Dominique Aury, a.k.a. Pauline
Reage, the author of Histoire d’O. (Death April 26 1998) [wd]
1908
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Born March 19, 1872; died 1929)
meets Vaslav Nijinsky (Born March 12, 1890). In their five
years together Diaghilev totally dominates Nijinsky’s life as he
shapes him into one of the finest dancers the world has ever
seen and creates a relationship (slave and Master?) that
eventually results in Nijinsky’s madness.
1908
Publication of The Intermediate Sex by Edward Carpenter in
England. [AA]

1908
First publication of Physical Culture magazine, the first
magazine to focus on the male physique with lots of articles
about sex and photos of scantily clad men. (Hooven 1995)
1908, Aug. 18
Birth of Sir Frances Rose, the last of Gertrude Stein’s many
artist protégés. In 1952, Alice B. Toklas reported that Rose was
in trouble because of a Spanish gypsy boy he had found and
hired as both valet and bed mate. After an incident involving a
stolen bicycle, Rose examined the boy’s papers and discovered
that he was his illegitimate son. [Greif 82]
1909
Two black men are accused of oral sex with one another in
Kentucky. They are not convicted because the judge couldn’t
find any law on the books under which to find them guilty. He
urged that lawmakers remedy this problem, and soon many
states had outlawed oral sex. [AA]
1909, April 23
In Woodside, OH, the birth of writer Samuel M. Steward, a.k.a.
Phil Andros. As sex researcher Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey’s major
contact with the world of homosexual male SM, he arranged
and participated in scenes staged for Kinsey’s cameras.
1910-1919
1910
Among the Klementi tribe in Albania, if a virgin swore to
twelve witnesses that she refused to ever marry, she would be
allowed to live as a man carrying weapons and herding
livestock. [TOL]
1910
Magnus Hirschfeld creates the term “transvestite” and is the
first to separate them from homosexuals. [wd]
1910
The Chicago Vice Commission reports the presence of whole
“colonies” of sexual perversion, including a homosexual street
gang, known as the Bluebirds, that frequented Grant Park.
1910
May 14: Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein begin living
together in Paris. [TOL]
1910, Dec. 19
Birth in Paris of Jean Genet, his gay- and SM-themed works
include The Balcony, Querelle du Brest, and Our Lady of the
Flowers. (Died in 1986)
1911
A law is passed in the Netherlands prohibiting sexual contact
between members of the same sex under the age of 21. The law
sparked Dutch nobleman Jacob Schorer to form Nederlandsch
Wetenschappelijk Humanitair Komitee, modeled after
Hirschfeld’s Scientific Humanitarian Committee in Germany.
The NWHK provided support to homosexuals until 1940 when
Schorer destroyed its records to prevent them from falling into
the hands of the Nazis. [AA]
1912
The Scientific Humanitarian Committee polls candidates for
the forthcoming Reichstag election to learn their view on gay
issues. Ninety one out of the 96 who respond say that they
favor gay rights! [AA]
1913
Alfred Redl, head of Austrian Intelligence, is exposed as a
double agent working for the Russians. He commits suicide the
next morning. Authorities who search his rooms find abundant
indications that Redl had been a homosexual. The widely
publicized case gives prominence to the idea that homosexuals
are security risks, and 37 years later, US Senator Joseph
McCarthy used the Redl case to raise similar fears. [AA]
1914
Publication of Dictionary of Criminal Slang which includes the
first known printed definition of the word “faggot” as a term
for “a male homosexual.” [TOL]
1914
Magnus Hirschfeld publishes his 1067 page study on
homosexuality. [wd]
1915, May 25
Foreseeing a wartime shortage, Amy Lowell hoards 10,000 of
her favorite Havana cigars in her home in Brookline, MA.
(Born Feb 9, 1874)
1916, Nov. 29
Birth of artist Neel Bate, as “Blade,” he is one of the pioneers
of gay erotica. His most famous work, an underground classic
in pre-Stonewall days is The Barn, which he wrote and
illustrated.
1916, Dec. 30
Grigori Rasputin is murdered. The Russian monk, who was a
famous sexual adventurer, spent some years initiating women
into the reportedly Christian cult of flagellants before he settled
into the court of Nicholas and Alexandria. There is no evidence
that his position in the Russian court stopped or impeded his
involvement with the female flagellants cult. [JWB]
1917
The new revolutionary government of the Soviet Union
abolishes the sodomy laws of the tsarist regime. [AA]
1917
The Bolshevik government in Russia says it will recognize
only civil marriages.
1917, Nov. 20
T. E. Lawrence “of Arabia” (1888-1935) being held captive by
the Turks at Deraa is caned and (probably) raped by Turkish
army officers, an incident described in his 1926 book The
Seven Pillars of Wisdom. His taste for the cane continued
through life.
1918
Publication of Life is Movement, the autobiography and manual
of Hungarian born Eugen Sandow, who thrilled audiences in
New York and London throughout the 1890s. Billed as “The
world’s strongest man,” he often appeared wearing only a
metal fig leaf, held in place by a spring metal strap that was
hidden in the cleft of his ass.
1919
Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Institute for Sexology in Berlin.
The Institute combines the world’s first sex counseling center,

a museum, a library and an ongoing series of educational
events. [AA]
1919, Jan. 7
Birth of Robert Duncan, a leading poet of the San Francisco
renaissance. He is the first poet to use the word “cocksucker” in
print and the first to strip to the buff during poetry readings.
[Greif 82]
1919, May 24
Release of Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others),
one of the earliest films to offer viewers a gay-positive
perspective. It co-starred Konrad Veidt and Magnus Hirschfeld.
[AA]
1920-1929
1920, May 8
The birth, in Finland, of Touko Laaksonen, the erotic artist who
would become known to the leather world as Tom of Finland.
(Died 1992).
1921
The Theatre des Eros, the first theater devoted exclusively to
gay plays, is founded in Berlin. [AA]
1921
Publication in France, of Sodome et Gomorrhe by Marcel
Proust. [AA]
1921, March 28
The birth, in London, of actor Dirk Bogarde whose
autobiography reveals an adolescent seduction by a man who
first mummy wrapped him in bandages.
1921, Sept. 16
The First Congress for Sexual Reform opens at Berlin’s
Institute for Sexology. [AA]
1922
The Soviet Union reintroduces the concept of “crimes against
nature” and begins the process (finalized by Stalin in 1933) of
re-criminalizing homosexual acts. [AA]
1922
“Miss Furr and Miss Skeene” by Gertrude Stein is published in
Vanity Fair. This is regarded as the first published fiction using
the word “gay” to refer to homosexuality. [TOL]
1922
The God of Vengeance, a play by Sholom Asch featuring a
lesbian relationship, is produced in Provincetown, MA. It is the
first play on an American stage to depict gay or lesbian
characters, and created an outcry the next year when it reached
Broadway. [AA]
1922
A petition to abolish Paragraph 175, Germany’s sodomy law, is
presented to the Reichstag, but without success. The petition
was largely the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and his Scientific
Humanitarian Committee, and was signed by such prominent
intellectuals as Albert Einstein, Herman Hesse, Thomas Mann,
and Leo Tolstoy. [AA]
1922
Birth, in Hailey, Idaho, of Bob Mizer, creator of the Athletic
Model Guild and Physique Pictorial. (Died May 19, 1992.)
[WES]
1924
The 17th edition of Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia sexualis is
published. It will be translated into seven languages. [wd]
1924
In Virginia, “A bill to preserve the integrity of the white race”
prohibits white marriage with any nonwhite. Richmond uses
the law to segregate housing, prohibiting residence by any
person who could not marry into a majority of families already
on the block.
1924
Andre Gide, in If It Die, makes his homosexuality
public. He is the first prominent individual in
modern times to do so. [AA]
1924, Apr. 3
Birth, in Omaha, NB, of Marlon Brando, whose levi’s, tight Tshirt,
and leather jacket created a look so many copied.
1924, Apr. 15
Birth of Dr. Howard Brown, American public health
administrator.
1924: Oct. 24
The New York Times reviews Dr. Joseph Collins’ book The
Doctor Looks at Love and Life in which Collins concluded that
“the majority of homosexuals... are not dengerates.” The
review is the first time the word “homosexual” has appeared in
this newspaper. [AA]
1924, Dec. 10
The Society for Human Rights, founded in Chicago by Henry
Gerber (1892-1972), probably the first “gay lib” organization
in the US, is granted a charter by the Illinois legislature. It
lasted only a few months but during that time Gerber brought
out two issues of the country’s first gay liberation magazine,
Friendship and Freedom. [AA] No copies of these publications
are known to still exist.
1925, Jan. 14
The birth of Yukio Mishima. His erotic drive was always
advanced by his fantasies of SM-drawn blood. His suicide
(Nov. 25, 1970) blended his erotic fantasies, his political
theories and his flair for public drama. [JWB]
1925, May 21
The birth of Dr. Franklin Kameny, founder of the Mattachine
Society and spiritual godfather of all contemporary activists for
sexual freedoms.
1925, Aug. 2
Birth of Roy Dean, photographer of the American Male in the
all together, and often in nature as well.
1926
The German physician Albert Moll organizes the “First
International Conference on Sex Research in Berlin.” [wd]
1926, Feb. 15
Birth of British film director John Schlessinger, whose
Midnight Cowboy (1969) was kicked to pieces by the critics for

eing too gay, and by militant gays for not being gay enough.
[Greif 82]
1926, May 30
Birth of George Jorgensen, who went to Denmark for surgery
and became Christine Jorgensen, the world’s best known
transsexual.
1926, June 3
Birth of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg who horrified W. H. Auden
by kneeling and kissing the older poet’s trouser cuff. [Greif 82]
1926, Sept. 29
Birth of Eric Stanton, artist of “Sweeter Gwen” and endless
fem-dom fantasies from 1940 through the 1990s.
1926, Oct. 15
Birth, in Poitiers, France, of philosopher and gay
sadomasochist Paul-Michael Foucault. (Died 1984) [wd]
1928
D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover is published in
France. Banned in Britain, it is only in 1960 that a British court
declares the book to be art not porn.
1928
Publication of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness. Calling
for the “merciful toleration of inverts,” it became the bestknown
book in English with a lesbian theme. [AA]
1928, March 18
Birth of American playwright Edward Albee. His Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? may or may not really be about a male
couple, but is it an SM scene?
1929
The French judge René Guyon starts work in Thailand on his
Studies in Sexual Ethics, claiming that an individual has a right
to free sexual expression as long as the rights of others are not
harmed. [wd]
1929, Jan 12
The publishers of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness are
served with a summons in an effort to censor the lesbian novel.
1929, Aug. 26
Birth in Chicago of Chuck Renslow, who with his partner Dom
“Etienne” Orejudos, was to father Kris Studios, The Gold
Coast, MansCountry, International Mr. Leather, and other
enterprises. More recently Chuck has been instrumental in
founding The Leather Archives & Museum, the Chicago Eagle
and Eagle Leathers.
1929, Aug. 29
Birth of English-born American poet Thom Gunn. [Greif 82]
1930-1939
1930s
Anthropologists report that among the Nuer tribe in the Sudan,
there exist unions in which a woman marries another woman
and counts as the father of her children.
1930
Denmark repeals its sodomy laws. It is the first European
nation to respond to the early homophile movement. Poland,
Switzerland, and Sweden all follow suit within fifteen years.
[AA]
1930
Marlene Dietrich, in the film Morocco, does the first of her
many male impersonations.
1930
Publication of The Story of Punishment, Man’s Inhumanity to
Man by Harry Elmer Barnes. Revised edition 1972.
1931
The Chinese Nationalist Party forbids arranged marriages.
1931, Feb. 8
The birth, in Marion, Indiana, of James Dean. The mysterious
masochist and cultural icon did nothing in his life to dispel the
rumors of his masochism (preferring, it is said, to be burned
with cigarettes and to be kicked and stepped on) and the rumors
became legends after his death in a car crash on Sept. 30, 1955.
[JWB]
1932
The Zenith of gay activity in Berlin which then had over 300
homosexual bars and cafes, of which a tenth were lesbian.
Between 1933 and 1945 virtually all homosexual activity was
driven underground by the Nazis.
1932
First publication in Zurich of Der Kreis one of the longest
running European gay magazines, it ceased publication in
1967. Articles were in German, English and French. It
frequently published material by American writers, artists, and
photographers, including the first fiction from Phil Andros, and
nude male studies by George Platt Lynes under the pseudonym
Robert Rolf.
1932, Dec 28
Birth of Manuel Puig, Argentinian novelist whose work
includes The Kiss of the Spider Woman.
1933
Birth, in New South Wales, Australia, of artist Nigel Kent.
When he started drawing and painting male SM imagery he
signed his work “James D.,” but later began using his real
name. He has lived in the Netherlands since 1973.
1933, Jan. 30
Hitler bans all gay publishing in Germany.
1933, May 6
In Berlin, Nazis ransack Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for
Sexual Research and, on May 11, burn his library and museum
collection which, Christopher Isherwood reported, included
many SM implements.
1933
Noel Ersine’s Dictionary of Underworld Slang lists “gay cat”
as meaning “a homosexual boy,” this is the earliest know
PRINTED equation of the words “gay” and “homosexual”.
1933
In Germany, Hitler rises to power. Within two years a license
of “genetic cleanliness” is necessary for marriage and a
German cannot marry a Jew.

1933
Department II of the German Gestapo is created for the express
purpose of hunting down and imprisoning homosexuals.
1933, July 1
Birth of Domingo “Dom” Orejudos, better known as the erotic
artists Etienne and Stephen, and as partner with Chuck
Renslow in operation of Kris Studio, the Publication of Mars
and Rawhide Male magazines, the Gold Coast leather bar and
MansCountry baths in Chicago, and the founding of the
International Mr. Leather contest.
1934, March 7
Stalin restores criminal sanctions against homosexuality in the
Soviet Union.
1934, March 10
The birth in El Paso, Texas, of author John Rechy, whose
writing skirted the edges of leather sexuality, and about which
he had strong opinions.
1934, June 30
Gay SS Chief Ernst Rohm, and many of his “Brown Shirts” are
assassinated by rival Nazis with the approval of Hitler in the
“Night of the Long Knives.”
1934
Publication in England of The History of Torture in England by
L. A. Parry.
1935, April 9
In a letter of this date Sigmund Freud wrote, “homosexuals
must not be treated as sick people….”
1935, May 13
T. E. Lawrence “of Arabia” fatally injured in a mysterious
motorcycle “accident” in England. Dies May 19, 1935. [JWB]
1936
The American housewife Dorothy Spencer publishes a scheme
to improve marriage by mutual domestic spanking. [wd]
1936
Leftist German director Gustav von Wangenheim (1895-1975)
produces the film Bortsy (The Fighters) which depicts the
Nazis as homosexuals. In reaction, the Hitler regime enacts a
new and more stringent version of the notorious Paragraph 175,
and increases convictions for homosexual activity in Germany.
1936
The suicide of Robert Ervin Howard, creator of Conan the
Barbarian. Exceptionally close to his mother as a boy, and
bullied by older boys, he turned to exercise and developed the
body he admired in other men. When his mother lapsed into a
coma he blew out his own brains with a borrowed pistol and
Cross Plains, Texas, had a double funeral. He was 30 years old
and had written 21 Conan stories in which images of muscular
men suffering under the domination of others was prominent.
1938
The American zoologist Alfred C. Kinsey begins his studies on
human sexual behavior, using empirical data from over 12,000
interviews. [wd]
1938
Fourteen US states introduce bills to impose restrictions on the
marriage of persons with syphilis and other venereal diseases in
a “social hygiene” panic.
1938, March 17
Birth of Rudolf Nureyev, Russian, then American, Ballet
dancer. He was renowned for his love of rough trade. A friend
advised: “I once told Rudi, he can be as naughty as he likes, but
if he isn’t more careful, they’re going to find him... some
morning in an alley in Soho, his head laid open with a lorry
driver’s spanner.” He died of AIDS in 1993.
1939
Albert Moll dies of natural causes in Berlin before the Nazis
can transport him to a Death Camp. [wd]
1939
In the film Bringing up Baby, Cary Grant, appearing in a dress,
exclaims that he has “gone gay.” Historian John Boswell
credits this as the first public use of the term in the US, outside
of pornography and the homosexual community. But it isn’t
until the 1970s that “gay” is widely accepted as the standard,
non-slang synonym for homosexual, and not until 1987 that it
is accepted by the New York Times.
1939, Jan. 10
Birth of actor Sal Mineo. He wore the leather jacket in Rebel
Without a Cause even though he was the obvious and willing
bottom to James Dean’s reluctant Top. His grisly 1976 murder
has never been solved.
1939, Feb 24
Birth of American playwright Doric Wilson.
1939, Sept. 22
Sigmund Freud, suffering from cancer in an advanced stage,
dies in London by “morphium” overdose through physician
assisted suicide. [wd]
1940-1949
1940: July 27
Birth of the Reverend Troy D. Perry, minister, activist,
leatherman, and founder of the Metropolitan Community
Church. He devised a wonderful way to use the Gideon bible
found in every hotel room as a ball weight.
1941
The first appearance of the cartoon character, Wonder Woman,
an Amazon with special powers, living on an all-woman island.
Her magical lasso rendered powerless anyone she placed in
bondage.
1942, March 14
MP’s raid a gay brothel near Brooklyn Navy Yard, among the
clientele they find the US Senator who chairs the Naval Affairs
Committee.
1942, April 3
Birth date of Anthony F. DeBlase, a.k.a. Fledermaus,
leather/SM writer, editor, publisher, teacher, and creator of the
Leather Pride Flag.

1943, July 22
Birth of Robert Wiley Kirk, the erotic artist “Cirby.” (Died Dec
21, 1991)
1943
Jim Kepner is hoodwinked by a pen pal into joining the Sons of
Hamidy, a wholly imaginary group of political and military
leaders fighting for gay rights. Kepner quickly discovers the
ruse, but is so involved with the idea that he begins a campaign
to collect books, papers, and other artifacts that grow into the
International Gay and Lesbian Archives, now housed at the
University of Southern California.
1944, June 10
Christa Winsloe, author of Madchen in Uniform and vocal anti-
Nazi is murdered in Vichy, France.
1945
Justice Weekly begins publication in Toronto. This little
magazine excerpts news items related to punishment but its
highly coded personal ads are the real attraction to SM people
all over North America.
1945
Bob Mizer founds the Athletic Model Guild in Los Angeles.
His original intent is to serve as a middle man between hunky
young males and the artists and others seeking their modeling
(legitimate!) services. This aspect fails dismally, so he begins
marketing the photos directly to the public. [WES]
1945
Formation of the Veterans’ Benevolent Association, the first
gay membership organization in the US, formed to try to get
homosexual soldiers some of the respect they deserved for the
hardships they had endured.
1945, May 31
Birth of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German filmmaker, author,
director and actor. His films often deal with same-sex
relationships in which erotic desire becomes a function of the
struggle for dominance of one partner over another. (Died
1982)
1945: Aug. 7
Birth of Cynthia Ann Slater, San Francisco Bay area SM
activist and founder of The Society of Janus. [wd]
1945, Dec. 11
Birth of John Preston, author of Mr. Benson and many other
notable volumes of leather fiction.
1946
John Willie’s Bizarre magazine begins publication and
continues through 26 volumes, ending in 1961.
1946
A gay social club, “The Shakespear Club,” is founded in
Amsterdam. (Name changed to Centre for Culture & Leisure,
in 1949.) Dance nights become extremely well attended and, to
accommodate the crowds, a large commercial dance hall, Der
Oden Kring (DOK) is opened in 1955. From this basis
Amsterdam has become the gay mecca of Europe.
1946
Bob Mizer takes his first photos for the Athletic Model Guild.
The subject is 22 year old Howard Olson who has just been
discharged from the U. S. Marine Corps. Olson wears only a
posing strap and is caught spread-eagled in the air in the middle
of a jump. [Hooven 95]
1946, Sept. 26
Birth of Andrea Dworkin, American writer and feminist. And
ardent crusader against pornography, SM and other sexual
“evils.”
1946, Dec. 29
Birth of William Carney, author of one of the earliest explicitly
gay male SM novels, The Real Thing.
1947
Alfred C. Kinsey founds the “Institute for Sex Research” at
Indiana University. [wd]
1947
California strikes down its antimiscegenation law.
1947, Mid
Bob Mizer is arrested and charged with disseminating obscene
material. He refuses counsel’s advice and pleads “not guilty.”
He is convicted and serves six months in a California Prison.
Upon release he resumes business exactly as before. In 1953,
his appeal reaches the US Supreme Court, where his conviction
is overturned because the judge erred in instructing the jury on
the legal definition of “obscene.” [WES]
1947, July 4 - 6
More than 4000 motorcycles converge on Hollister, California,
and their riders unleash 40 hours of drunken terror on the town.
40 CHiPs threaten to use tear gas. Nearly 100 bikers are jailed.
The event is the basis of the movie, The Wild One nearly a
decade later.
1948
Axel and Eigil Axgil, a male couple, found the National
Homosexual Association, the first gay rights Organization in
Denmark. On Oct. 1, 1989, they are the first to marry under
Denmark’s same sex marriage registry.
1948
Alfred C. Kinsey publishes the first part of his study on human
sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. [wd]
1948, March 3
Birth of Albert Andrew Kraus, Jr., a founder of the Windy City
Bondage Club, and co-chair of NLA:I during a critical period
of its redevelopment,
1948, March 9
The Veteran’s Benevolent Association, the first postwar
American homosexual organization, is incorporated in New
York state.
1948, March 20
Inspector Craig Ellis, head of the vice squad of Philadelphia
Police Dept. gives his men a list of books he considers obscene
and orders that the city’s bookstores be raided immediately and
all titles on the list be confiscated. No search warrants or court
orders of any kind are issued. 54 booksellers are raided and
nearly 1200 books seized, including works by James Farrell,
William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, and Harold Robbins. The
district attorney brings suit against five of the booksellers. But
Judge Curtis Bok rules in favor of the booksellers and freedom
of the press.

1949
Sam Steward and Steve Masters meet in Alfred Kinsey’s
garden. The two, who would each later be leather icons in their
own right, perform SM scenes for Kinsey’s research. [R]
1949
The Thief’s Journal by Jean Genet is first published in France.
English edition 1964.
1949
South Africa passes a law prohibiting interracial marriage.
1950-1959
1950
Mississippi makes publication of “general information,
arguments, or suggestions in favor of social equality or
intermarriage between whites and Negroes” a crime.
1950
After a year of revolution in China, a marriage law sets age
limits and allows widows to remarry. Prospective marriage
partners must be checked for “correct” thinking with the party.
1950
Publication of The Invisible Glass by Loren Wahl.
1950
Publication of Quatrefoil by James Barr
1950, June 15
Chuck Renslow and Dom Orejudos start Kris Studios to
publish male physique photography. Orejudos begins sketching
some of the models.
1950, Nov.
The first issue of AMG’s Physique Pictorial is issued. Cover
“Havasu Creek” by Quaintance. No copies of this issue are
known to exist. [Hooven 95]
1950, Dec
Mattachine Society founded in Los Angeles. [JR] (Note: This
date is uncertain. See 1951, April)
1951
(or by 53) Shaw’s, New York City’s first Leather Bar opens.
[R] (Note: Research continues to clear up an apparent conflict.
The Gold Coast [1958] is traditionally mentioned as the first
leather bar.)
1951
René Guyon criticizes the United Nations for not including
sexual rights as a basic human right. [wd]
1951
Clellan S. Ford and Frank A. Beach publish their study
“Patterns of Sexual Behavior,” a comparison of the sexual
preferences of 200 cultures. The study shows how relative
Western sexual traditions are. [wd]
1951, April
Harry Hay (born Apr. 7, 1912), Rudi Gernreich, Chuck
Rowland, Bob Hull and Dale Jennings start The Mattachine
Society in Los Angeles. (Note: This date is uncertain. See
1950. Dec.)
1951, May 26
British Foreign Office officials Donald Maclean and his cruel
“master” Guy Burgess defect to the USSR. [Greif 82]
1951, Nov
The cover date of the oldest known extant copy of Physique
Pictorial Vol. 1, No. 2. Cover painting of a nude man riding a
white horse through the surf: “Dashing” by Quaintance.
[Hooven 95]
1952
(or by 54) The Lodge, New York City’s second leather bar
opens. [R]
1952
Jack’s on the Waterfront opens at 111 Embarcadero in San
Francisco. The bar particularly attracts longshoremen,
motorcycle men other butch types. Gradually evolves from a
straight bar with “homo space” to a gay bar with a maritime
flavor. Closed in 1962 as part of the “gayola” scandals. [R]
1952
Joe Wieder, a championship competitive bodybuilder who had
started a series of body building magazines converts his
American Manhood to compete with the “informal” poses and
slimmer “natural” physiques of magazines like Physique
Pictorial and Vim. [Hooven 95]
1952
First publication of Tomorrow’s Man. A tiny physique
magazine Published by Irv Johnson in Chicago, which
combined the look of Physique Pictorial with articles on body
building and staying in shape. It quickly became the #1
physique publication. [Hooven 95]
1952
Alan Turing, mathematical genius, breaker of Nazi codes,
acclaimed as “the man who saved England,” reports the theft of
his property by a hustler, when the police realize why the thief
was there, Turing himself is arrested and prosecuted. He is
chemically castrated by the authorities and hounded by the
press. He commits suicide in 1954. [Hooven 95]
1952, April
Dale Jennings, a member of the Mattachine Society in Los
Angeles is arrested by the police. Mattachine organizes The
Committee to Outlaw Entrapment.
1952, May 27
Birth of Sasha Alyson, founder of Alyson Publications, a gay
press that gave presence to a broad range of gay and lesbian
works, including Coming to Power, the writings of John
Preston, and many other leather/SM works considered
“marginal” at the time, by other publishers.
1952, August
Cover date of Physique Pictorial issue bearing a cover painting
by Quaintance, “Sacrifice,” depicting a nearly naked man
chained in spread-eagle suspension to a vertical sun disk. In the
foreground two virtually naked warriors lie bleeding (dying)
from arrows penetrating their backs. This cover resulted in
censorship in Los Angeles county. No one objected to the
bondage, blood, or violent theme. They wanted the lushly
rounded asses of the dying warriors covered! [Hooven 95]

1952
College English professor Sam Steward begins a sideline
business as Phil Sparrow, tattoo artist. [JR]
1953
Alfred C. Kinsey publishes the second part of his study on
human sexual Behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human
Female. [wd]
1953
The German physician Harry Benjamin coins the term
“transsexuals” and is the first to distinguish them from
transvestites. [wd]
1953, Apr. 23
U. S. President Eisenhower issues orders prohibiting
employment of gays in government agencies. [JR]
1953
Forbidden Colors, Yukio Mishima’s novel with SM overtones
is first published in Japan. First English edition in 1968.
1953, Aug.
Tomorrow’s Man #8 contains the first published art by Dom
Orejudos and the pseudonym Etienne is created.
1954
Satyrs MC founded in Los Angeles, the first gay motorcycle
club.
1954
Histoire d’O by Pauline Reage (real name, Anne Declos) first
published in France. In 1955 it won the Deux-Magots prize, an
important French literary award. In 1965 Grove Press publishes
the first English language edition as The Story of O.
1954
Birth of Bob Flannigan, SM performance artist and
“Supermasochist.” [wd]
1954
The San Francisco police stage a crackdown on “Sex
Deviates,” hitting particularly the area of Market and
Embarcadero streets.
1954
Joe Wieder begins publication of Body Beautiful and Adonis,
big budget, color cover, physique magazines which alternate
publication in succeeding months. The rise of physique
magazines threw the body building publishing world into a
homophobic panic, except for Wieder who jumped in and
competed. [Hooven 95]
1954
At the urging of Jim Kepner and Ann Carl Reid, Chuck
Rowland starts the Church of ONE Brotherhood to minister to
the religious needs of gays and lesbians. It prospers for about a
year, then folds.
1954
The movie “The Wild One” starring Marlon Brando as a
leather jacketed motorcycle gang member is released, creating
a sensation and giving seed to an image.
1954, Feb.
One magazine includes its first article about a women’s issue.
Lesbians continued to be included in the content, and on the
staff, until 1959.
1954, June
Suicide of Alan Turing in England, after being outed as a
homosexual when he reported the theft of some items by a
young man he had invited into his home. Turning had been
instrumental in breaking Nazi codes during the war, and is
considered the father of the computer.
1955
Two by Eric Jourdan first published in France. This novel of
male love with definite SM elements was published in English
in 1963.
1955
Publication of Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce, the novel
which inspired Paul Newman’s superb movie performance as a
member of a southern prison camp chain gang.
1955, Sept. 21
The Daughters of Bilitis, the first Lesbian organization in
America, is formed in San Francisco.
1955, Sept. 30
James Dean is killed in a car crash in California. The actor’s
smoldering sexuality and young death (at 24) elevated him to
legendary status. The persistent rumors that he enjoyed being
burned with cigarettes and kicked and trampled under men’s
feet provided hours of pleasant fantasy for many Tops.
1955, Nov. 1
An antihomosexual witch hunt begins in Boise, ID, later
documented by John Gerassi in The Boys of Boise.
1956
The last of the U. S. laws making epilepsy a disqualification for
marriage are removed.
1956
Publication of The Street of the Sun by Lance Horner, the most
homoerotic and SM, of the Mandango family of novels.
1956
Publication of Sex Magick by Ian Young. Poetry from one of
Canada’s best known leathermen. (Born Jan. 5, 1945).
1956, Sept.
Jim Kepner and Dorr start America’s first gay studies classes.
In Jan. 1957, they started the first 36 week course in World
History from the gay perspective. Kepner conceived and edited
Americas first gay scholarly-style journal, ONE Institute
Quarterly of Homophile Studies, for three years.
1957
The German physician Hans Lehfeldt founds the “Society for
the Scientific Study of Sexuality” (SSSS) in New York. [wd]
1957
Amsterdam’s first leather bar and hotel, The Argos, opens. It is
still in business!
1957
The Spring issue of Physique Pictorial magazine includes the
first published erotic art of Tom of Finland, and marks the first
time that name is used.
1957
Erotic artist George Quaintance dies.

1957
Publication of Color of Darkness, a novel by James Purdy.
(Born July 14, 1923).
1957
Publication of The Last Exit to Brooklyn, a novel by Hubert
Selby, Jr. (Born July 23, 1928)
1957
In the Crittenden Report, the US Navy concludes that
homosexuals serving in the military do not create a security
risk. The Pentagon denies the existence of this report for
twenty years.
1957, Sept. 4
In London, the Wolfenden Report recommends
decriminalization of “private homosexual acts between
consenting adults.”
1958
Both Federal and Chicago authorities charge Kris Studios with
censorship violations. Chuck Renslow fights back, surprising
the prosecution. His defense uses the simple stand that nudity is
not obscene. In support, his attorney shows photos of nude
male sculpture in the courthouse where the case is being held.
Kris was found not guilty, prosecution appealed and eventually
the same decision came from the U. S. Supreme court. [Hooven
95]
1958
Confessions of a Mask, an autobiographical novel by Yukio
Mishima first published in English.
1958
The Balcony, Jean Genet’s play which accommodates every
sexual desire, is published in French and English.
1958
The gay SM novel, Muscle Boy, by Bud Clifton is published.
[wd]
1958
Publication of The Question by Henri Alleg, an account of the
French Algerian newspaper man’s torture at the hands of
French paratroopers.
1958
Publication of Those about to Die, a history of the Roman
games and arena shows by Daniel P. Manix.
1958
Oedipus MC founded in Los Angeles, the second gay
motorcycle club.
1958: May 12
The Homosexual Law Reform Society is founded in London.
1958, June
Chuck Renslow becomes manager of The Gold Coast in
Chicago and creates the first Leather Bar. [JR] (This statement
is being researched with reference to an apparent conflict with
“earlier” bars in NYC.)
1959
The Big Dollar at 34th & 3rd in New York City opens, A
VERY leather bar. [R]
1959
The Spur Club a leather friendly bar at 126 Turk in San
Francisco’s tenderloin is raided and closed. [R]
1959
In the San Francisco mayoral election, homosexuality becomes
a political issue. The incumbent clamps down on “queers.” [R]
1959
Publication of Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. (Born
Feb. 5, 1914)
1959
US Supreme Court rules in favor of allowing distribution of D.
H. Lawrence’s novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. [Hooven 95]
1959
Kellers (bar) opens in New York City and becomes a gathering
place for gay motorcycle riders.
1960-1969
1960, March 16
The Gold Coast, Chicago’s first leather bar, (turned leather in
June, 1958) is purchased by Chuck Renslow and Associates.
1960
The Why Not (518 Ellis St. in the Tenderloin) is San
Francisco’s first leather bar. The owners hire Tony Taverossi to
create an atmosphere that will attract the leather crowd. The bar
closes shortly after opening when Tony propositions a vice
squad cop. [R]
1960: Spring
Owners of San Francisco gay bars revolt against police payoffs
and the “Gayola Scandals” result. Police retaliate with a
vengeance and close most gay bars in the city. [R]
1960
Publication of Christ and The Homosexual by Robert Wood,
which includes a rather accurate description of one of the many
SM parties hosted by Bob Milne at his home in NYC in the
early 1950s. [R]
1960
A British court rules that D. H. Lawrence’s novel Lady
Chatterley’s Lover, is art not porn.
1960
Warlocks MC, and California Motor Club formed in southern
California and San Francisco respectively.
1960
D. L. Sterling, “The Leathermaker,” makes his first pair of
motorcycle chaps.
1961
Michael Foucault publishes Folie et deraison (Madness and
Civilization), claiming that the role of psychiatry in modern
society is to remove people who refuse to conform to its norms.
A shortened English version is published in 1965. [wd]
1961
The Hideaway, a leather-friendly bar at 438 Eddy in San
Francisco’s Tenderloin raided and closed. [R]

1961
The Tool Box (339 4th St. at Harrison) in San Francisco
opened. It took what Tony Taverosi had created at the Why Not
and developed it into what became the classic SF leather bar
design. The bar featured the Chuck Arnett mural of masculine
men, which was made famous by the June 1964 Life magazine.
Closed in 1971.
1961
Moved by the Gayola scandals, Jose Sarria becomes the first
openly gay man to run for San Francisco city supervisor. He
does not get elected.
1961
Victim is the first film by a major British commercial studio to
feature homosexuality as its theme. Dirk Bogarde plays a
closeted barrister in a plot about gay blackmail and suicide.
1962
The German sex researcher Hans Giese publishes his book
Psychopathologie der Sexualitat, with the intent of continuing
Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia sexualis. In the medical text book,
which dedicates the first 30 pages to the importance of
Christianity in sex therapy, he quotes the French philosopher
Jean-Paul Sartre’s theories on SM as research and links
sadomasochism to the rise in abortions. Giese’s school of
thought continues to dominate sex research in Germany until
today. In 1992, three of the four professors for sex research in
Germany will be former students of Giese. [wd]
1962
In response to the Gayola scandals and their aftermath, San
Francisco bar owners and employees form the Tavern Guild, to
wield political influence.
1962
Fisting is “invented” in a San Francisco basement. [R]
1962
Satyr MC holds its first Badger Flats Run. The annual event
continues uninterrupted for 33 years, until 1994. Then resumes
in 1998!
1962
Publication of King Rat by James Clavell. The novel explores
dominance in men’s relationships in a Japanese prison camp
during WW II.
1962
Otto Preminger’s film of Alan Drury’s novel Advise and
Consent, is the first movie explicitly showing a gay bar.
1962, Jan. 1
Effective this date, the repeal of Illinois sodomy laws—
behavior between “consenting adults in private” is no longer
subject to criminal prosecution.
1962, Aug. 5
Death of John Alexander Scott Coutts, aka John Willie,
publisher of Bizarre magazine from 1946 to 1961.
1962, Nov.
“Birth” of Phil Andros as Sam Steward, writing for eos and
amigos magazines of Denmark, uses this pseudonym for the
first time.
1963
Denmark becomes the first modern state to drop virtually all
censorship. [Hooven 95]
1963
Publication of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, a
novel that gives a look at sex, violence, and mind control in a
future age.
1963
Publication of the first English edition of Jean Genet’s Our
Lady of the Flowers.
1963
Publication of City of Night by John Rechy, a novel that takes a
close look at the underbelly of gay life: hustling as it was.
1963
Publication of Pleasures of the Torture Chamber by Jonathan
Swain.
1963
Publication of Flagellation: The Rod & The Whip by George
Bishop.
1963
Publication of The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh.
1963
Physique Pictorial begins to print a scribbled code of
astrological symbols along with its photographs. The symbols
give Bob Mizer’s ideas about the personalities, and sexual
proclivities, of the models. A code sheet to decipher them is
sent to favored customers. In 1967 the symbols are used as part
of the sexual pandering case against Mizer. He destroys all
copies of the code’s meanings. [Hooven 95] NOTE: LA&M
would consider a copy of this code sheet a very valuable
addition to the collection.
1963
Scott Studio, one of the best physique photography studios,
closes when Tom Nichol, the owner and photographer, moves
from London to California. Nichol is noted for early (before
1950) photos of men in boots, leather, biker caps, etc. and for
the infamous “Scott Shorts,” thin white gym style shorts always
at least two sizes too small for his models, who somehow
squeezed into them. [Hooven 95]
1963, Feb.
Publication of the first (and only) issue of Young Adonis
magazine, the first to have substantial full color. The cover
trumpets “24 photos in color” and “More Color than any other
magazine!” [Hooven 95]
1963, May
Mars magazine, a male physique publication with leather
leanings, begins publication. It is designed and edited by Chuck
Renslow and Dom Orejudos of Kris Studios.
1964
The opening of the NYC World’s Fair is preceded by a cleanup
of gay bars, shutting down every one in city except Julius’ in
the village. [R]
1964
Publication of Rough Trade by Lou Rand.

1964
Publication of Stockade, a novel by Jack Pearl which focuses
on abuse in a military prison.
1964
Publication of A History of Torture by Daniel P. Manix.
1964
Publication of With Rod and Whip, A History of Flagellation
Among Different Nations by Valhalla Books.
1964
Publication of the American edition of Flagellation Curiosa Pt.
1: Sublime of Flagellation, by H. T. Buckle, Pt. 2: Experiences
in Flagellation, Compiled by an Ameteur [sic] Flagellant.
1964
U. S. courts allow importation of Danish magazines showing
full frontal male nudity if they are official publications of
nudist organizations. International Nudist Sun is the most
popular all-male title, many others feature only women or both
men and women. [Hooven 95]
1964, June 26
Life magazine features “Homosexuality in America,” an article
by Paul Welch that includes a two page spread on the Tool
Box, San Francisco’s premier leather bar, and sparks a
migration of eager leathermen to “Baghdad by the Bay.”
1964
The first appearance of Al “A. Jay” Shapiro’s cartoon creation,
“Harry Chess,” in the Philadelphia-based gay monthly Drum.
1964
Empire City MC founded in NYC and holds first Empire City
Christmas Party and Toys for Tots.
1964
Recon MC founded in San Francisco.
1964
Society for Individual Rights (SIR) founded in San Francisco.
1965
Grove Press issues the first English edition of Pauline Reage’s
The Story of O.
1965
In New York City, Steve Masters (real name Mike Miksche, a
highly respected fashion artist) one of the most talented
homoerotic, and leather oriented, artists, and publisher of the
physique magazine, BIG, commits suicide. His wife finds the
studio where he worked on his erotica, and had SM scenes with
other men, and burns most of his art. Fortunately he had
already donated much work to Kinsey, for whom he had
performed SM scenes with Sam Steward.
1965
Publication of Quatrefoil by James Barr, a novel of sex among
men in the US Navy.
1965
Publication in Japan of Madame de Sade a play by Yukio
Mishima. First English publication in 1967.
1965
Publication of The Lonely Sex: Mail Order Vice by Carlson
Wade.
1965
Formation of Saddlemasters MC and Saddlebacks of Orange
County, both in California, and of SixtyNine Club in London,
England.
1965
On the Levee, a bar at 987 Embarcadero in San Francisco,
becomes popular with the leather crowd. Closed in 1972. [R]
1965, May
Second City Motorcycle Club founded in Chicago by Chuck
Renslow, Dom Orejudos and friends. It is the first gay
motorcycle club in the Midwest.
1965, Late
A new physique magazine, Butch, produces its first issue, filled
with unidentified frontally nude male photos from Arts
Unlimited. Virtually simultaneously Drum an activist gay
magazine published in Philadelphia prints, in the copies of its
January 1966 issue that goes to subscribers, but not to those
sent to newsstands, the first full frontal male nudes that are not
presented in the guise of anthropological study or nudist
culture. [Hooven 95]
1966
CMC (California Motorcycle Club) rents Seafarer’s
International Union hall for their annual CMC Carnival, thanks
primarily to Don Rotan who was a member of both CMC and
the Seafarer’s union. [R]
1966
Barbary Coasters MC formed in San Francisco.
1966
Jose Sarria, “The Widow Norton,” becomes the first “Empress
of San Francisco,” and the gay Court System has begun. [R]
1966
Publication of Song of the Loon by Richard Amory, the first of
a trilogy of erotic novels that took the American fascination
with cowboys and Indians to a whole new level.
1966
Publication of Sadism by Andre Tarade.
1966
The American gynecologists William H. Masters and Virginia
Johnson publish their study on the Human Sexual Response.
[wd]
1966
The first complete male-to-female genital
transformation/gender-reassignment surgery in the US takes
place at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. [TOL]
1966, Feb.
North American Conference of Homophile Organizations
(NACHO) meets in Kansas City. It quickly deteriorates into a
vicious fight among organizations with differing objectives and
strategies. All of the elements of today’s “PC” wars were there,
and doing battle.
1966, July 25
FeBe’s opens on Folsom in San Francisco and quickly becomes
one of the leading leather bars, particularly for members of
motorcycle clubs. The bar’s “leather David” logo (the original
a plaster sculpture by Mike Caffee) becomes a leather icon. A

Taste of Leather, upstairs at FeBe’s, opens in 1967 as one of
the first in-bar leather shops. FeBe’s closes in 1986. [R]
1967, Jan. 1
Los Angeles Police raid the Black Cat, the incident “boosted
the modest Pride Newsletter into The Advocate.” [Kepner 95]
1967
The “Summer of Love” in San Francisco
1967
Publication of Eustace Chisholm and the Works a novel by
James Purdy.
1967
Publication of Numbers by John Rechy, a novel exploring the
gay male obsession with accumulating tricks.
1967
Publication of Brutality Through the Ages by John Swain.
1967
Publication of Sexual Sadism: The Pleasure of Inflicting Pain
by Edward Podolsky MD and Carlson Wade.
1967
Publication of Erotic Variations by John Barry.
1967
Publication of Sex and Sadism by Val Vane.
1967
A survey that questions 643 Germans on their attitudes towards
sexual deviant groups shows that sadists are seen as egotistical,
aggressive, revolting, unsympathetic, wild, unbalanced, strict,
dominating, hard, active, cold, sick, introverted, pedantic, and
close-mouthed. They are associated with the stereotypes of
murderers and pimps. Homosexuals, themselves still
considered deviant, and students have slightly less negative
attitudes. Attitudes towards masochists are not examined. [wd]
1967
Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild is arrested and charged
with running a male prostitution ring because of his first
concept of AMG as a referral service for models. He is
convicted and for most of 1968 Physique Pictorial fails to
appear and Mizer, who hated to travel, is not at home. [Hooven
95]
1967
Formation of Cheaters MC and Constantines of the Bay Area,
both in San Francisco.
1967
Barbary Coasters present their first annual San Francisco
Motorcycle Awards.
1967
Nick O’Demus opens his A Taste Of Leather shop upstairs at
FeBe’s. One of the first in-bar leather shops.
1967, Jul. 26
The United States Federal Court for the District of Minnesota
upholds a landmark decision affirming the right of all persons
to receive materials dealing with the nude male figure. [JR]
1967, July 27
The Sexual Offenses Act, removing criminality from sexual
relations between consenting adults, an action which had been
recommended by the Wolfenden Report in 1958, finally
becomes law in England and Wales.
1967, Aug.
The newsletter of PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and
Education) becomes The Los Angles Advocate.
1967, Aug.
The third national North American Conference of Homophile
Organizations (NACHO) meets in Washington, D.C., with
friction between East Coast and West Coast representatives.
1967, Oct. 9
The film I am Curious—Yellow premiers in Stockholm. It will
become a major example of sexual liberation in the US.
1967, Nov. 17
The Oscar Wilde Book Shop, the first gay and lesbian store of
its kind, opens in New York City. For years all SM
publications are banned from the store.
1968
Off the Levee is opened at 527 Bryant in San Francisco by the
owner of the leather bar On The Levee. This location later
becomes the leather friendly bar and restaurant Chez Mollet,
often just called 527. [R]
1968
The Ramrod at 1225 Folsom in San Francisco, opened and
quickly succeeded FeBe’s as THE leather bar, at least for the
SM crowd, while FeBe’s remained the prime bar for MC club
socializing. [R]
1968
Formation of Buddy MC and Warriors MC in California, Nine
Plus and Cycle MC in New York City; Serpents in San
Francisco; Spartan MC in Baltimore and Washington DC;
SMCLA, later changed to Lost Angels, in DC; V Senses
Rubber Club in NYC; Rocky Mountaineers MC in Denver; and
Texas Riders MC, originally the Warlocks and later the Cobras,
in Houston.
1968
Cycle MC holds first annual Bass River Run.
1968
Metropolitan Community Church founded in Los Angeles by
Rev. Troy Perry, a leatherman.
1968
In New York City several leather friendly bars, restaurants and
private clubs open. These include: The Hayloft private club;
The International Stud bar, JB’s Restaurant, OK Corral dining
room; the Skull after hours bar; the Tool Box bar; and the Nine
Plus clubhouse on 21st St. Louie’s Bar is renamed Louie’s
Spartan Lounge.
1968
Cycle MC begins publication of its newsletter Wheels and Nine
Plus begins publication of its Scimitar. New York Motor Bike
Club publishes last issue of its Black and Blue.
1968
Alan Selby begins Mr. S Leathers in London, England.

1968
One of the earliest explicitly gay male SM novels, The Real
Thing by William Carney (Born Dec. 29 1946), is published by
Putnam’s, a major publishing house.
1968
Publication of The Agency, and its sequel, The Agent, two
novels of explicit SM by David Meltzer.
1968
Publication of “The Figa” by Paul Mariah, a poem paean to
fisting. [R]
1968, Jan.
Under pressure to abandon its militant roots, PRIDE was
dissolved by its founders, who sold The Advocate to Dick
Michaels, Sam Winston and Bill Rand for one dollar. [LRF]
1968, Jan.
Der Kreis, the world’s oldest known homophile publication,
headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, ceases publication after
thirty-five years. [LRF]
1968, March
An Orange County man loses his home and auto insurance after
a neighbor sees him kiss a man in his backyard. The neighbor
reports the incident to the police, who contact the man’s
insurance company. [LRF]
1968, April 14
Mort Crowley’s play, The Boys in the Band opens in New York
City. (Born Aug. 21, 1935)
1968, Aug.
A dedication to militant law reform and a formalization in
structure sweeps through the North American Conference of
Homophile Organizations (NACHO) which meets in Chicago.
[LRF]
1968, Aug.
LA police raid the Patch II, a gay bar in Wilmington, leading
“flower laden gays to raid the Harbor Police Station and help
start MCC and two other major organizations.” [Kepner 95]
1968, Sept.
Demanding equal access to the Yellow Pages, San Francisco
homophile groups lodge a complaint with the California Public
Utilities Commission asking for a separate listing of
“Homophile Groups,” the phone company accedes in August
1971, after several years of court struggles.
1968, Dec.
The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that homosexuals have
the right to assemble in public, overturning the revocation of
three New Jersey bars’ licenses for “permitting apparent
homosexuals to congregate.” [LRF]
1969
Time magazine declares 1969 “The Year of the Newly Militant
Homosexual.”
1969
Fred Halsted meets Joey Yale at the Black Pipe, a Los Angeles
leather bar. They make the film LA Plays Itself, with explicit
SM scenes, and begin a lifelong relationship.
1969
Publication in France of Return to the Chateau by Pauline
Reage, a sequel to The Story of O. U. S. edition published in
1971.
1969
Publication of Leather, The Leather Queens, and several
similar erotic novels by Dirk Vaden.
1969
Publication of the American edition of Flagellation & The
Flagellants: A History of the Rod by Rev. Wm. A. Cooper, BA.
1969
Publication of $tud, the first Phil Andros novel written by
Samuel Steward and published by Guild Press.
1969
Publication of The Homosexual Handbook by Josef Bush,
which includes the names of people the author suspects of
being gay. The publisher quickly recalls and destroys 7000
copies, then reprints the book omitting only one name: J. Edgar
Hoover. [TOL]
1969
American anthropologist Paul Gebhard publishes his article on
Fetishism and Sadomasochism, placing SM in a cultural
context. SM is seen as a result of cultural forces and as a form
of scripted behavior. Gebhard’s break with the view of SM
founded by Krafft-Ebbing and Freud paves the way for
sociological studies on SM. [wd]
1969
Newsletters are first published by several clubs: The Longship
from Vikings MC (ceases publication 1970); Innertube from V
Senses Rubber; and Tread from Wheels MC.
1969
Formation of Apollos, Commanders MC, UYA MC and
Wheels MC in NYC; Border Riders MC in Seattle, WA, and
Vancouver BC; Vanguards MC in Philadelphia; Vikings MC in
Boston and the AMCC, the Atlantic Midwest Coordinating
Council, later the Atlantic Motorcycle Coordinating Council. In
London England V Senses Rubber club becomes Rubber Man’s
Club of London.
1969
The Den bar opens in New York City.
1969
The Shed becomes Boston’s leather-levi bar.
1969
The Leather Cell (a leather and toy shop) opens in the
basement, “The Pit,” of the Gold Coast in Chicago.
1969, Jan.
Bob Mizer brings out Physique Pictorial Natural introducing
both color and frontal nudity to his publication. [Hooven 95]
1969, Jan.
Members of the Danish parliament consider a bill to legalize
marriages between homosexuals; the bill is defeated and
reintroduced annually until it is finally passed in 1989. [LRF +]

1969, Feb.
The Correctional Association of New York called for an end to
the state’s criminal statutes against abortion, prostitution, and
homosexuality. [LRF]
1969, April
Chain Male #1, one of the BEST gay male SM/bondage photo
books is published.
1969, May
Pat Rocco’s nude ballet film, A Breath of Love, is accepted for
screening at the San Francisco Film Festival. [LRF]
1969, May
West Germany decriminalizes male homosexual acts between
men over 21. East Germany had repealed its antigay law a year
earlier. [LRF]
1969, June
After 32 years, the statue of David at Forest Lawn Cemetery in
Cypress, California, has its fig leaf removed. [LRF]
1969, June 27
Judy Garland is buried. Memorial services are held in New
York City.
1969, June 28
New York City Police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on
Christopher St. near 7th Ave., triggering riots that last several
nights. These “riots” become the seminal event in public
awareness of the fight for gay rights.
1969, June 29
“Four Policemen Hurt in Village Raid” reported the New York
Times, on page 33. [LRF]
1969, July
Reporting on the Stonewall riots, Time magazine says, “The
love that once dared not speak its name now can’t seem to keep
its mouth shut.” [TOL]
1969, July 1
US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia holds that
homosexuality does not automatically disqualify a government
employee for continuing in his job. [JR]
1969, July
The Gay Liberation Front is formed in New York City. [LRF]
1969, Aug.
North American Conference of Homophile Organizations
(NACHO) meets, again in Kansas City. [LRF]
1969, Aug.
Alaska’s Supreme Court rules the term “crime against nature”
unconstitutional. [LRF]
1969, Oct.
A National Institutes of Health Task Force on Homosexuality,
headed by Dr. Evelyn Hooker, submits its report favoring the
decriminalization of homosexuality.
1969, Oct.
The University of Minnesota recognizes a club for gays and
sympathizers called FREE (Fight Repression of Erotic
Expression). [LRF]
1969, Oct. 30
Film star Ramon Novarro is murdered in his Los Angeles
mansion by Paul and Tom Ferguson, brothers and hustlers.
Paul had previously modeled for Kris Studios. Rumor has it
that the murder weapon was a metal dildo (gold in some
stories, lead in others) given to Novarro by Rudolph Valentino.
1969, Dec.
In a landmark decision, the California Supreme Court rules that
the state cannot revoke a teacher’s credentials over charges of
homosexual conduct. [LRF]
1969, Dec.
Hawaii’s state Penal Revision Project recommends that private
homosexual activity be legalized. [LRF]
1969, Dec. 21
Gay Activist Alliance founded in New York City.
1970
1970
Publication of Cruising a murder mystery novel by Jay Green
set in New York’s leather bars. When later made into a movie
starring Al Pacino it was the subject of vocal demonstrations by
gay activists who objected to the portrayals.
1970
Publication of The Young Master by William Lambert III, one
of the best from this prolific author of gay erotica with an SM
twist.
1970
Publication of Leather Ad V1: M and V2: S novels by Larry
Townsend.
1970
Publication of Sex and the Lash Lovers by R. Rodgers
Kingman.
1970
Michael Holm starts Revolt Press in Sweden. He publishes
books of Tom of Finland’s artwork, and later starts Mr. SM and
Toy magazines.
1970
Formation of Atons of Minneapolis; Boston Bike Club;
Centaur MC of Richmond VA; Druids MC of Washington DC;
Entre Nous of Boston; The Lake Riders of Chicago; the
Libertines of Kansas City; MS Amsterdam, MSC Rhein-Main
Frankfurt; MC Kemo of Montreal; PCMC of Los Angeles;
Praetorians of New York City; The San Franciscans; South
Pacific MC of Sydney; Southern Cross MC of Melbourne;
Spearhead of Toronto; TOR MC of Toronto and Vulcan
Rubber Club of Washington DC. New York First, a council of
New York motorcycle clubs, is formed.
1970
Spearhead holds its first Roundup run and the Vanguards hold
their first Oktoberfest. The first Leather Sabbat is held in
Washington DC.
1970
Leather bar openings include: the Barn in NYC; Boots in Ft.
Lauderdale; The Cellblock in NYC; The Leather Game in Los

Angeles; The Leather Stallion in Cleveland; the Eagle’s Nest,
NYC; the Triangle in NYC.
1970
Professor Louis Compton of the University of Nebraska
teaches the first gay studies course in the U. S. [TOL]
1970
The Gay Activists Alliance selects the Greek letter lambda (l)
as a symbol of the gay movement.
1970, Jan.
More than 250 homosexuals, led by the Rev. Troy Perry, march
for police reform on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
[LRF]
1970, Jan.
Customs officials seize and seek permission to destroy, ten
artworks from an international erotic exhibit scheduled to show
in New York City. Permission is denied by a New York court
citing the First Amendment. [LRF]
1970, March
A gay San Francisco postal worker fights an attempt by the
Civil Service commission to terminate him for “moral
incompetency,” recovering his job in November, and paving
the road for future Civil Service Commission reforms. [LRF]
1970, June
Celebrating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the
first gay pride parades/marches/rallies are held in New York,
Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Cycle MC marches
in the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade in NYC.
1970, July 6
Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church, and a
leatherman, sits on the steps of the Federal Building in Los
Angeles refusing to eat or leave until someone from the city of
Los Angeles comes and talks to him about Gay rights. Eleven
days later city Councilman Robert Stevenson holds a curb-side
meeting with Perry, ending his vigil. [TOL]
1970, Aug.
North American Conference of Homophile Organizations
(NACHO) holds its final meeting in San Francisco. Morris
Knight leads street people in to smash NACHO. “Anarchy
faced off with arrogant conservatism, and anarchy won,” says
Jim Kepner. [LRF]
1970, Sept.
The Federal Commission on Obscenity and Pornography urges
the repeal of most anti-pornography laws. [JR]
1970, Nov. 25
Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after a failed attempt to
incite a riot at a Military school in Japan. (Born Jan. 14, 1925).
1971
1971
The In Between opens at 1347 Folsom in San Francisco, in
between FeBe’s and the Ramrod. It soon metamorphosed into
the No Name, a popular leather bar. [R]
1971
Formation of Argonauts, Cycle Runners MC, Koalas, and
LOBOC in California; Chicago Knights MC; Keystone Riders
in Philadelphia; Kingmasters in Los Angeles, Northern Riding
Club in the UK; Scorpions MC (originally Centaur MC’s DC
chapter) in DC; Thunderbolts MC in Connecticut; Tribe MC in
Detroit and Unicorns MC in Cleveland. The Boston Bike Club
disbands.
1971
The first FFA run is held in Cambria, CA. [R]
1971
Runs initiated include The Centaur’s Olympia, Entre Nous’
Days of Equinox and Hell-Za-Popper held jointly by Wheels
and Nine Plus.
1971
Leather bar openings include: the Bootcamp in San Francisco,
DC Eagle, The Ramrod in Phoenix, the Stockade in NYC and
the 247 in Philadelphia.
1971
Publication of All or Nothing by Dirk Vaden, one of the most
popular leather novels of its time.
1971
Publication of two of Larry Townsend’s best early novels: Run
Little Leather Boy and The Scorpius Equation.
1971
Publication of the photo illustrated History of Flagellation in
two volumes by Jon A. Peterssen.
1971, Jan. 3
First lesbian center in the US opens in New York City,
sponsored by the NY Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
1971, Feb.
The Eulenspiegel Society is founded in New York City as
North America’s first SM organization. It is open to all sexes
and orientations.
1971, Apr.
Bob Ross begins publishing the Bay Area Reporter, a.k.a. The
B.A.R., in San Francisco. Mr. Marcus begins his leather column
in this newspaper in August of 1971. As of this writing in Jan,.
1999, both the paper and the column are still going strong after
28 years!
1971, Apr. 30
Richard Chinn and John Cantrell are arrested in downtown
Chicago for kissing each other in public.
1971 Aug. 5
The Bootcamp, a uniform themed bar opens at 1010 Bryant St.
in San Francisco. Marcus Hernandez, a.k.a. Mr. Marcus, is
manager. [R]
1971, Aug. 29
Tribe M. C. (Later Tribe Detroit, Inc.) founded.
1971, Aug.
In Chicago: Thirteen men decide to organize a group
specifically to hold gay male SM play parties and the Chicago
Hellfire Club is created.

1972
1972
The Folsom St. Barracks at 1147 Folsom St. in San Francisco
is the city’s first leather-oriented “Bathhouse.” [R]
1972
Marcus Hernandez, leather bar manager and leather columnist
for The Advocate and later for the B.A.R, is selected as the first
gay Emperor of San Francisco. (Not counting the Emperor
Norton, of course.)
1972
Formation of Atlantis MC (originally Unicorn/Atlanta) in
Atlanta; Atons of Minneapolis; Bucks MC in Pennsylvania;
Celtics MC in Mississippi; Hawks MC in Los Angeles; the
Interclub Fund in San Francisco; Iron Cross MC in Montreal;
Knights of Malta, Black Rose Chapter, Portland OR; Knights
of Malta, Emerald Chapter in Seattle; NY Levi Club; Omaha
Meatpackers; Rainbow MC in California; The Selectmen of
Detroit, The Stallions of Cleveland; and Titan MC of Boston.
1972
Frank Ball founds TAIL, The “Total Ass Involvement League,”
with members all over the world who communicate through
frequently published newsletters, and membership rosters with
carefully coded indications of sexual specifics offered and
sought.
1972
Marshall Loeb begins publication of SMads, which offers gay
male subscribers a chance to place and respond to explicitly
SM personal ads.
1972
Cycle MC sponsors its first tour to New Orleans for Mardi
Gras.
1972
Iron Cross publishes first issue of its newsletter Crossroads and
Nine Plus publishes the last issue of its Scimitar.
1972
Two New York leather bar institutions, the Ramrod and The
Spike (formerly the Stockade) open. Nine Plus moves to a new
location between The Spike and The Eagle.
1972
Publication of Black In White IN by K. Kevork, interracial gay
sex with strong elements of SM.
1972
Publication of A Persian Boy by Mary Renault, a novel that
follows a slaveboy in the service of Alexander the Great.
1972
Publication of Punishment: An Illustrated History by Peter N.
Walker
1972
The Leatherman’s Handbook by Larry Townsend, the first
nonfiction book about gay male leather lifestyles, is published.
1972
Producer Terry LeGrand and Director Roger Earl make a gay
male SM film starring Val Martin and a large cast. Born to
Raise Hell is still regarded as one of the best gay male SM
films ever made.
1972
R. Litman and C. Swearingen, in an article in the Archives of
General Psychiatry, describe a “bondage subculture in the
USA.” This is the first such reference to any leather group
recognized as a “subculture” in the professional literature. [wd]
1972, April 4
Atons of Minneapolis founded.
1972, May
Chuck Holmes sends out his first mail order flyer for gay erotic
8mm films, one of which starred the legendary king of porn
John Holmes (no relation). The business would eventually
become Falcon, one of the biggest gay video companies in the
world.
1972, May 2
Death of J. Edgar Hoover, for many years the director of the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation. For years his federal
police force had kept surveillance records on thousands of
individuals and organizations including many that were gay or
engaged in other sexual activities beyond vanilla. After his
death stories surfaced about his 44 year “friendship” with
Clyde Tolson (1900-1975) who was his right hand man at the
FBI and was his housemate outside the office. Photos of
Hoover in female drag have also appeared. It seems that the
FBI director, who could blackmail Mafia dons and presidents
with ease, was both homosexual and homophobe!
1972, June 27
Gay News, England’s first gay newspaper, founded.
1972, July
Queen’s Quarterly, a New York based gay male magazine,
includes a very well illustrated article on the life and work of
leather/SM publisher and artist, Steve Masters in Vol 4, #4.
1972, Aug.
Los Angeles police raid a HELP (Homophile Effort for Legal
Protection) monthly fund-raiser at the Black Pipe, a major
leather bar. Among those arrested: HELP president Larry
Townsend. The police are surprised when the organization
fights back. Some consider this the West Coast Stonewall.
1972, Oct
In a contest held at the Gold Coast Leather Bar in Chicago,
John Lunning becomes Mr. Gold Coast. The FIRST leather
titleholder.
1973
1973
The American sex researchers John Gagnon and William
Simon publish Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human
Sexuality, introducing the concept of “scripted behavior” into
research. [wd]
1973
The U. S. Supreme Court, ruling in Miller v. California,
defines obscenity as a violation of the community standards in
the location where it is viewed.

1973
The National Gay Task Force is founded.
1973
The Leather Fraternity, a contact club newsletter for
leathermen is started in Los Angeles by “Robert Payne.”
1973
Tom of Finland’s first exhibition of original art, the
illustrations for the book, The Loggers, is held in the back room
of a sex shop in Hamburg. It is a disaster, poorly hung, poorly
lit, no sales, and most of the art disappears.
1973
Formation of the Argonauts of Wisconsin in Green Bay; Cin
City CC in Cincinnati; Colorado Riders in Denver; Cycle Men
South in San Diego; Denim Guy Club in Australia; Gateway
MC in St. Louis; Kansas City Falcons MC; Loge 70 in
Switzerland; Long Island Spuds, Monterey Dons in California,
MSC London in the UK; Northern Lights in Montreal;
Olympian Cycle Corps in Dallas; The Pride Chicago;
Rochester Rams, NY; Roo Bike Club, Sydney; Saddlemasters,
Illinois; SF GDI; Silver Star MC, Milwaukee; Thebans MC
(Originally FLLA), Miami; Tridents MC International and
Wrangler MC Dallas.
1973
Inaugural issues of newsletters: Atlantian from Atlantis MC;
The Bolt from Thunderbolt and Scene and Machine from D. B.
I. Corp., Washington, DC. The latter newsletter publishes a list
of leather bars in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico and holds the
first Mr. Scene & Machine contest at the NY Eagle in
December—won by Mr. DC Eagle, Johnny Albert.
1973
Inaugural runs: Atlantis MC’s Dogwood; and Omaha
Meatpackers’ Rough Out.
1973
The Thunderbolt’s clubhouse burns.
1973
The Red Star Saloon opens on Folsom Street in San Francisco,
it is connected to the Barracks bathhouse, and is noted for its
sleaze, as exemplified by its Chuck Arnett watersports ads and
posters. [R]
1973
Folsom Prison, a leather bar at Folsom & 14th St. opens in San
Francisco. It closes in 1977. [R]
1973
Ron Johnson becomes manager of the No Name in San
Francisco and converts it into a kind of Performance Art
Leather Bar which becomes wildly popular. [R]
1973
The End Up opens in San Francisco, and The Interchange
Saloon opens in Detroit.
1973, March 3
Two policemen shoot it out in a Sacramento, California, public
toilet after one tries to arrest the other for “oral copulation.”
1973, April 28
Mid-America Conference (Originally Midwest) founded during
the Eighth anniversary run of 2nd City MC in Chicago. [RR]
1973, May 6
600 protestors link hands across New York’s George
Washington Bridge in a demonstration for gay rights. [TOL].
1973 Nov.
The Ambush opens at Harrison and Dore in San Francisco, and
attracts a unique, laid-back crowd of leather hippies. It remains
a unique leather bar until it closes in 1986. [R]
1974
1974, Early
The German physician Andreas Spengler begins a sociological
study on the German homosexual sadomasochistic subculture.
[wd]
1974
Rob Meijer opens RoB Amsterdam leather shop in Amsterdam.
The shop becomes legendary for its quality and design, and
expands (in 1978) to become one of the leading erotic art
galleries in the world and the leading gallery for leather male
art.
1974
Tom’s Saloon opens in Hamburg, decorated with numerous
huge photo murals of specially-commissioned Tom of Finland
drawings.
1974
Lambda Rising Bookstore opens in Washington DC.
1974
The Leather Underground opens in Baltimore
1974
Bella Abzug and Edward Koch become the first members of
the U. S. House of Representatives to introduce legislation
prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. [TOL]
1974
Robert Opel strips naked in the Los Angeles City Council
Chambers during a meeting of the council.
1974
Formation of The Alabama Celtics MC (originally Celtics MC
Azalea chapter, later Celts MC, Mobile); BALL MC (Bay Area
Leather/Levi MC), Tampa/St. Petersburg; Celtics MC, New
Orleans; Corps of Rangers, Los Angeles, Handlebar MC,
Seattle; Houston MC; Ili Holo Hawaii; International
Roadmasters, Detroit; Iron Cross MC, Los Angeles; Knights
d’Orleans; Knights of Malta, Western Chapter, Reno; The
Lanyards, Toronto; The Links MC, DC; Midland Link MSC,
Worcester, UK; MSC Berlin; MSC Hamburg; MSC Panther
Koln; NY Ontario Leather Club, Buffalo, Pennine Chain MSC,
Cheshire, UK; The Philadelphians MC; Regiment of the Black
and Tans, Los Angeles; Rodeo Riders, Elkhart, IN (later
Chicago); The Shipmates, Baltimore; SLM Copenhagen;
Society of Janus, San Francisco; Sons of Apollo MC, Phoenix;
Swords de Montreal; Trash MC, NYC; and Zodiac Fraternal
Society, Vancouver BC.
1974
Formation of The Forum in San Francisco, and, in Europe, the
ECMC, European Conference of Motorcycle Clubs.

1974
First “Let Us Entertain You” weekend sponsored by the leather
clubs of Houston on the weekend following Mardi Gras.
1974
Bar openings include: The Bike Stop in Philadelphia; Gauntlet,
NYC; The Horseshoe Saloon, DC; Munich Eagle; A/J Ranch,
Harper’s Ferry WV; and the Strap, NYC.
1974
Jim Ward, a jeweler, meets Doug Malloy a wealthy man who
had made a lifelong study of body piercings in various cultures.
They become lovers, partners, and in 1975, the founders of the
body piercing business, Gauntlet.
1974
The Story of Harold a novel by Terry Andrews, which features
SM images of burning, is published in New York City.
1974
The Society of Janus is started in the San Francisco Bay area
by Cynthia Slater. It is an SM-interest group open to all
genders and orientations.
1974
The first World Congress of Sexuality is held in Paris. [wd]
1974
Publication of issue #1 of Gay Bondage magazine edited by
“Tau” (Jim-Ed Thompson). Produced after Jim Ed had
convinced the House of Milan, for which he worked as an
editor of heterosexual SM titles, to try a gay title. After three
issues they are convinced and Gay Bondage is replaced by
Action Male, a magazine of more general gay male leather
interests.
1974
Publication of S-M The Last Taboo by Gerald and Caroline
Greene.
1974
Publication of the first issue of Bound to Serve. The photo
magazine of gay male bondage and SM lasts for 10 issues,
through 1980.
1974, Feb 14
Opening night for Doric Wilson and Peter de Valle’s Off Off
Broadway theatre TOSOS (The Other Side Of Silence) with de
Valle’s revue Lovers featuring a Leather couple and the song
Belt & Leather.
1974, Feb 14
Fan Dancer Sally Rand performs at Man’s Country Music Hall
in Chicago. She is in her 70s. Ads for this appearance later
became very important in retaining the right to have nude
performances in this theatre.
1974, Apr. 2
Robert Opel appears naked on television world-wide as he
streaks the Oscar award ceremony.
1974, Apr. 8
Members of the American Psychiatric Association agree with
its trustees to stop listing homosexuality as a mental disorder.
1974, May
The first demonstration of gay activists in Portugal, seeking
repeal of anti-sodomy laws. [TOL]
1974, May 18
A study conducted by the Sex Research Institute of Indiana
University recommends ending laws and harassment against
adult consenting homosexuals.
1974, June 21
The last defendants in the LAPD raid of a HELP fund-raiser at
the Black Pipe are cleared of all charges.
1974, July 19
Los Angeles Temple Beth Chayim Chadashim (founded in
1972) is chartered by the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, becoming the first gay religious organization to
receive such official recognition. [TOL]
1974: Aug.
The Society of Janus publishes its first newsletter. It will
become the club’s well known Growing Pains. [CT]
1975
1975
Publication in France of Confessions of O, Conversations with
Pauline Reage by Regine Deforges, U. S. edition in 1979.
1975
Publication of The Boy Keeper by Carl Strater.
1975
Publication of Volume 1 of the autobiography My Life as a
Masochist by RFM (Roger Mays). Volume 2 follows in 1977.
1975
Publication of Tailpipe Trucker by Clay Caldwell.
1975
Publication of A Collection of SM edited, and partially written,
by RFM This is the first, aside from his autobiography, in a
series of magazine sized anthologies of gay male SM erotica to
be published by RFM.
1975
Publication of A Book of Terms, Symbols, Abbreviations by
RFM. A Glossary to help in reading the SM personal ads.
1975
Publication in France of Discipline & Punishment: The Birth of
the Prison by Michael Foucault. English edition in 1979.
1975
Robert Payne publishes a book of still photos from the SM
film, Night of Submission.
1975
Robert Payne publishes Care and Training of the Male Slave,
the first of a series of this title.
1975
The Story of O is made into a movie.
1975
The Advocate, the only nationally circulated Gay newspaper, is
purchased by David Goodstein and moved from Los Angeles to
San Mateo, California.

1975
Pier Paolo Pasolini, poet, film maker, and political activist, is
murdered in Italy by a hustler. (Born March 5, 1922)
1975
French philosopher Michel Foucault spends much of the year
teaching at Berkeley, and being thrilled by the liberated gay
sexuality he finds in San Francisco, especially in the
bathhouses. He becomes particularly fascinated by “limitexperiences”
such as SM. He continues to visit San Francisco
through 1983.
1975
A new edition of Terry Andrews’ novel The Story of Harold is
published. This one includes illustrations by Edward Gory.
1975
Formation of ASMC, American Social Mens Club, Boston;
Association Sportive Motorcycliste de France; Battalion
Motorcycle Corps, Dallas; The Blackhawk MC, Richmond
VA; Black Sabbath San Franciscans MC; Blue Max Cycle
Club, St. Louis; Brothers MC, Jacksonville; Centurion MC, SF;
Chicago Cossacks Brotherhood; Colts MC, Ft. Lauderdale,
Conquistadors MC, Orlando; Elagabulus MC, Norwood, South
Australia; Excelsior MC, NYC; Five Star MC, New Zealand;
Hawaii Club, LA; Heart of Texas MC, Austin; Iron Guard BC,
NYC; Kansas City Pioneers; Knights of Malta, 49ers Chapter,
SF; Knights of Malta Stockmen’s Chapter, Denver; Militia
MC, Norfolk, VA; Mini Bikers MC, New Orleans; MSC North
West, New Brighton, UK; Munchner Leder Club; Nova NYC’
Ottawa Knights; Rodeo Riders, Chicago; Rurals MC,
Roermund, Netherlands; Sierra Mountaineers, South Lake
Tahoe; Sierra Pacific Rangers; Signs of Zodiac, Detroit; SLM
Stockholm (originally SLM Sweden); Sternwheelers,
Louisville, KY; Space City MC, Houston; Sunrays MC,
Miami; Sunrays MC, Miami; Tejas MC, Houston; Trade-
Winds of Chicago; Voyagers, New Bedford, MA; Vulcan
Rubber Club, Boston Chapter; and Yorktown Levi Denim
Club, Toronto. Inter Club Fund incorporated in San Francisco
and Southern Conference of Motorcycle Clubs formed.
1975
Bar openings include: The Cell Block, Philadelphia; The
Chamber, Kansas City; Hombre, SF; and Knolle, Berlin. Also,
The Exchange, a leather shop in the Columbus, OH, Eagle,
opens as does the Emporium in San Francisco.
1975
The Catacombs, a private club for SM and, primarily, fisting
opens in San Francisco. [R]
1975
Gauntlet, a business devoted to body piercing, is started by Jim
Ward and Doug Malloy. [R]
1975
Larry Townsend founds, and becomes president of the
Hollywood Hills Democratic Club, the first openly gay
political club in Los Angeles, and possibly anywhere.
1975, Apr. 15
Gay Students Union of UCLA presents a panel discussion on
SM as a part of Gay Awareness Week II. Fred Halsted, Joey
Yale and 2 others are invited to present.
1975, June 21
John Embry, Alternate Publishing, begins publication of
Drummer magazine.
1975, June 4
Fred Halsted’s film Sextool opens at the Lincoln Art Theater in
New York City and at the O’Farrell Theater in San Francisco.
It will also be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New
York and at the San Francisco Art Institute and Joey Yale, its
star, will be featured on the cover of People magazine.
1975, July 4
The Federal Civil Service Commission bans the arbitrary
dismissal of, or refusal to hire, known homosexuals.
1975, July
The first Prairie Fire run jointly sponsored by 2nd City MC,
Chicago Knights MC and The Pride Chicago. [JR]
1975, Aug.
Robert Payne announces the film, and accompanying photo
book, The Pledge in Drummer #2.
1975, Aug.
Robert Opel’s “Requiem for a toolbox” in Drummer #2 is the
artist’s ode to the famed San Francisco leather bar.
1975, Aug.
Scott Masters’ story “Five in the Trainer’s Room” begins
serialization in Drummer #2. It runs for nine issues.
1975, Aug.
Robert Payne announces publication of a collection of still
photos from the film Sextool.
1975, Sept. 8
Leonard Matlovich appears on the cover of Time Magazine
with the bold print, “I Am a Homosexual.” Len’s story broke
on the front page of the New York Times and nationwide by
wire service on Memorial Day Monday of the same year.
1975, Sept. 19
Leonard Matlovich is discharged from the army for
homosexuality. They gave him a medal for killing a man and
kicked him out for loving one!
1975, Oct.
Drummer #3 includes the publication’s first masthead listing
Robert Payne as Publisher, Jeannie Barney as Editor in Chief,
and V. C. Kuemmel as Art Director. And it includes the
Magazine’s first centerfold, a collage of Target photos from
“The Pit” series shot in the so-named lower floor of Chicago’s
leather bar, the Gold Coast.
1975, Oct. 1
The Story of Q by Robert Payne is first published.
1975, Oct. 31
Val Martin is selected “Mr. Leather” in Los Angeles at the
Hawk’s annual Leather Sabat.
1975, Oct. 31
The Cycle Sluts are born in Los Angeles at a “Gay Girls Riding
Club” Halloween Costume ball, a significant step in leather
gender bending.
1975, Oct.-Dec.
The date on the first issue of the magazine Leather Bound.

1976
1976
Publication of The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An
Introduction, by Michel Foucault.
1976
Publication of RFM’s second Collection of SM short fiction by
himself and other authors.
1976
RFM publishes Two Bulls in a Male Harem by Robert Fraum.
This is the first in a trilogy of very heavy SM erotic novels.
1976
The Gage Brother’s film Kansas City Trucking Co., starring
Fred Halsted and Richard Locke, is released.
1976
Michael Zen’s film Falconhead is released.
1976
Publication of Mannespielen, a portfolio of art by Rex. This is
followed by Icons in 1977 and a sseries of Rex calendars. Rex
was published early by The Trading Post, then by the
Mineshaft in later years.
1976
Publication of Gay American History, Lesbians and Gay Men
in the USA by Jonathan Ned Katz, Revised edition 1992.
1976
Nick O’Demus, owner of A Taste Of Leather shop upstairs at
FeBe’s, opens The Trading Post at 960 Folsom in San
Francisco [R]
1976
Formation of Adventurers/Suncoast Florida; American
Leathermen MC of Houston; Companion MC, Philadelphia;
The Connecticut Copperheads; The Corn Haulers, Des Moines;
Dallas MC; East Anglia Bikers, UK; Falcons MC, Rhode
Island; FFA-CAC, DC; Glass City Champions (originally
International Roadmasters of Toledo); Griffin Motor Club,
Canberra, Australia; Jackaroos, Victoria, Australia; Knights of
Omaha; MSC Finland; MSC Groningen, Netherlands; New
York Coordinating Committee, Peregrine MC, Atlanta; 76ers,
San Bernadino, CA; South Pacific Rangers, SF; Silver Barons
MC, Reno; The Spirits of St. Louis; SLC Stuttgart; SLM
Norway; The Tarnsmen, Baltimore; Trojans MSC, Toronto;
and Valley Knights MC, Sacramento.
1976
Bar openings include: Badlands, NYC; and The Boston Eagle.
1976
The NY Eagle begins Sunday brunch and Tea Dance.
1976
The Slot, a very leather “hotel” sex club, opens on Folsom near
6th in San Francisco. And a sex club called “The Hotel” opens
in San Francisco. In 1979, it changes its name to the Handball
Express. [R]
1976, Jan 1
At a New Year’s Eve party at the Second City MC clubhouse
in Chicago, Andrew Charles and Tony DeBlase, who had
sighted each other in the last few seconds of 1975, and who had
been lip locked through the transition, meet and begin what is,
as of January 1999, a 23+ year partnership.
1976, Jan.
Full Moon Night at Larry’s, Los Angeles’ popular leather bar,
becomes so crowded it is changed to admission by invitation
(and reservation) only.
1976, Feb.
In Detroit, a jury awards $200,000 to a man who claimed that
an auto accident, in which his car was rear ended, turned him
into a homosexual. [TOL]
1976, March
Drummer #5 includes the first cartoon strip by British artist Bill
Ward. The strip is titled “King”.
1976, March
Drummer #5 includes the first installment of “Babysitter” by
Phil Andros, with art by Chuck Arnett.
1976, March
“Lautrec in Leather,” a collection of drawings by Chuck
Arnett, is advertised in Drummer #5.
1976, March
Eons Gallery, Los Angeles’ erotic art gallery, has its first show:
photographs by Robert Opel.
1976, March 4
Man Friday, a Broadway musical in which Friday offers his
body to Robinson Crusoe, flops.
1976, March 8
After long court battles in Seattle, the Washington State Police
drop bars against hiring homosexuals.
1976, April 10
Los Angeles Police Department raids a Slave Auction being
held at the Mark IV baths as a fund-raiser sponsored by
Drummer magazine. This is a major case of police overkill as
the resulting legal actions show.
1976, April 13
San Francisco Police Chief Charles Gain urges homosexuals on
his force to come out of the closet and show that gays can be
good cops.
1976, June
SM Dungeon Devices, an illustrated catalog of SM toys is
published by The Trading Post in San Francisco.
1976, July
Robert Opel covers a Leather Wedding at Griff’s, a popular
Los Angeles leather bar, in Drummer #7.
1976, July
“Famous Sadists in History” series starts in Drummer #7.
1976, July
Publication of the first issue of Package, Fred Halsted’s
“Journal of Men, Fact & Opinion.” It lasts 6 issues, through
January 1977.
1976, July
Three gay men in a Des Moines restaurant are charged with
disturbing the peace after they winked at two heterosexual men
who claimed the wink made them nauseated. [TOL]

1976, Sept.
A California Court of Appeals orders two men who had been
arrested on lewd conduct charges for kissing in public to
register with the state as sex offenders. [TOL]
1976, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club celebrates its 5th anniversary by holding
a weekend long event featuring a Saturday night SM party at a
remote campground. Called Inferno 5, this is first of what are
to become the most infamous and exclusive male SM play
events.
1976, Sept.
The Gold Coast, Chicago’s premier leather bar, celebrates its
15th anniversary with a week long party later detailed in
Drummer #9.
1976, Sept.
Drummer #8 features a photo spread of the gay leather world’s
best known tattoo artist, Cliff Raven, painting tattoos on Val
Martin.
1976, Sept.
Alan Eagles takes over the “Movie Mayhem” series in
Drummer #8 and the series takes flight.
1976, Sept.
“Many Happy Returns” by Phil Andros, illustrated by Chuck
Arnett, is published in Drummer #8.
1976, Sept.
Blueboy magazine, a Miami based gay nude glossy, publishes
an SM issue—it is a fiasco.
1976, Oct.
The Cycle Sluts are featured in Drummer #9, including a cover
photo of one of the leather gender benders. Publisher John
Embry, many years later, claims this photo is responsible for #9
being one of the worst selling issues in the magazine’s history.
1976, Oct.
Drummer #9 includes the first “Erotic Dots,” in which the
reader connects the numbered dots to reveal an often
otherwise-unprintable drawing. This, like most but not all of
the “Erotic Dots,” is by the artist Sean.
1976, Oct.
Drummer #9 includes the first part of the serial “The Great SM
Murder Mystery” by John Rowberry & Rue Dyllon. The series
stops, uncompleted, in Drummer #11. This is the first time
Rowberry’s name appears in Drummer, the magazine he will
serve and influence over many coming years.
1976, Oct. 26
The Mineshaft in New York City opens. This after-hours club
allowed and encouraged virtually all forms of sexual activity
among its hot male patrons. It was a mecca for leather/SM
types in the Eastern US and Canada. Closed in Nov. 1985.
1976, Nov.?
The cover of Drummer #10 spotlights a new artist, Rex, using a
drawing he did for the Trading Post poster. But the masthead
does not yet include his name.
1976: Nov.?
Drummer #10 features the artist Etienne, with a centerfold and
several additional pages of his artwork.
1976, Dec.?
Drummer #11 spotlights the first Bill Ward cartoon strip under
the title “DRUM”.
1976, Dec. 1
Willard Eugene Allen is released from a Florida mental
hospital after being incarcerated for 26 years for having sex
with another man. Although the statute under which he was
arrested had been repealed almost 20 years earlier, state
authorities had ignored doctor’s suggestions that he be
released. [TOL]
1977
1977
Formation of Ambassadors of Goodwill MC, Boston; Avengers
MC West, Claremont, CA; Black Angels Koln; The Black
Guard, Minneapolis; Boomer MC, Darwin, Northern Territory,
Australia; Force-5, Palo Alto; Friends of Leather and Denim
Club of Montreal; Guardians MC, New Haven; II MC Berlin;
Lancers MC, New Orleans; Leatheriders Bike Club, Victoria,
Australia; The London Blues, UK, MC Faucon, Montreal;
Meisters der Manner, Orlando; Missouri Association of Clubs,;
Mobile Man Van Club, Detroit; MSC Rotterdam; Nimbus
Cycle Club, Grand Rapids; Nutcrackers MC, Indianapolis;
Pennsmen, Harrisburg, Phoenix Uniform Club, SF; SLM
Goteborg; SMBB International, Northampton, UK; South
Orange Bikers, Santa Ana, CA; Texas Cadre, Austin; and
Tsarus/Memphis. Colts MC of Ft Lauderdale disbands.
1977
Founding of American Uniform Association (AUA) in New
York City. [JWB]
1977
Run premiers include First Links MC’s Leather Cocktails in
NYC; Lone Star in Texas; The Philadelphians’ Tri Cen; and
Prairie Fire in Chicago.
1977
Bar openings include Dirty Edna’s Stampede, NYC; Boots, Los
Angeles; and The Brig, SF (formerly the No Name). Folsom
Prison, SF, closes.
1977
Peter Adair creates Word is Out, a feature-film documentary
portraying gay men and lesbians in a positive light.
1977
Doric Wilson’s play The West Street Gang is produced in
NYC.
1977
The Balcony, a bar at 2166 Market St. in San Francisco opens
and becomes the prime hang out for the fisting crowd. [R]
1977
Publication of the first issue of Action Male magazine, the
successor to Gay Bondage, edited by Tau (Jim-Ed Thompson).
1977
Publication of Midnight Express by Billy Hayes, which
documents his experiences in a Turkish prison. The later movie
of the same title starring Brad Davis, while most interesting
and enjoyable, differs greatly from the book.

1977
Publication of The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy.
1977
Publication of the first issue of Piercing Friends International
Quarterly magazine (PFIQ) by Gauntlet Enterprises, the Los
Angeles-based manufacturer of piercing jewelry.
1977
Art by Olaf is first published in Drummer #13.
1977
“SM Gym” by G. B. Misa begins serialization in Drummer #14
and continues through issue #28!
1977
A drawing by the artist A. Jay is featured on the cover of
Drummer #15, his first appearance in the magazine he will later
art direct.
1977
Art work by The Hun is first published in Drummer # 15.
1977
Drummer #15 includes a drawing by Skipper, depicting a hard
hat with nails etc. piercing all parts of his body. This is the first,
and one of the very few, published works by this prolific
southern California artist who focused on very violent SM
scenes.
1977
Robert Payne interviews John Rechy, author of The Sexual
Outlaw, in Drummer #16.
1977
A. Jay’s cartoon strip “Harry Chess” begins its run in Drummer
#16.
1977
Kurt Kreisler’s “My Brother, My Slave” begins serialization in
Drummer # 16.
1977
A folio of bondage drawings by Tom Hinde is included in
Drummer #16.
1977
A new edition of Robert Payne’s Story of Q, beautifully
illustrated by Olaf, is published.
1977
Al Shapiro, a.k.a. A. Jay, becomes Art Director of Drummer
starting with issue #17.
1977
Art by Go Mishima is first published in Drummer #17.
1977
“Trapped” by Houston Smith begins serialization in Drummer
#18.
1977
Fist Goodbody’s Traveling Torture Show, a 33 RPM record is
issued. This is a Bolero-like crescendo of male moans and
screams that is remarkably well done in spite of the genderbender
album cover and other hype.
1977
Fred Halsted begins writing a column in Drummer #18.
1977
Jack Fritscher becomes Editor in Chief of Drummer beginning
with issue #19.
1977
Drawings by the artist Matt first appear in Drummer #20.
1977
Salo, Pasolini’s film version of de Sade’s 120 Days in Sodom,
is released in the US. The film includes explicit stories and
scenes of humiliation, scat, torture, and more. However even
more such scenes have been cut to get past American censors.
1977
Drummer magazine moves from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
1977
Photographs by David Hurles, a.k.a. Old Reliable, are first
published in Drummer #21.
1977
The art of Tom of Finland is featured in a show at Robert
Opel’s Fey-Wey Studios in San Francisco. Opel interviews
Tom in Drummer #22.
1977
Hard Corps by Michael Grumley & Ed Gallucci is published.
1977
Publication of the second part of RFM’s autobiography, Life of
a Masochist.
1977
Andreas Spengler publishes a short English version of his
sociological study on gay sadomasochists in “Manifest
Sadomasochism of Males: Results of an Empirical Study.” This
article is the foundation of modern empirical research on SM.
Spengler is the first to describe sadomasochists not as sick
individuals but as members of a sexual minority that forms
complex subcultures, thereby contradicting psychiatric theory
since Krafft-Ebing. The gay selection bias in the study leads
him to conclude that there are no female sadomasochists, a
view that will be held by psychoanalysts and sociologists alike
until 1985. [wd]
1977, Jan.
Jeannie Barney leaves as Editor of Drummer. John Embry’s
name first appears as Publisher in issue #12 although he is, in
fact, the founder of the magazine..
1977, Jan.
Ellen Marie Barrell is ordained as an Episcopal Priest. She is
the first out lesbian ordained by a major Christian
denomination. [TOL]
1977, Jan.
Eons Gallery in Los Angeles holds Tom of Finland show and
publishes the Tom of Finland 1978 calendar. Tom attends the
opening and meets Durk Dehner who later becomes his partner
in establishing the Tom of Finland Foundation.
1977, Jan. 2
Folsom Prison, one of San Francisco’s best known leather bars,
closes.
1977, Feb. 7
U. S. State Dept. announces it will no longer automatically bar
gays and lesbians from employment. [JR]

1977, Feb. 14
Anita Bryant forms “Save our Children” to fight Miami’s gay
rights ordinance, and ignites a counter movement that brings
together gay men and women in unprecedented numbers to
stand up for their rights.
1977, May 25
The Everard Baths, one of New York City’s best known gay
bath houses, and one of the most leather friendly, burns, killing
several patrons and staff.
1977, June 7
Newly won gay rights legislation in Miami is rescinded
following Anita Bryant’s antigay campaign.
1977, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 6.
1977, Dec. 16
The province of Quebec passes a statute banning discrimination
against gay individuals in employment, housing and public
accommodations.
1978
1978:
Thomas S. Weinberg publishes an article on the “sociological
perspectives” on sadomasochism. The article is based on the
concept of “frames.” [wd]
1978
Publication of SM Truckers by Clay Caldwell, one of the many
gay male erotic publications of its time, but one worthy of
special attention for its exploration of the variety of leather
relationships. Six of these stories were reprinted in Drummer
#138 and #142-#146.
1978
Publication of 9 1/2 Weeks by Elizabeth McNeill. Published as
fiction but based upon a real encounter. The book is much more
interesting than the later, considerably watered down, movie.
1978
Publication of Behavior Modification: The Art of Mind
Murdering by Richard Camellion.
1978
Publication of the first issue of Bunkhouse, a magazine for the
Western-Levi Scene. It lasts for seven issues through 1981.
Joseph Bean, at Brush Creek Media, will revive the title in
1995.
1978
“Tough Shit” begins as a regular humor feature in Drummer
#23, continuing publisher John Embry’s commitment to
exposing the humorous side of leather/SM.
1978
Formation of Avengers MC East, Summit, NJ; Centurions,
Columbus; Destiny MC, Miami; Eagle MC, West Palm Beach;
FFA Philadelphia; Four Star MSC Belgium; Nickel City MSC,
Buffalo; Pegasus MC, Wichita; Pennsylvania Association of
Clubs; Phoenix Levi/Leather Club; Pocono Warriors, PA;
Reading Railmen, PA; Renaissance MC, Detroit; Rough Riders
MC, San Antonio; Royal Eagle, Montreal; Samois, SF; San
Francisco Wrestling Club; Scorpio Leather Club, Holyoke;
South Florida Council of Clubs; Stud MC, New Haven; Swamp
Fox MC, Columbia, SC; Toronto Motorcycle Riders; Trenton
Bulls MC; Trojans MSC, Montreal and Youngstown Exiles,
OH. Signs of Zodiac, Detroit, Disbands.
1978
Bar openings include: The Arena, SF; Clementine’s, St. Louis;
Half-Breed, NYC; The New Leather Loft, NYC; The Outlaw,
Detroit; Stall, Frankfurt Germany; Tiger’s Paw, New Orleans;
and The Watering Hole (formerly the Roundup) SF.
1978
Nine Plus clubhouse destroyed by fire in NYC.
1978
The first article on “The Quarters” in San Francisco, appears in
Drummer #24. This nearly mythical, though for a short time
actual, training center and boarding facility for slaves, depicted
a “Drummer” ideal.
1978
Drummer #24’s cover photo is by Robert Mapplethorpe, who
will later become a world-recognized photographer noted for
exploring SM images.
1978
Drummer announces a search for Mr. Drummer, the winner to
be picked from photos submitted by those wishing to enter.
1978
Drawings by Cavelo are first featured in Drummer # 27.
1978
“Prison Punk” by Frank O’Rourke begins serialization in
Drummer #27.
1978
Photos by Zeus studios are first published in Drummer #27.
1978
Publication of Le Masochisme Au Cinema by Jean Streff, in
France
1978
Stompers, New York City’s unique combination of boot store
and leather art gallery, holds a joint exhibit of the work of Tom
of Finland and Etienne. A later exhibit focuses on the erotic art
of Domino and Stompers publishes a catalog of his work.
1978
Drawings by Domino are first published in Drummer #29.
1978
The photography of Robert Mapplethorpe gets its first solo
show at Chrysler Museum.
1978
Gayle Rubin moves to San Francisco to begin studies of the
gay leathermen’s culture.
1978
The RoB Gallery opens in Amsterdam.
1978
The Pocono Warriors are founded in eastern Pennsylvania as a
combination of the older leather/levi/motorcycle social club
and the more current SM sex club.

1978
The Arena and the Black & Blue, two “leatherish” bars open in
San Francisco. [R]
1978
The Folsom St. Baths opens in San Francisco. By 1979 the club
is renamed the Sutro Baths, which is unique in having regularly
scheduled women’s nights and bisexual nights. [R]
1978
“Tough Customers” begins its long and popular run in
Drummer #25.
1978, June
The Rainbow (Gay Pride) flag, designed by Gilbert Baker, is
flown as a decorative element at the annual gay pride parade. It
later achieved national prominence when a gay man in West
Hollywood sued his landlords because they attempted to
prohibit him from flying his flag from his balcony.
1978, June 13
Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, and 16 other female sadomasochists
found the women’s SM group, Samois, in San Francisco. This
is the first known women’s SM group. [wd]
1978, June 14
The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office refuses to register the
magazine name Gaysweek, on the grounds that the name is
immoral. [TOL]
1978, June
The Windy City Wrestling Club is reorganized with a national
membership.
1978: July
MAFIA (Mid-America Fists In Action) founded. Holds first
meeting at Chicago Hellfire Club’s Inferno in September.
1978, Sept. 15 - 17
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 7.
1978, Oct.
The American Uniform Association holds its first annual AUA
Review. [JWB]
1978, Oct.
Publication of Chains of Brotherhood Around the World:
Worldwide L/L Club Directory. Compiled by Donovan Ash
and Glyn “Sudsy” Sudbery, this is the first attempt to list in one
publication basic data on all of the gay men’s leather/levi clubs
around the world.
1978, Nov 27
Harvey Milk, openly gay San Francisco Supervisor,
assassinated, along with mayor George Moscone, by former
Supervisor Dan White.
1979
1979
Andreas Spengler publishes “Sadomasochisten und ihre
Subkulturen,” the German, 129-page version of his study on
the sadomasochistic subculture. The detailed German text
explains that there is insufficient data to finally conclude there
are no female sadomasochists, a point lost in the English
version and subsequently on most researchers. [wd]
1979
The bar formerly known as the In Between, the No Name, and
by several other names over the years is purchased by Hank
Diethelm and is named The Brig, quickly becoming the most
popular heavy leather bar in San Francisco. It closes in 1986
not long after Diethelm is murdered by a trick.
1979
The Stables, The Watering Hole and the Trench open in San
Francisco. None has a long life but the two latter bars become
very popular with the water sports crowd. [R]
1979
A sex club called the Hothouse opens at 5th and Clara in San
Francisco [R]
1979
Formation of Castaways MC, Milwaukee; Chicago MOB (Men
of Brotherhood); Dolphin MC, Sydney; Excalibur of New
Jersey; The Inn Men, Akron, OH; Leathermen/Atlanta;
Minnesota Marauders, Minneapolis; New World Rubbermen,
Santee CA, later Port Townsend, WA); and St. Louis
Leathernecks. Northern Lights MC, Montreal disbands.
1979
The Pocono Warriors hold their first Whitewater Weekend,
which includes opportunities for whitewater rafting, and a very
well equipped dungeon space. The first organization after
Chicago Hellfire Club to formally include an SM sex party in
the activities.
1979
Satyrs MC, the country’s oldest, celebrates its 25th anniversary
in the Grand Ballroom of the docked ocean liner Queen Mary
in Long Beach CA.
1979
The Amsterdam Eagle opens
1979
Publication of Rushes by John Rechy, a novel many consider to
be strongly anti-SM.
1979
Publication of Project Lambda, a novel by Paul O’M. Welles.
1979
Publication in Germany of MS a novel by Christian
Pierrejouan.
1979
Publication of the first of a series of magazine size photo books
from Zeus studios featuring muscular men in bondage. The
series continues through 1986.
1979
The Robert Samuels gallery in New York City hosts the fifth
Tom of Finland show, the largest and most successful to date,
until the time came for payment and return of the unsold
pieces.
1979
“Mr. Benson” by John Preston, writing as Jack Prescot, begins
serialization in Drummer #29.
1979
Hundreds of the 1978 Tom of Finland calendar are left unsold.
Durk Dehner comes up with a scheme to cut off the calendar

and sell the beautifully printed drawings as a photo set and the
Tom of Finland company is born. [Hooven 95]
1979
Sasha Alyson starts Alyson Publications. Alyson is one of the
first publishers to welcome gay leather/SM works, including
those by John Preston and the lesbian SM book Coming to
Power.
1979
John Rowberry replaces Jack Fritscher as Editor of Drummer,
starting with issue # 31.
1979
Drawings by Dirk Dykstra, a.k.a. “Lazy Leo” and “Leo
Ravenswood,” first published in Drummer #31.
1979
It is a year for leather shop openings in San Francisco. Leather
Forever and Leatherworld open in the Castro district. And in
the Folsom area Taylor of San Francisco opens on Clementina,
and Alan Selby opens Mr. S Leather on 7th between Folsom &
Howard.
1979
Bette Midler records My Knight in Black Leather. [R]
1979, Feb.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is named an “honorary man” by
hosts during a visit to the Persian Gulf so “he” could visit areas
barred to women. [TOL]
1979, May
David Kloss, of San Francisco, is named the first International
Mr. Leather at the contest in Chicago. Durk Dehner, of Los
Angeles, is First Runner Up.
1979, May 20
The first International Mr. Leather Contest is held at Chicago’s
Radisson Hotel. David Kloss, representing The Brig in San
Francisco, wins the title. The runners up are Durk Dehner,
American Uniform Association, Los Angeles, and Jesse
Capello, Lafitte in Exile/Corral Bar, New Orleans.
1979, May 21
Dan White is convicted only of voluntary manslaughter in the
killing of Milk and Moscone. The conviction results in the
White Night riots by gay men in San Francisco.
1979, June
Drummer # 30 features Jack Fritscher’s “Meditations on Arthur
Tress” including several photos by this very homoerotic, and
leather suggestive, photographer.
1979, June
“Dykes on Bikes” make their first appearance in a Pride Day
Parade, in San Francisco. [TOL]
1979, July 7
Rod’s (bar) opens in Madison, WI. Not strictly a leather bar,
but leather-friendly and for years the best there is in Madison.
1979, July 8
Robert Opel shot and killed by a holdup man at his Fey-Wey
Studios, 1287 Howard St., San Francisco.
1979, Sept. 14-16
Chicago Hellfire Club’s Inferno 8 goes to a two night SM party
and Tony DeBlase creates a schedule of demonstrations,
contests, and a flea market to fill the intervening day. It is
covered extensively with text and photos by John Preston and
Tony DeBlase in Drummers #34 and 35. This is the first real
publicity on Inferno.
1979, Oct. 14
The first Lesbian and Gay March on Washington. Over
100,000 attend.
1979, Oct. 30
A Different Light Bookstore opens in Los Angeles. Joseph
Bean creates the first ads and hosts several of the earliest
author receptions. They will be the first bookstore to have a
separate Leather/SM section.
1979, Nov.
DungeonMaster a newsletter of male SM techniques, starts
publication. Fledermaus, a.k.a. Tony DeBlase, publisher,
editor, etc. He uses the phrase “Safe and Sane S&M” to
describe its subject matter.
1979, Dec. 1
Bent a play by Martin Sherman about the persecution of gays in
the Nazi concentration camps opens on Broadway.
1980
1980
Formation of Bacchus, St. Louis; Blackhawks MC, Rock Island
IL; Centurions LL MC Roanoke, VA; FFA of Miami; The 15
Association, SF; The Foot Fraternity, Gulf Coast Buccaneers
MC, Mississippi; HyBreeds of Rochester, NY; National
Association of Black and White Men Together; Northern
Lights, Edmonton, Alberta; Renaissance Men, Detroit; SMBB
International/Australia, NSW; Stingrays MC, West Palm
Beach, and Sundance Cattle Co., Houston.
1980
Bar openings include CCW, Detroit; J’s Bar, NYC, and
Rawhide, NYC. DC Eagle moves to 7th St. NW.
1980
Silver Anchor Enterprises, Inc. begins piercing jewelry
business out of Ft. Lauderdale.
1980
Publication of the first issue of Mach magazine by Alternate
publishing.
1980
Val Martin is named the first Mr. Drummer by publisher John
Embry. Entered in International Mr. Leather he places as first
runner up.
1980
The American Sociologist G. W. Levi Kamel theorizes that gay
sadomasochists develop their interests in a six step “career”
that begins with a disenchantment with the vanilla gay
community. [wd]

1980
The American woman’s rights group National Organization for
Women (NOW) publishes their “Delineation of Lesbian Rights
Issues 1980” confirming every women’s right to the
“actualization of her sexuality” but excluding sadomasochism.
NOW states that including sadomasochism would “violate the
feminist principles” on which it was founded, and claims that
sadomasochists are trying to “provide a premeditated structure
for violence.” [wd]
1980
Publication of:
What Color is Your Handkerchief by Samois. This anthology
on SM was the precursor to Coming to Power.
Harry Chess Vol. 1, a magazine-sized book collection of the
wonderful witty cartoon strips by A. Jay.
Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee, an unnerving
novel of torture and the “other”.
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy. The ritual of hazing
gone awry in a Military School.
Mr. Benson by John Preston in book form.
Old Time Punishments by William Andrews. Stocks, pillories,
dunking stools, etc.
The Barn 1948 And More Dirty Pictures by Blade, a catalog
published jointly by Stompers and Leslie-Lohman gallery.
Top Comedy & Bottom Burlesque a collection of cartoons on
SM by Bruce N. Duncan.
Folsom magazine, published by photographer Jim Moss. It
lasts for four issues.
1980
Cruising, a movie staring Al Pacino, depicting murder and
violence in Leather bars and among leather men, opens in New
York City, to loud protests by gay demonstrators.
1980, Feb.
The 15 Association formed in San Francisco by David Lewis
and others. It is an all male group dedicated to SM activity.
1980, Spring
Issue #4 of Chains of Brotherhood Around the World (#1 was
Oct. 1978) changes format to be more magazine-like, including
articles about clubs and an obituary of Gene Simonar, a well
known organizer and club activist in Chicago and the Mid
West.
1980, March 21
Cynthia Slater & Susan Thoraen rent the Catacombs for the
first mixed gender, mixed orientation SM play party. It is a
success and the parties continue until the Catacombs closes. [R]
1980, Apr. 18
The lesbian community in San Francisco holds a public debate
on sadomasochism. This is the first known public debate on
lesbian sadomasochism. [wd]
1980, May 10
The second International Mr. Leather Contest is held at
Chicago’s Radisson Hotel. Patrick Brooks, Mr. Leather
Australia, wins the title. The runners up are Joseph LoPresti,
Hardware Liquid Aroma, Chicago, and Val Martin, Mr.
Drummer, Los Angeles & San Francisco.
1980, Aug.
Brian O’Dell publishes a letter in New York City’s Gay
Community News which leads to the formation of GMSMA.
1980, Aug. 8 - 10
Chicago Hellfire Club’s Inferno 9 is held near Chicago. It is the
year of the “Gang of Four” but all goes well.
1980, Sept.
DungeonMaster #6 includes the phrase “safe and sane scenes”
to describe the objectives of the Safety Valve column. “Safe
and Sane S&M” is a phrase often used in subsequent issues to
describe the objectives of the publication.
1980, Oct.
Jack Fritscher begins publication of his little magazine
Man2Man, which lasts for eight issues.
1980, Nov. 10
A homophobic man fires an Uzi into the crowded Ramrod bar
on West Street in New York City, killing one and injuring
many leathermen.
1980, Dec.
Chains of Brotherhood publishes Chains #6 as a club-news
magazine and a separate Chains International L/L Directory in
the hope that Chains can be distrbuted more broadly than the
confidential member-only directory has been. Hoever, these
were the last publications from this group in Chicago.
1980, Dec.
Gay Male S/M Activists officially organized in New York City,
and holds its first public meeting on January 14, 1981.
1981
1981
Formation of Colorado Gay Rodeo Association, Confederation
of New York Area Clubs, Florida Brotherhood of Clubs,
Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) in New York City, Orlando;
GMSMA, NYC; Satyricons MC, Las Vegas; SMGays, London;
Stillettos, Jacksonville, FL; and Stingrays, NJ. Elegabulus NC,
Norwood Australia, and South Florida Council disband.
1981
Bar openings include Spike, Munich and Stellwerk, Berlin.
Also, Buddy Bar in Berlin and Tiger’s Bar in New Orleans
close.
1981
The Drummer Key Club, a male leather version of the Playboy
clubs, opens at Folsom & 11th in San Francisco. Advertised as
the first of a nationwide chain, others never open, and this
address (formerly The Covered Wagon, a lether-friendly sex
club with a swimming pool) quickly evolves into a series of
more typical leather bars: Drummaster, then the Gold Coast,
and finally the Compound, a private sex club which closed in
1984. [R]
1981
Publication of Whitewater Run by Victor Terry, a fictionalized
portrayal of the Pocono Warriors Whitewater Weekend Run.
1981
San Francisco Eagle founded. At the time it was just one of the
many leather bars in the city, but it has endured to become the

oldest leather bar in San Francisco. Closes as Eagle and, under
new owners, becomes Eagle Tavern in 1998.
1981
Coming to Power, a collection of articles on SM, is published
by the San Francisco-based women’s SM organization Samois.
1981
Publication of Anal Pleasure & Health, by Jack Morin Ph.D. a
guide for both men and women.
1981
Publication of Aaron Travis’ most famous short story, “Blue
Light,” in Drummer #44.
1981
Death of Tony Taverossi, one of the inventors of the leather
bar, from AIDS related pneumonia.
1981
Advocate reporter Randy Shilts becomes the first out gay
reporter at a major daily newspaper in the U. S. when he is
hired by the San Francisco Chronicle. [TOL]
1981, June
Ray Pereyra is named the second Mr. Drummer in the first Mr.
Drummer Contest.
1981, April 4
A performance art space named, and located at, 544 Natoma,
opens in San Francisco. The performance pieces, including
play parties, are usually leather oriented and often feature
members of the Rainbow MC. It closes on 6 October 1983. [R]
1981, May 9
The third International Mr. Leather Contest is held at Chicago’s
Park West. Marty Kiker, representing the Brig and The
Phoenix in San Francisco, wins the title. The runners up are
Bill Shepherd, The Stud, Los Angeles, and Boyd Turner, Great
Lakes Products, San Francisco.
1981, June 5
Morbidity & Mortality Weekly, announces the mysterious
presence of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in five gay men in
Los Angeles.
1981, July 3
The New York Times publishes the first article on “the Gay
Cancer,” the first public news of what was to become known as
AIDS.
1981, July 10
A major fire on Folsom St. destroys homes (and art and photos
and whips, etc.) of Rex, Mark I. Chester, and many other
leathermen.
1981, Aug. 28
Steve McEachern has a heart attack at the Catacombs while
engaged in a private scene with his lover Fred Haramb. He dies
and the Catacombs closes.
1981, Sept.
Chicago Conference of Clubs holds first Wild Onion run near
Chicago.
1981, Oct.
German SM lesbians meet and decide to create address
distribution centers in various cities as a form of infrastructure.
This is the first known attempt at organization among German
SM lesbians. [wd]
1981, Oct.
Publication of the first issue of Houston Club Scene by Jerry
Zagst in Houston, TX. The intention is to inform leather/levi
clubs around the U. S. about activities of similar clubs in the
Houston area. (See also, June 1982.)
1981, Oct. 9-12
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 10 under canvas at a new
location in Michigan on Columbus Day weekend. It is too cold
for outdoor nudity! Bill Kerr of New York City receives the
first Caligula Award.
1981, Oct. 10
Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein opens on Broadway.
1981, Oct 30
The Catacombs #2 opens at 736 Larkin in San Francisco. [R]
1981, Dec
GMSMA holds its first Bizarre Bazaar at the Mineshaft in New
York City.
1981. Dec.
The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus performs at Carnegie
Hall, the first openly gay group to appear there. [TOL]
1982
1982
Formation of Conductors LLC, Nashville; Corpus Christi MC;
County Men, Detroit; dreizehn, in Boston; Gaucho MC,
Tampa; Harbor Masters, Portland, ME; Leathermasters Inc.,
LA; Rainbow MC in San Francisco; Somandros, LA; Trident
International Detroit; and Tower City Corps, Cleveland, and
Vancouver Activists in SM, VASM, in Vancouver, BC.
1982
Rainbow MC founded in San Francisco. Rainbow differs from
most other contemporary gay motorcycle clubs in two ways:
most of its members were involved in the visual and/or
performing arts and its events were usually art “happenings.”
But its members also harkened back to the outlaw biker gangs
in appearance, forbidding fancy uniforms or washing of
overlays, which were frequently decorated with bodily
secretions. [R]
1982
The Danish SM-activist Maria Marcus’ book on SM is
translated into German as Die furchtbare Wahrheit: Frauen
und Masochismus. [wd]
1982
R. E. Linden’s Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist
Analysis is published in San Francisco.
1982
Release of the film Conan the Barbarian which opens with a
shot of a nearly naked Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Conan,
nailed, crucifix style, to a huge and gnarled tree. He tears
himself free from the nails. The movie is filled with other SM
images.

1982
Publication of The Rose Exterminator by William Carney, an
essentially unsuccessful sequel to The Real Thing.
1982
Publication by Larry Townsend of The Fledermaus Anthology,
a collection of explicitly gay male SM short stories by Tony
DeBlase writing as Fledermaus.
1982
Publication by Larry Townsend of The Mack Anthology,
featuring the fiction and superb erotic art of Mack.
1982
Publication of The Enema as an Erotic Art and its History by
David Barton-Jay. A coffee table book on enemas!
1982
Publication of A History of Erotic Literature by Patrick J.
Kearney.
1982
Luke Daniel of Los Angeles is named as the third Mr.
Drummer.
1982: Feb. 13
The Catacombs #3 opens on Shotwell St. in San Francisco. [R]
1982: Feb. 25
Wisconsin becomes the first state in the union to have
comprehensive gay rights legislation.
1982, May 8
The fourth International Mr. Leather Contest is held at
Chicago’s Park West. Luke Daniel, Mr. Drummer, Los
Angeles, wins the title. The runners up are Christian Winkel,
Mr. S. F. Eagle, and John Ponce, Mr. Northern California,
representing the Russian River Lodge in Guerneville, CA..
1982, June
Houston Club Scene (begun in October 1981) becomes Club
Scene Magazine with the publication of #5. The focus is
changed to report of men’s leather/levi club activities from all
over North America. It last until 1984.
1982, Aug.
Dr. Tom Waddell brings together thousands of gay men and
women for the first Gay Games. Originally called the Gay
Olympics the U. S. Olympic Committee brings suit to protect
their name. Hundreds of events around the world are called
“Olympics” but only the Gay Olympics has been singled out
for such prohibitions.
1982, Sept. 10-13
Chicago Hellfire Club returns to September dates and holds
Inferno 11 on two sites in Michigan. Ken Hocking of Sydney
Australia receives the Caligula Award.
1982, Oct.
Vancouver Activists in SM, a male SM group, is formed in
Vancouver, British Colombia.
1992, Oct. 25
Northern Ireland repeals its laws against sodomy. [TOL]
1982, late
Mixed Gender SM play parties resume at the Shotwell
Catacombs—SM House or Catacombs III—in San Francisco.
[R]
1983
1983
Formation of Avatar, LA; Cowtown Leathermen, Ft. Worth;
Dreizehn, Boston; Gryphons MC, Dayton, OH; Leather and
Lace, LA; Lords of Leather, New Orleans; Manchester Super
Chain, UK; and Tower City Corps, Cleveland.
1983
Samois, the nation’s first women’s SM organization, disbands
in San Francisco.
1983
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, an explicitly sexual and SM
filled novel, is published by a major publisher, who admits that
the author’s name, A. N. Roquelaure, is a pseudonym for a
very well known female author, much later revealed to be Ann
Rice. This is the first volume of what will become the Sleeping
Beauty trilogy.
1983
The American sociologists Thomas A. Wienberg and G. W.
Levi Kamel publish the first edition of Sadomasochism. Studies
in Dominance and Submission. The book summarizes the
historical research on SM and promotes the empirical
sociological viewpoint. [wd]
1983
Publication of The Correct Sadist by Terence Sellers.
1983, May 7
The fifth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in Chicago’s
Park West. Colt Thomas, representing The Officers Club of
Houston, TX, wins the title. The runners up are Lorn
Hardcastle representing The Outpost at Hotel California in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Stevve Roberts, Mr. San
Francisco Leather, representing The Brig.
1983, June
John Garger is chosen 1983 Mr. Drummer at a contest held at
the Russian River in northern California. First runner up David
Earl Lee, later assumes the title.
1983, July 14
Massachusetts congressman Gerry Studds comes out as a gay
man in a speech to the House, following charges linking him
with a male page.
1983, Aug. 17
An ad-hoc committee of GMSMA issues a report: “Proposed
New Statement of Identity and Purpose” using the phrase “safe,
sane, consensual.” [GK]
1983, Sept. 9 - 12
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 12 in Michigan. Ron
Bentley of Midland, Texas, receives the Caligula Award.
1983, Sept.
Publication in London of the first issue of SMART, A journal of
SM how-to modeled after DungeonMaster. It lasts for three
issues.

1983, Oct.
GMSMA switches its meeting site to the new New York City
Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center.
1984
1984
Formation of Arizona Gay Rodeo Association; California
Eagles, SF; Copperstate Leathermen, Phoenix; Defenders of
Mithra, Portland, OR; Disciples of DeSade, Dallas; GLSM
Hamburg; Golden State Gay Rodeo Association; Grand Rapids
Rivermen; The great Midwestern Society for the Promotion
and Proliferation of S&M; On Motor Club, Paris; The Outcasts,
SF; Pittsburgh MC; Severn Link MSC, Bristol, UK; SigMa,
DC; Tridents MC, Boston; Two Wheelers, Omaha; and
Wasatch Leathermen MC, Salt Lake City.
1984
The American medical philosopher Frederick Suppe shows that
all diagnosis included in the diagnostic groups of “paraphilias”
(perversions) can be substituted by other, nonsexual diagnosis.
He concludes that the current classification of sexual disorders
by the American Psychiatric Association in DSM-III is “merely
the codification of social mores.” [wd]
1984
An exhibit titled “Eldorado—Homosexual Women and Men in
Berlin 1850-1950, History, Everyday Life, and Culture” opens
at the Schwules Museum in Berlin. This is the first known
museum exhibition centering on homosexuality.
1984
Books Published:
Urban Aboriginals by Geoff Mains
Leather Blues: The adventures of Denny Sargent by Jack
Fritscher
Corporal in Charge of Taking Care of Captain O’Malley a
collection of short stories, by Jack Fritscher.
Beauty’s Punishment by A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice), the
second book in the Beauty trilogy.
The Mineshaft a novel by Tim Barrus.
The Raging Peace by Artemis Oakgrove, the first in the
Throne Trilogy of lesbian leatherish erotica.
The Brig by Mason Powell, a novel which had been
previously serialized in Drummer.
1984
Lady Thorn sponsors her first Bizarre Flea Market in San
Francisco.
1984
San Francisco closes bath houses and sex clubs in an effort to
limit the spread of AIDS. [R]
1984, Jan.
Staff writers at the Wall Street Journal were first allowed to
use the word “gay” instead of “homosexual.” [TOL]
1984, Spring
Publication of Leather and Levi Brotherhood Around the U. S.
A. & the World by Patrick A. Savino in San Francisco. This is
patterned on the Chains of Brotherhood club directories and
obviously intended to fill the gap left by their demise. This is
the only issue I have ever seen.
1984, Apr. 21
“Farewell Catacombs, Fuck You World!” party held at the
Catacombs as its final event. [R]
1984, May 27
The sixth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Park West. Ron Moore, Mr. Leather Colorado,
representing the Men of Leather in Denver, wins the title. He is
the first black man to hold an international leather title. Died:
Feb. 25, 1997. The runners up are Michael Merriott, Mr. South
of Market, representing The Arena Bar in San Francisco, and
Jake Banks, Mr. Leather S. F., representing The Brig.
1984, June
Sonny Cline of San Francisco becomes Mr. Drummer 1984 at
the contest in San Francisco.
1984, June
GMSMA organizes its first Leather Pride Night in New York
City.
1984, June 25
Michael Foucault dies at the age of 57 of AIDS in Paris,
France. [wd]
1984, Sept. 7 - 10
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 13 in Michigan. David
Lewis of Dallas receives the Caligula Award.
1984, Sept.
The first Folsom Street Fair is held in San Francisco.
1984, Oct 5-8
American Uniform Association’s 7th Annual Review is held in
Denver.
1985
1985
Formation of Hartford Colts; Krewe de Cuir, SF; Men in Boots,
Vancouver BC; MSC Iceland; PEP, Phoenix; River City
Outlaws, San Antonio; Seattle Dungeon Guild; Texas
Renegades, Houston; and Total Devotion and Alliance Club of
Atlanta.
1985
People Exchanging Power (PEP) an SM club open to all
genders and orientations is founded in Phoenix by Nancy Ava
Miller, who goes on to found several similar organizations
across the country.
1985
Founding in Los Angeles of The Tom of Finland Foundation, a
not for profit corporation formed to preserve the art of Tom of
Finland, and to promote erotic art and artists.
1985
The Defenders of Mithra begin sponsorship of the Oregon State
Leather Woman title.
1985
Books Published:
Beauty’s Release the third in the Beauty trilogy by A. N.
Roquelaure (Anne Rice).
Exit to Eden by Anne Rampling, which turns out to be another
pseudonym for Anne Rice.

Slaves of the Empire by Aaron Travis in book form after
being serialized in Drummer.
Physical Interrogation Techniques by Richard W. Krousher.
A how-to manual for interrogation & torture.
Torture by Edward Peters.
Torture in Brazil a secret study by the Archdiocese of Sao
Paolo, English edition in 1986.
1985
Norman Breslow and colleagues become the first researchers to
report the existence of non-prostitute female sadomasochists.
Their results, which contradict one of the most cherished
beliefs among Freudians, behaviorists, and sociologists are not
accepted by the research community until the late 1990s [wd]
1985
The Fraser Report, Report of Special Commission on
Pornography and Prostitution, is issued in Canada. It sets three
tiers of “obscenity.” Sexually violent or “degrading” activities
are deemed worse than everything except child pornography.
1985
Leon Golub retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Chicago. Golub’s subject matter is larger than life size
canvases of instances of torture, often based on actual cases.
1985
Artist Daniel Kelly retrospective at Corsh Gallery in Chicago.
Kelly’s art blends religious, sexual and SM themes.
1985
Peter Thomas begins his lengthy service as Coordinator of the
Mid America Conference of Clubs. [RR]
1985, Jan.
The first Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather contest held in Washington
DC. Sponsored by Centaur MC.
1985: May 12
A pink granite memorial to the homosexual victims of Nazi
concentration camps is unveiled in Germany.
1985, May 26
The seventh International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Park West. Patrick Toner, Mr. Chaps, representing
Chaps (bar) in San Francisco, wins the title. The runners up are
Joe Ciarleglio, Mr. Long Beach Leather, representing Southern
California Bartenders, La Habra, CA, and Richard Hennigh,
Mr. Leather S. F., representing The Brig. Toner is frequently
credited with moving the titleholder system into the age of
AIDS and community politics by turning his title into a
platform for raising both funds and awareness. Of course, fundraising
at contests was not new with Patrick, but he clearly
raised the standard.
1985, June
Steve Reiswig of Seattle becomes the 6th Mr. Drummer at the
contest in San Francisco.
1985, June 29
The French National Assembly passes a bill prohibiting
discrimination against gay men and lesbians.
1985, July
Ringold Alley, a favorite nighttime cruising ground for
leathermen, is the site of the first Ringold Alley Fair, a charity
fund-raisers sponsored by Up Your Alley Productions, a group
in which IML 85 Patrick Toner plays a very prominent role.
1985, Sept. 6 - 9
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 14 in Michihgan. Harold
Cox of Wilkes Barre, PA, receives the Caligula Award.
1985, Nov.
The Mineshaft is closed by New York City officials for
“health” reasons.
1985, Nov. 11
GMSMA holds its first Leatherfest in New York City.
1985, Nov. 13
Margret Roff, an out lesbian, is elected Mayor of Manchester
England. The first out gay or lesbian to be elected to mayoral
office in Great Britain. [TOL]
1986
1986
Formation of Bournemouth LSMC, UK; Club Mud, Rio Nido,
CA; Essex Leather MSC, UK; Der Ledermeister, Syracuse NY;
The National Leather Association, Seattle; Portland Power and
Trust, OR; and Utica Tri’s NY.
1986, Jan 10
GLAAD, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is
established in New York City.
1986
Portland Power and Trust, a woman to woman SM organization
is formed in Portland Oregon by Sallee Huber, Sashie Hyatt,
and Judy Tallwing McCarthy.
1986
Lee Willis begins The Studworks in Seattle and quickly
becomes recognized as the foremost artisan at creating studded
leather work.
1986
Sexual Magic, a collection of SM photographs together with
thoughts about SM by the subjects of the photos, most of whom
are members of the SM organization Janus, is self published by
San Francisco photographer Michael A. Rosen.
1986
Sex Magick, a collection of poems by Ian Young is published in
Toronto.
1986
Publication of The Sexual Perspective, Homosexuality and Art
in the last 100 years in the West by Emmanuel Cooper, Second
Edition 1994.
1986
Publication in Paris, France, of Rexwerk, a volume of drawings
by Rex with text in English and French.
1986
The film 91/2 Weeks, directed by Adrian Lyne, staring Kim
Basinger and Mickey Rourke opens in the USA. [wd]
1986, May 25
The eighth International Mr. Leather Contest is held at
Chicago’s Park West. Scott Tucker, representing the Bike Stop
of Philadelphia wins the title. Jim Ed Thompson, Mr. S. F.

Leather 1986, represneting the Powerhouse in San Francisco
(former editor of Gay Bondage and Action Male) is first runner
up. Second runner up is Peter Gallo, representing the Detour in
Los Angeles. Gallo was the first runner up ini the Mr. Southern
California Drummer contest.
1986: Apr. 15
Death of French writer Jean Genet who had spent most of his
adolescence and young adulthood in prison. A prolific writer
his works were filled with raw sexuality, often with SM
overtones. Examples are his play The Balcony and the novels A
Thief’s Journal, Our Lady of the Flowers, and Querelle of
Brest. (Birth: Dec. 19, 1910)
1986, June
Mike Murray of San Diego becomes the 7th Mr. Drummer at
the contest in San Francisco.
1986, June
The National Leather Association is formed in Seattle by Steve
Maidhof with the help of a few other leather men and women.
1986, June 30
The US Supreme Court upholds Georgia’s sodomy laws in a 5-
4 ruling on the conviction of Michael Hardwick for activities
that took place in the privacy of his own bedroom.
1986, July 4
New Zealand passes a homosexual law reform bill extending
basic rights to gay men and lesbians.
1986, Aug. 22
Desmodus Inc. (Tony DeBlase & partner), publisher of
DungeonMaster, purchases Drummer, Mach, and Foreskin
Quarterly magazines from Alternate Publishing (John Embry).
Desmodus relocates from Chicago to San Francisco.
1986, Sept. 5 - 8
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 15 Michigan. John
Enteman of New York City receives the Caligula Award.
1986, Oct.
The first Living in Leather Conference is hosted in Seattle by
the newly formed National Leather Association.
1986, Nov.
GMSMA spearheads organizing a special Leather-S/M
contingent for the 1987 March on Washington.
1986, Fall
Seattle Leather Woman title begins.
1986, Fall
In a literature survey from 1977 to 1984, Breslow and
colleagues can only find five empirical studies on
sadomasochism. Of these, only one study (Spengler 1977)
gives enough data to be evaluated or replicated. In their own
study on male sadomasochists, Breslow and colleagues point
out that there is no data that would justify subdividing
sadomasochists into groups such as sadist and masochist based
on role preference. [wd]
1987
1987
Formation of Boston Ducks; Diablo DV8’s, Walnut Creek CA;
Firedancers LLC, Dallas; Griffins MC, DE; and Trident
International LA.
1987
First International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) Finals
Rodeo.
1987
The British police conclude Operation Spanner with the arrests
of several gay men participating in a private party where
consensual SM was going on.
1987
Desmodus Inc. and Zeus Studios jointly publish a volume of
still photos from Chicago Hellfire Club’s Inferno 15.
1987
The Schwules Museum in Berlin begins publication of Capri, a
periodical dedicated to gay history.
1987
Publication of:
The Green Hotel by Gordon Hoban writing as Tom Hardy.
Hell’s Angels by Yves Lavigne
Slavery in the Arab World by Murray Gordon in France, first
American edition 1989.
1987
The sexologist Charles Moser and psychologist Eugene E.
Levitt publish the results of an empirical study on
sadomasochists. [wd]
1987
The German SM-group Suendikat Hamburg is formed. By
1995, it will have about 100 members, roughly half of them
women. This is the first known heterosexual SM group in
Germany. [wd]
1987, Feb. 2
First Portland Leather Woman contest won by Judy Tallwing
McCarthy.
1987, Feb 11
Death of D. Lyn Sterling, known as “The Leathermaker.” He
originated many unique designs in leather clothing (and toys),
including chaps with the zippers on the outside! and was for
many years Leathermaker to the stars in Los Angeles. [LJ 93]
1987, Mar. 21
Judy Tallwing McCarthy of Portland, OR, is named the first
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1987, Mar. 24
The newly formed ACT UP holds its first demonstration in
New York City.
1987: Mar. 25
Robert D. Reite begins SM Board in Los Angeles, one of the
first telephone bulletin boards specifically catering to SM men.
SM board is now accessible by Direct dial, Telnet, and the
World Wide Web. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1997.

1987: May
David Rhodes begins publication of The Leather Journal in
Los Angeles.
1987, May
The National Leather Association holds its first May Day
conference in Seattle. T. K. Cuellar is named the first Mr.
National Leather Association and Jan Brown of Vancouver,
BC, is named the first Ms National Leather Association.
1987, May 24
The ninth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Park West. Thomas Karasch of Hamburg, Germany,
Mr. Leather Europe 1987, representing MSC Hamburg, wins
the title. The runners up are Michel Rousse, Mr. Mid-Atlantic
Leather, representing Centaur MC of Washington, DC. (Rousse
is from Montreal, Quebec, Canada), and Ken Gordon, Seattle
Mr. Leather 1987, representing Sparks of Seattle, WA.
1987, May 23
“The Best Little Warehouse in Texas” party is held in Houston.
Sponsored primarily by Houston-area associate members of
Chicago Hellfire Club, the men-only SM play party is a huge
success.
1987, June
Mark Alexander of Los Angeles becomes the 8th Mr. Drummer
at the contest in San Francisco.
1987
Following the traffic of leathermen cruising, Up Your Alley
moves its San Francisco leather charity street fair from Ringold
Alley to Dore Alley, across from the Powerhouse.
1987, Aug. 1
The first Mr. & Ms Vancouver (BC) Leather Contest is held.
1987, Aug. 7
Over a hundred people protest a British law against same sex
hand holding and other public displays of affection by holding
a “kiss-in” at London’s Picadilly Circus. [TOL]
1987, Aug. 28-31
NLA’s Living In Leather II is held in Seattle. Tony DeBlase of
San Francisco, and Susie Bright of Denver, are named NLA
Man and Woman of the year.
1987, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 16 in Michigan. Robin
Tutt of Fire Island Pines, NY, receives the Caligula Award.
1987, Oct. 10
A National Leather Conference is held in Washington, DC, on
the day before the March on Washington. Barry Douglas of
GMSMA is the prime organizer, NLA organizes the panels.
Judy Tallwing McCarthy gives the keynote address. Thousands
attend and, the next day, march for the first time behind a
banner using the phrase “Safe-Sane-Consensual.”
1987, Oct. 11
Hundreds of thousands, including thousands of leather people
of all orientations, march and rally in Washington DC for the
1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights.
1987, Nov.
Publication of the first issue of Bound & Gagged: Erotic
Adventures in Male Bondage, published and edited by Bob
Wingate, who was then the President of the New York
Bondage Club. The NYBC has moved on to other officers, but
Bound & Gagged is still going strong under Wingate’s
leadership.
1988
1988
Formation of Atlanta S&M Solidarity (ASS); COMMAND,
Baltimore; Panthers L/L, Atlanta; Gay Male S/M Cooperative
(GMSMC), Philadelphia; New York Bondage Club; and
Southbay Leather and Uniform Group (SLUG), San Jose.
Knights Templar, SF, disbands.
1988
Jaye Evans opens the Atlanta Eagle as the first definite leather
bar in that city.
1988
Establishment of the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell
University Library. David B. Goodstein, longtime publisher of
The Advocate, and Bruce Voeller, early leader of the National
Gay Task Force, are the driving forces behind its creation. The
Mariposa Education and Research Foundation donated its huge
collection of papers, photographs, art, films, etc. to form the
core of the new Cornell collection.
1988
John Stout, a gay man living in West Hollywood, wins a legal
battle with his landlord over his right to fly a rainbow flag from
his apartment balcony. [TOL]
1988
Publication of The Lesbian SM Safety Manual edited by Pat
Califia.
1988
Publication of The Tom of Finland Retrospective a coffee table
book on Tom’s art and life.
1988
Publication of First Hand Events #1 in magazine format,
featuring the International Mr. Leather contest. Issue #2, also
published in 1988, covers the Gay Rodeo circuit. No further
issues were published.
1988
Publication of Ecclesia Militans: The Inquisition by Miroslav
Hroch and Anna Skybova in Germany. English edition in 1990.
1988, Jan
Desmodus Inc. publishes the first issue of The Sandmutopia
Guardian and Dungeon Journal, an SM how-to publication
similar to DungeonMaster but written for all genders and
sexual orientations. Carol Truscott is editor.
1988, Feb.
Barry Douglas of New York City and Cookie Andrews-Hunt of
Seattle are named the Leather Journal man and woman of the
year. These are the Leather Journal’s first such awards and the
beginning of what will grow into the Pantheon of Leather
awards. This year, at another date, International Ms Leather,
Inc. is named Club of the Year, an honor which will also
become a Pantheon award in time.

1988, Feb. 24
Lambda Delta Lambda at the University of California, Los
Angeles, becomes the first lesbian sorority to gain official
recognition from a US college or university. One month later,
the first (admittedly) gay college fraternity will be formed.
[TOL]
1988, Feb. 10
The Gold Coast, Chicago’s best known leather bar, closes after
28 years of operation.
1988, Feb. 13
A conference of Leather-S/M men and women is held in
Dallas, an outgrowth of the October 1987 conference in
Washington, DC. Its purpose is to organize a national
organization. After two days of heated debate a statement of
purpose and some organizational guidelines are adopted, and a
steering committee is elected. The group begins functioning
under the name Safe Sane Consensual Adults, SSCA.
1988, March
Shan Carr of Portland, Oregon, is selected as the second
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1988, March
Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, repeals a law dating back to
British Mandate-era Palestine that declared as illegal sex
between consenting adults of the same gender. Homosexuality
is now legal in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.
1988, May
NLA’s May Day Conference in Seattle, Steve Maidhof and
Cheri Mattise are selected as Mr. and Ms NLA.
1988, May
Dave Pallone, a 10 year veteran National League umpire, is
fired because of his homosexuality.
1988, May 29
The tenth International mr. Leather contest is held in Chicago’s
Vic Theater. Michael Pereyra, Mr. Leather San Diego,
representing Hard Labor and other sponsors, wins the title. The
runners up are Pete Morrison, Mr. Gauntlet II of Los Angeles,
CA, and Brian Dawson, Floyd’s Mr. Leatherman 1988, of
Long Beach, CA.
1988, June 21
Art Agnos, Mayor of San Francisco, Declares Alan Selby Day
to honor the man often called the “Mayor of Folsom St.”
1988, Aug.
GMSMA establishes the Hocutt-Ferguson fund to assist leather
people with AIDS.
1988, Sept. 24
The Mr. Drummer contest is switched from the June’s Gay
Pride weekend to coincide with the Folsom Street Fair in
September. In advertising, Tony DeBlase begins calling it “San
Francisco Leather Pride Weekend”. Ron Zehel of Columbus,
OH, becomes the 9th Mr. Drummer.
1988, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 17 in Michigan. Wally
Wallace of New York City, receives the Caligula Award.
1988, Oct. 8-10
NLA’s Living in Leather III Conference is held in Seattle. Alan
Selby and Gayle Rubin, both of San Francisco, are named NLA
man and woman of the year.
1988, Oct. 10
The SSCA steering committee merges with the National
Leather Association, SSCA members are added to the NLA
board of directors and the NLA accepts the statement of
purpose adopted at the Dallas Conference. Work begins on
bylaws.
1989
1989
Formation of Affirmation Leathermen; Boston Unified Leather
Legion (BULL); Brotherhood of Pain, Houston; Knights on
Iron MC, San Diego; Leather United, Chicago; Menamore
LLC, Wilmington NC; Mike’s Men, Boston; Omaha Players
Club; Oregon Activists of SM (ORGASM); Rangers, Inc.,
Cleveland; Sacramento Leather Association; Seattle Men in
Leather; Silver Dolphins LLC, Corpus Christi; Trash,
Vancouver BC; and Trusted Servants, SF.
1989
California Motor Club of San Francisco disbands after 26
years. [LJ 93]
1989
The German SM-group “freieSMuenchen” is formed in
Munich. By 1995 it will have 50 members about 30% of them
women. [wd]
1989
Stormy Leather opens at 1158 Howard in San Francisco. This
is probably the first leather shop owned by, and operated
primarily for, women.
1989
Gentle Warriors by Geoff Mains.
Macho Sluts by Pat Califia.
The Language of Sadomasochism: A Glossary and Linguistic
Analysis by Thomas E Murray and Thomas R. Murrell.
1989
Fantasy ’98, organized by Dustin Logan, brings a great many
titleholders to Omaha Nebraska for a weekend of interaction
that inspires the term “sash bash” and raises over $9,000 for
local charities.
1989, Feb.
The Leather Journal names Alan Selby man of the year and
names Shan Carr and Judy Tallwing McCarthy jointly Women
of the year. The Club of the Year in 1989 is Rocky
Mountaineer M. C.
1989, March
Trash, a woman to woman SM organization is founded in
Vancouver, BC. Disbands in 1990.
1989, March 9
Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS in New York City.
1989, March
Susie Shepherd of Portland, OR, is named the third
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco.

1989, May 8
Fred Halsted, erotic film actor, director, producer, as well as
leather writer and magazine publisher, commits suicide in Los
Angeles.
1989, May
NLA: Seattle holds May Day Conference, Guy Baldwin and
Jan Lyon are selected Mr. and Ms NLA.
1989, May 28
Tony DeBlase presents his design for a leather pride flag to the
audience at International Mr. Leather, the first time the flag is
presented to the public.
1989, May 28
The eleventh International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Vic Theater. Guy Baldwin of Los Angeles, Mr.
National Leather Association, wins the title. The runners up are
Mitch Davis representing Dreizehn of Boston, MA, and Bill
Murray, Mr. leather New York 1988, representing Shaftway
Products.
1989, June
The Leather Pride flag is carried by the leather contingent in
the Portland, OR, pride parade, its first appearance at such an
event. (This display of the flag precedes pride parades in San
Francisco and New York City, where it is also flown).
1989, June
The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, cancels a scheduled
Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit because of pressure by antigay
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) and others.
1989, June
20th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, GMSMA organizes a
massive leather contingent for the New York City parade.
1989, June 20
Death of bar owner, and guidebook publisher, Bob Damron.
Among the Los Angeles and San Francisco bars he owned are
the Hideaway, FeBe’s and the SF Eagle. But he was also the
originator of the bar guide that helped us all find what we were
looking for wherever we were.
1989, June 30
Laser artist Rockne Krebs projects the photographs of Robert
Mapplethorpe on the exterior walls of the Corcoran Gallery in
Washington, DC. The exhibit of Mapplethorpe’s work,
scheduled to open today, was canceled due to political pressure
from Jesse Helms and other conservative members of
Congress. [TOL]
1989, July 26
US Senate passes the NEA funding bill with the “Helms
Amendment.” This is probably the first time SM is mentioned
in a US law.
1989, Sept.
Brian Dawson of Los Angeles becomes the tenth Mr. Drummer
and Dieter Edwards is named the first Drummerboy of the year
at the contest in San Francisco.
1989, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 19 in Michigan. Fred
“Ollie” Stewart receives the Caligula Award. Jim Ward is
named the first recipient of the J Paul Eaton award.
1989, Oct.
Cynthia Ann Slater, founder of the Society of Janus, dies of
AIDS in San Francisco. [wd]
1989, Oct. 1
Axel and Eigil Axgil, a male couple, become the first to marry
under Denmark’s Same Sex Marriage registry. [TOL]
1989, Oct. 7-9
NLA’s Living in Leather IV conference is held in Portland,
OR. Geoff Mains and Cynthia Slater receive the NLA Lifetime
Achievement Awards. Dr. Nan Borrows gives the keynote
address.
1989, Oct. 17
The Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay area
virtually destroying the buildings containing the Drummer
offices, the Lone Star Saloon and many other leather oriented
businesses, as well as the homes of many leather people.
1989, Nov. 4
NLA: Los Angeles sponsors Bondage as Art show at
Leonardogavici Art Gallery. Bondage themed paintings,
drawings, collage, photography, and inanimate sculpture are
augmented by living bondage sculptures created by numerous
artists from around the country. Huge crowds attend, including
members of the L. A. Police and Fire Departments who close
down the show due to overcrowding of the facility.
1989
Deaths: Bob Damron, bar owner and creator of the gay bar
guide; Fred Halsted, porn star, film producer, writer, and
magazine publisher; Sashie Hyatt, spouse of Judy Tallwing
McCarthy and leatherdyke from Hell! organizer of many
lesbian SM organizations, and driving force behind many
leather dyke titleholders; Geoff Mains, author of Urban
Aboriginals and Gentle Warriors. [LJ 93]
1990
1990
Formation of Bay Area Levi/Leather Society (BALLS), Corpus
Christi; Bluegrass Colts, Lexington; Northwest Bears, Seattle;
Omikron, Indianapolis; Tarheel Leather Club, Greensboro NC;
Tri-State Gay Rodeo Association; and United Leatherfolk of
Connecticut. Barbary Coasters MC, SF; Trash, BC; and
Zodiacs, BC disband.
1990
Formation of the Betty Page Social Club, sponsor of Toronto’s
Fetish nights.
1990
The Finnish Government awards a $50,000 grant towards the
making of a documentary on the life and work of Tom of
Finland, to be titled Daddy and the Muscle Academy. [LJ 93]
1990
QSM (the letters are later explained as “Quality SM”) founded
by Karen Mendelsohn starts a series of SM/fetish educational
classes in San Francisco, that is still going strong as this is
published. [LJ 93]
1990
The newly formed Tarheel Leather Club of Greensboro North
Carolina, takes on the formidable task of trying to unseat U. S.

Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). Their “Beat Jesse” campaign
gains nationwide support, including that of IMsL Susie
Shepherd who launches a t-shirt campaign. [LJ 93]
1990
Chuck Higgins is named Mr. South-East Leather at the contest
in Atlanta. Shortly thereafter, leather craftsman Larry Dooley
creates for him a leather vest/overlay that incorporates the
Leather Pride Flag into the design of the back panel. This is the
first known instance of the Leather Pride Flag being worn as
anything other than a pin.
1990
The US Census Bureau for the fist time includes a question on
the census form that can help identify same sex couples. 69,200
female couples and 88,200 male couples self-identify. [TOL]
1990
Release of USSM 1, the first of a series of four videos coproduced
by Zeus and Drummer that depict real SM scenes
with real SM players. There will eventually be four titles in this
series. By 1995 they will be withdrawn from the US market
due to persecution of the Los Angeles police.
1990
The 16 defendants in England’s Operation Spanner case are
brought to trial and convicted of assault and battery, because
the judge rules that consent is not a recognized defense, and
even the bottoms who were consensually “assaulted” are
deemed guilty!
1990
Publication of:
Bad Boys & Tough Tattoos by Sam Steward.
Some Dance to Remember by Jack Fritscher, a novel set in
San Francisco’s gay leather scene.
Lights out in the Reptile House a novel by Jim Shepard, a
novel with strong SM overtones.
The Quest an SM fantasy novel by Ben George.
Doc and Fluff a lesbian SM novel by Pat Califia.
Mineshaft Nights by Leo Cardini, an accurate picture of this
famous place by one of its former employees.
From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland by Louis
Sullivan
Encyclopedia of Homosexuality a two volume set edited by
Wayne R. Dynes
Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women
in World War Two by Allan Berube
Sadao Hasegawa: Paintings and Drawings with an
introduction by Frits Staal
1990: Jan.
The German SM-group “gibS/Mir” is formed in Kiel. By 1995
it will have about 20 members. [wd]
1990, Feb.
The Leather Journal names Dustin Logan, of Omaha Nebraska,
and Jan Lyon of Seattle, man and woman of the year. Tony
DeBlase is named business person of the year and GMSMA is
named club of the year.
1990, Feb. 24
Death of Malcolm Forbes, American millionaire and publisher
of Forbes magazine. After his death it was revealed that
Forbes, who had been divorced in 1985, spent an increasing
amount of time in his later years in leather, riding his
motorcycle and visiting New York City’s leather/SM bars and
backrooms (born: Aug. 18, 1919)
1990, Mar. 3
A fire destroys Touché, a prominent Chicago Leather Bar.
1990, March
New York City officials close safe-sex clubs in the wake of a
club fire.
1990, March
Gabriel Antolovich of San Diego becomes the fourth
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1990, May 10
Chuck Renslow awarded charter membership in the City of
Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame.
1990, May 27
The twelfth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Vic Theater. Mark Ryan Mr. Boston Leather 1990,
representing Riders MC, wins the title. The runners up are Ron
Barone, Mr. New England Drummer 1989, representing the
Boston Ramrod, and Richard Armstrong, Mr. Leatherman
Toronto 1990.
1989, May
Susie Shepherd, International Ms Leather 1989, is the first
woman to appear on the cover of The Leather Journal #15. The
decision is not popular with magazine readers. [LJ 93]
1990, June
In New York City GMSMA is invited to send a representative
to a community meeting to be held at the residence of the
Mayor.
1990, Summer
Luke Owens’ Master & Slave contest is held in Los Angeles
and won by Mark Bowers and Bob Farrell.
1990, July 24
Congressman Bob Dornan reads his “psychopath” speech into
the US Congressional Record, saying, “There are no
psychopathic dark recesses of my mind that know how to
handle sadism, masochism, bondage, discipline, or torture
disguised as some sort of sexual thrill...” [JWB]
1990, Autumn
The German SM-group SMbH is formed in Hannover. [wd]
1990, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 19 in Douglas MI.
William Robert Birtles receives the Caligula Award and Brian
Drake the J. Paul Eaton award.
1990, Sept. 18
Clive Platman, Mr. Australia Drummer, presents Leather Pride
Flag designer Tony DeBlase with an Australian version of the
flag, incorporating the southern cross, from the Australian
national flag, onto the original Leather Pride Flag design.
1990, Sept. 22
Clive Platman of Melbourne, Australia is named the 11th Mr.
Drummer in the first truly International Mr. Drummer contest
in San Francisco. John Siracusa is named Drummerboy of the
year.

1990, Oct. 26-29
NLA’s Living In Leather V conference is held in Portland, OR.
Jim Richards is reelected Male cochair and Shannon Kennedy
is elected Female cochair. The Rev. Troy Perry is keynote
speaker and Chuck Renslow and Pat Califia are presented with
lifetime achievement awards. The Mr. and Ms NLA contest is
moved to LIL from May Day, and Howard Martin of Seattle
and Ruth Marks of San Francisco win the Mr. and Ms NLA
titles. Jan Lyon presents the organization with a huge,
spectacular, studded leather banner created by Lee Willis of
the Studworks.
1990, Nov. 6
Deborah Glick becomes the first out gay or lesbian elected to
the New York State Assembly. [TOL]
1990, Dec. 5
Death of Robert Chesley, author of the play Jerker, and many
other works.
1991
1991
Formation of Baltimore Leather Association of the Deaf
(BLADeaf); Chain of Command, San Antonio; DAMES,
Milwaukee; Key West Wreckers LLC; Melbourne Leather
Men; NLA:Houston; Ozbears Australia, Sydney; Patrol
Uniform Club, San Antonio; Stars MC, Albany NY; Tri-State
Wolfpack, Cincinnati; Three Rivers LC, Pittsburgh; and
Unicorns of Madison, WI.
1991
Melbourne Leather Men become the first club to incorporated
the elements of the Leather Pride Flag into their club colors.
1991
C-Space, a leather/SM/fetish educational service, which
conducts lectures, demonstrations, etc. on various subjects, is
organized in Seattle.
1991
The German lawyer Valentin Sitzmann publishes Zur
Strafbarkeit sado-masochistischer Koerperverletzung. His
analysis of German federal law comes to the conclusion that
consensual sadomasochism is legal in Germany as long as any
injury is not excessive. In his opinion, masochists cannot be
prosecuted at all. [wd]
1991
Actor Paul Ruebens, better know as his character Pee Wee
Herman, is arrested for exposing himself and masturbating in a
Florida porn cinema. He lost his job as host of a popular
children’s TV show.
1991
Publication of:
Frisk by Dennis Cooper, a highly controversial novel
full of violence and terminal scenes.
Leather Rouges and Rouges to Remember by Bill Lee
(R. L. Warner).
Understanding the Male Hustler by Sam Steward.
A Breviary of Torment poems by Thomas Cashet.
Master’s Counterpoints by Larry Townsend, the first
in a series of gay mystery novels with a leather theme.
The Joy of Sexual Fantasy by Dr. Andrew Stanway.
Leathermen Speak Out, An Anthology on Leathersex
Edited by Jack Ricardo.
1991
The first American Leatherman contest names José Alberto
Ucles as the titleholder.
1991, Feb.
The Leather Journal holds its first Pantheon of Leather awards
ceremony in Los Angeles. Bill Costomiris and Susie Shepherd
are named Man and Woman of the Year. Lee Willis of the
Studworks is named Business Person of the year and Tarheel
Leather Club is Club of the Year. New awards this year
include: Forbearer, Tom of Finland; Not for Profit
Organization, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation; Reader’s
Choice, Susie Shepard; Publisher’s Award, Bob Craig.
Regional Awards go to Race Bannon, Bill Costomiris, Jaye
Evans, & George Nelson.
1991, March
Kay Hallanger of Bloomington, IN, is named the 5th
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1991, Mar. 8
GMSMA celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a reception,
conference, banquet, and show. The printed program is rich in
historical information including a prototype of this timeline
compiled by Gil Kessler and Thor Stockman.
1991, May 26
The thirteenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Vic Theater. D. Cannon, Mr. CC Hollywood,
representing Marathon Films, wins the title. The Runners up
are Troy Leonhart, representing COMMAND MC of
Baltimore, MD, and Mitch Johnson, Mr. S. F. Leather,
representing the S. F. Eagle.
1991, Summer
Luke Owens’s Master & Slave contest in Los Angeles is won
by Race Bannon & Mike Pierce.
1991, Summer
The German SM-activist group “AG SM & Oeffentlichkeit” is
formed as part of the Suendikat Hamburg. Its aim is to improve
the contact of sadomasochists with the general public and
spread information among the German SM-subculture. [wd]
1991, July 7
Philip Rubin is named the first International Mr. Deaf Leather
at the contest in Dallas.
1991, Sept. 6-12
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 20 in Michigan. Tony
DeBlase receives the Caligula Award and John Robbins the J
Paul Eaton award. This year Inferno is expanded to six days,
divided into A and B sessions.
1991, Sept. 20 - 21
Woody Bebout of St. Louis is named the 12th Mr. Drummer at
the contest in San Francisco. Kevin Stedman of Orlando FL
becomes the third Drummerboy of the year.
1991, Sept. 24.
Dom “Etienne” Orejudos dies of AIDS related causes in
Boulder, Colorado.

1991, Oct.
Leatherfolk, a collection of essays on gay and lesbian SM,
edited by Mark Thompson is published.
1991, Oct. 11
At the opening ceremonies of Living in Leather a Canadian
version of the Leather Pride Flag is presented. It ads to the
basic design of the flag a row of red maple leaves running
horizontally through the white stripe. To the best of my
knowledge the design has never been used again. [AFD]
1991, Oct. 11-13
NLA’s Living in Leather VI conference is held in Chicago.
Perry Watkins delivers the keynote address and Steve Maidhof
and Jan Lyon are presented with Lifetime Achievement
Awards. Bill Miranda Saltzman and Laura Goodwin are named
Mr. and Ms NLA at the contest.
1991, Nov. 7
Tom of Finland dies of emphysema in Helsinki at the age of
71.
1991, Nov. 11
Steve Maidhof, founding daddy of the National Leather
Association and creator of the Living in Leather conferences,
dies in San Francisco.
1992
1992
Formation of Cable Car Chapter of Knights of Malta, SF;
Defenders LLC/Washington; Long Island Ravens MC; and
Ursamen, New Preston, CT.
1992
The German SM-group Sadomasochistische
Interessengemeinschaft e.V. is formed in Berlin. [wd]
1992
The AG SM & Oeffentlichkeit becomes an independent group
[wd]
1992
The German Peter Bahnen publishes Zur Sozialgeschichte des
Sadomasochismus in which he explains his theory on the
processes that enabled the formation of sadomasochistic
subcultures at this time in history. [wd]
1992
Publication of:
Tales of the Dark Lord by John Preston.
Dream Master and other SM Stories by Larry Townsend.
One for the Master, Two for the Fool by Larry Townsend.
The Switch and other Stories by Torsten Barring.
The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices by Brenda Love.
Learning the Ropes: A Basic Guide to Safe and Fun S/M
Lovemaking by Race Bannon.
Sir! More Sir!, The Joy of S&M by Master Jackson.
SM 101, A Realistic Introduction by Jay Wiseman.
Making History, The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal
Rights 1945 - 1990 by Eric Marcus
The Homoerotic Photograph, Male Images from
Durieu/Delacroix to Mapplethorpe, by Allen Ellenzweig.
Luis Caballero: Paintings & Drawings, introduced by Edward
Lucie-Smith. Caballero, a Colombian-born, highly acclaimed
artist who lives and works in Paris, paints male nudes that
many art critics compare to martyrdoms, crucifixions and other
agonies of Christ and the saints. I just know that all of his men
seem to be suffering wonderfully!
1992
Publication of the first issue of Body Play magazine, edited and
published by Fakir Musafar (Roland Loomis).
1992
Canada lifts its ban on allowing lesbians and gays to serve in
the military. [TOL]
1992
José Alberto Ucles is named to continue for another year as
American Leatherman.
1992
Bob Donaldson is named the second International Mr. Deaf
Leather at the contest in Baltimore, MD.
1992, Jan.
The German SM-group Main Pain is formed in Frankfurt am
Main. [wd]
1992, Feb.
At The Leather Journal’s Pantheon of Leather awards
ceremony in Los Angeles Jim Richards and Pat Califia are
named man and woman of the year. Other recipients are:
Business Person, R.J. Chaffin; Business, Mr. S Leather Co.;
Club, Chicago Hellfire Club; Not for Profit Organization,
National Leather Association; Reader’s Choice, Clive Platman
& Ruth Marks; Forbearer, Gayle Rubin; Lifetime
Achievement, Tom of Finland; Publisher’s, Chuck Renslow;
International, George Whiting; Regionals: Southeast, M. P.
Breslin; South Central, Philip Rubin; Rocky Mountain, Dino
Rosie; West Coast, John Siracusa; Midwestern, Thom
Dombkowski; Eastern, Peri Jude Radecic.
1992, Feb.
Luke Owens coupled his contest to the Pantheon of Leather
weekend and renamed it the International Master & Slave
Contest. Winners for this year were K. T. Chase and Susie
Shepard.
1992, Mar.
Blair of San Francisco is named the 6th International Ms
Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1992, Mar.
The German heterosexual SM-group SMart Rhein-Ruhr is
founded in Essen. By 1997, it will have 100 members and
regional groups in seven cities. [wd]
1992, March 30
Debra Chasnoff wins an Academy Award for the documentary
film Deadly Deception. [TOL]
1992, Spring
The German SM-group Lustvolles Leiden is formed in
Muenster. [wd]
1992, April
The first regular Munch takes place at Kirk’s in Palo Alto, CA,
after STella posts the date on the Internet newsgroup
alt.sex.bondage. Sporadic Munches had taken place before
then. [wd]

1992, May
The German heterosexual SM-group SMart Bremen-Oldenburg
is founded in Bremen and Oldenburg. [wd]
1992, May 12
Death of Bob Mizer, age 70, who from 1945 to 1990 was The
Athletic Model Guild and from 1951 to 1990, held total control
over its publication Physique Pictorial. He created a 45 year
celebration of the male body-beautiful, and along the way
invented gay wrestling, and discovered many prominent artists,
including Tom of Finland. [WES]
1992, May 19
Desmodus Inc., including Drummer, Mach, Tough Customers,
DungeonMaster, The Sandmutopia Guardian, and The
Sandmutopia Supply Company, is sold to a Dutch corporation
headed by Martijn Bakker, who is also the owner of RoB
Amsterdam stores and galleries. Tony DeBlase becomes Editor
Emeritus.
1992, May 23
The first meeting of the Board of Directors of the Leather
Archives and Museum is held during the IML weekend in
Chicago. LA&M is officially founded.
1992, May 24
The fourteenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. Lenny Broberg, Mr. S. F. Leather,
represnting Mr. S Leather Co. of San Francisco, wins the title.
The runners up are Erik Wittmeyer, Mr. Gauntlet II 1992 of
Los Angeles, CA, and A. J. Steigenberger, Mr. Boston Leather
1992, representing Riders MC.
1992, May 17
Clubs across the continent host screening parties for the
comedy video Out For Laughs a collaboration of many gay and
lesbian talents spearheaded by stand up comic and International
Ms Leather 1988, Shan Carr.
1992, Sept. 6
Death, in San Francisco, of International Mr. Leather 1983,
Colt Thomas. (Born: May 22, 1959)
1992, Sept. 9 - 13
Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 21 in Michigan. Robert
Guenther receives the Caligula Award and Ty Clements the J.
Paul Eaton award.
1992, Sept. 19
Emerson Briney of Omaha, is named the 13th Mr. Drummer.
John Hare of Los Angeles is named Drummerboy of the year at
the contest in San Francisco.
1992, Oct. 9
NLA organizes demonstrations at the British Consulate in
Chicago protesting treatment of the Operation Spanner
defendants.
1992, Oct. 9-11
NLA’s Living in Leather VII conference is held in Chicago.
Pat Bond, founder of The Eulenspiegel Society in New York
City, gives the keynote address and also receives the Lifetime
Achievement award. Andy Anderson and K. T. Chase are
selected as Mr. and Ms NLA.
1992, Nov.
Australia ends its ban on gays and lesbians serving in the
military. [TOL]
1992, Nov.
Publication of the first issue of Checkmate, by T. A. Feldwebel,
former editor of DungeonMaster, as an alternative to that title.
1992, Nov. 8
Representatives from the leather/SM communities meet with
representatives of the National Endowment of the Arts to
discuss attacks on freedom of expression. The meetings are
organized by Peri Jude Radecic of NGLTF.
1992, Nov. 9
The German Sadomasochist Wolfgang Boghardt holds public
information courses on SM at Volkschochschulen (adult
education centers) in Duisburg and Muelheim an der Ruhr.
Media attention will force him to stop the popular courses.
[wd]
1993
1993
Formation of Icon Detroit; Long Island Ravens; Journeyman of
Syracuse; South Texas Leather Men, Corpus Christi; Suncoast
LLC, St. Petersburg FL; Tartarus, St. Louis; and Trident
International Windy City, Chicago. Cycle MC and Wheels MC
merge in NYC.
1993
“The Magazine of a Sadomasochistic Club: The Tie that
Binds” by Rick Houlberg is published in the Journal of
Homosexuality, Vol. 21 (1/2). This is the first known content
analysis of such a publication. [wd]
1993
Books Published:
On the Safe Edge: A Manual for SM Play by Trevor Jacques
with Dr. Dale, Michael Hamilton, & Sniffer.
Different Loving: The World of Sexual Domi-nance and
Submission by Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame and Jon
Jacobs
SM: Sensuous Magic, A Guide for Adventurous Couples by
Pat Califia.
The Arena by John Preston.
My Life as a Pornographer, & other indecent acts by John
Preston
Exposed, Big Shots, and Beast of Burden, three collections of
short stories by Aaron Travis
Lewd Conduct a collection of short stories by John W.
Rowberry.
Peter Thornwell by Torsten Barring.
Ties That Bind by Guy Baldwin, a compilation of his columns
from Drummer and other publications.
The Leather Contest Guide by Guy Baldwin.
Bob Flanagan: Supermasochist published by REsearch as
Vol. 1 in the People Series.
Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of
Consensual Crimes in a Free Society by Peter McWilliams.
Le Phallus, Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power by Alain
Danilou in French. English edition 1995.

1993
Mark Thompson’s Leatherfolk is published in German as
Lederlust — Der SM-Kult. [wd]
1993
Los Angeles Police raid the San Diego home of Lee Baldwin,
who produced, directed, and starred in his own line of gay SM
videos. Police confiscate Ass Play, a video that includes several
fisting scenes, and several others. Baldwin is convicted and
sentenced to 547 hours of community service and fined $3000.
1993
Sports Illustrated rejects an Adidas advertisement because it
features a Canadian soccer team wearing nothing but their
athletic shoes, despite the fact that, thanks to artfully arranged
hands, heads and soccer balls, not one team member showed
more flesh than the average female model does in SI’s
notorious annual swimsuit issue. [Hooven 95]
1993
Jeff Chiofolo is named American Leatherman.
1993
Chris Muller is named International Mr. Deaf leather.
1993
John Ferrari is named Mr. Vulcan Rubber.
1993, Feb. 14
The Lesbian Avengers erect a paper-mache sculpture of Alice
B. Toklas beside the statue of Gertrude Stein in Bryant Park in
New York City. [TOL]
1993, Mar. 5
Tam von Hohenzollern & Kit Terkel are selected as second
International Master & Slave at contest in Orlando.
1993, Mar. 6
The Leather Journal’s Pantheon of Leather awards ceremony is
held in Orlando. Woody Bebout and Kay Hallanger were
named Man and Woman of the Year. Other awards are:
Business person, Kevin Drewery; Business, The Hun/Bill
Schmeling; Club, Outer Limits; Not for Profit Organization,
AIDS Emergency Fund of San Francisco; Forbearer, Dom
Orejudos; Lifetime Achievement, Chuck Renslow; Publisher’s,
Wayne Griffith; Reader’s Choice, Joseph Bean & Woody
Bebout (tie) & Kay Hallanger; International, Andy Anderson;
Regionals: Southeast, Janet Blevins; South Central, Chuck
Higgins; Rocky Mountain, Pat Sanchez; West Coast, Race
Bannon; Midwestern, Bryan Smith; Eastern, Barry Douglas;
Canadian, Bill “Northwind” Houghton.
1993, Mar.
Amy Marie Meek of Omaha becomes the 7th International Ms
Leather at the contest in San Francisco.
1993, Apr. 24
The second SM Leather Conference is held in Washington,
DC, during the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and
Bisexual Rights.
1993, Apr. 24
Jad Keres and other members of the American lesbian SMgroup
Female Trouble, Philadelphia, launch a study on
violence against lesbian sadomasochists at the SM Leather
Conference during the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay
and Bisexual Rights. [wd]
1993, May
The German SM-group SMAGK is formed in Karlsruhe. By
1995 it will have about 15 members. [wd]
1993, May
National Leather Association opens international office in San
Francisco and hires first paid staff member.
1993, May 28
Leather Archives and Museum opens its first display of
collected materials during the International Mr. Leather
weekend in Chicago.
1993, May 28
Publication of the first edition of this Leather History TimeLine
edited by Anthony F. DeBlase.
1993, May 29
Leather Archives and Museum holds its first membership
meeting in Chicago during IML.
1993, May 30
The fifteenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. Henri Ten Have of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, representing MSA Sportsclub, wins the title.
The runners up are Brent Lacey of Melbourne, Australia,
representing The Laird Hotel and Club 80, and A. J.
Steigenberger, Mr. Europe Leather. Note: This year, for the
first time, no U. S. area or business is represented among the
three winners at IML, although both runners up actually live in
the U. S.
1993, May 30
David Morgan is selected as the first International Boot Black
during the IML contest in Chicago.
1993, June 23
Lorena Bobbitt, for whatever reason, used a kitchen knife to
slice off her sleeping husband’s penis, which she tossed into a
grassy field. It was recovered and, through the miracles of
modern surgery, reattached. In their separate trials both John
and Lorena Bobbitt were acquitted.
1993, Aug.
The German AG SM & Oeffentlichkeit publishes the first
edition of the SM Adressbuch, a yearly collection of mostly
heterosexual SM-resources and addresses. More than 3,500
copies will have been sold by August 1995. [wd]
1993, Aug. 12
Trident International Windy City founded by John Schultz,
Rob Ridinger and Ed Luisi. (RR)
1993, Sept. 8-13
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 22 in Michigan. David
Clare and Stephen Schorle jointly receive the Caligula award
and Anthony Kohut the J. Paul Eaton award.
1993, Sept. 9
The first leather/SM/fetish munch in Oregon is held at the
Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro. 19 people attend
including Patti Beadles who, as Kris Asber, had posted the
invitation for the munch to alt.sex.bondage. Within the next
two days she had founded the pdx.abs mailing list and shortly
thereafter the group started having munches on a weekly basis
at the Blue Moon saloon in Portland. As of this printing they
still do.

1993, Sept. 25
Graylin Thornton of Sacramento is selected as the 14th Mr.
Drummer, during the Leather Pride Week contest in San
Francisco. Spot Gilea, also from Northern California, was
named Drummerboy of the Year.
1993, Oct. 8-10
NLA’s Living In Leather VIII conference was held in Houston.
Peri Jude Radecic was keynote speaker. Lifetime Achievement
Awards to Fakir Musafar and Dorothy Hajdys. Mark Frasier &
Artemis Silver Owl both from Dallas, are named Mr. & Ms
NLA.
1993, Nov.
The German sociologist Thomas A. Wetzstein publishes the
results of a study on the German SM-subculture in
“Sadomasochismus - Szenen und Rituale.” The findings
support the concepts of Spengler and Weinbert. About 38% of
the respondents are women. The results are not published in
English and receive no notice outside of Germany. [wd]
1993, Dec. 31
Death of Samuel Moris Steward, 82. Instructor in SM to Chuck
Renslow, Alfred Kinsey, and many more; recognized writer
under his own name, and as Phil Andros; recognized artist
under his own name, and as Phil Sparrow, tattoo artist.
1994
1994
Clubs formed: Bears LA (Los Angeles), Bears of San
Francisco, Bears SD (San Diego), Vancouver [BC] branch of
Betty Page Social Club, Black Eagle Leather Klub (Los
Angeles), Black Jack Bears (Las Vegas), Boston Rubber Club,
Brothers in Leather, Chemnitzer Eagle (Germany), Club Les
Cuirasses de Quebec (Quebec City), Defenders LLC/San
Francisco, Delta International, Enforcers RI (Providence),
Empowerment through Sensual Conduct and Attitudes Power
Exchange (Escape, Las Vegas), FIST (Houston), Females
Investigating Sexual Terrain (FIST, Baltimore) 4-L Club (SF),
Houston Area Bears, Inter-Bike (Copenhagen), Leather Club
Thuringen (Germany), Leather Scribes, Mates Provincetown,
Mecs en Caoutchouc (Dammarie Les Lys, FR), Rogues MC
(Roanoke, VA), SandMen (San Diego), Silver State Leather
Association (Reno), Steel City Centurions (Birmingham AL),
Tennessee Leather Tribe, Memphis: Toronto Deaf Leather
Association, ), and Trident Knights (Charleston SC). [G 96]
1994
Mudmen (Houston) changes name to SludgeMaster. [G 96]
1994
The pansexual German SM-group Offener Gespraechskreis SM
is formed in Berlin. [wd]
1994
The German SM-group SMile Freiburg is formed in Freiburg.
[wd]
1994
Satyrs MC, the oldest leather/motorcycle club in the USA (and
the world) holds the 33rd and LAST Badger Flats Run. [G 96]
That is what they said then, in 1998 the Satyrs resume the
Badger Flats Run!
1994
First Mr. Bear Ohio, Ms East Coast Leather, Idaho Leather
Pride, Mr. New Mexico Leather, Mr. New Mexico Leather
Pride, Mr. Oklahoma Drummer, Mr. Philadelphia Deaf
Leather, Rocky Mountain Ms Leather, Ms San Diego Leather
Woman, and Western Canada Drummer contests. [G 96]
1994
Brent Lacey (IML 1993 fist runner-up) receives Order of
Australia from Queen Elizabeth II for success of the Red
Ribbon Project. [G 96]
1994
Chicks in White Satin, a documentary film by Elaine Holliman
about a lesbian wedding ceremony is nominated for an
Academy Award.
1994
First issues of serials: Black Leather... In Color, Fetish, In
Uniform, Masta Entertainment Complete Video Catalog, and
Project X. [G 96]
1994
Books Published:
Mapplethorpe, Assault with a Deadly Camera, A Pop Culture
Memoir by Jack Fritscher.
Shaddowman by Torsten Barring,
The Flesh Fables, a collection of short stories by Aaron
Travis.
The Slave Prince by Vince Gilman
A Caning For Singapore, by RT/Texas
Leathersex: A Guide for the Curious Outsider and the Serious
Player by Joseph Bean,
Doing it for Daddy by Pat Califia,
Public Sex by Pat Califia
Beneath the Skins, by Ivo Dominguez, Jr.
Elements of Arousal by Lars Eighner
Leathersex by Max Exander (Paul Reed)
Sadomasochism by William Thompson.
Submission Holds by Key Lincoln
Hustling: A Gentleman’s Guide to the Fine Art of
Homosexual Prostitution by John Preston
Tales from the Dark Lord II by John Preston,
The Kiss of the Whip: Explorations in SM by Jim Prezwalski,
The Master’s Manual: A Handbook of Erotic Dominance by
Jack Rinella,
Tom of Finland, His Life and Times by Valentine F. Hooven
III.
Animal Handlers by Jay Shaffer,
That Day at the Quarry by Tom Shaw,
Resource Book Three by SM Gays of London,
Erotica Universalis by Giles Neret
Rituals by Kyle Stone,
The Case of the Severed Head by Larry Townsend,
Hazing: An Anthology of Hazing Tales by Bob Wingate. [G
96]
1994
Gayle Rubin completes her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the
University of Michigan. Her dissertation is The Valley of the
Kings: Leathermen in San Francisco, 1960 - 1990.
1994
Business openings include: Clone Zone store on Earls Court,
across from the Coleherne, London’s oldest leather bar; Gays

and Lesbians of Brooklyn and Everywhere community center;
Mon Cheri’s The Chamber, Atlanta, GA; Our House Gallery,
Amsterdam; and 7702 SM Club, West Hollywood. [G 96]
1994
Faultline, formerly Griff’s Los Angeles, reopens. [G 96]
1994
James McGlade buys The Leather Rack (DC) from Richard
Cogan. [G 96]
1994
In an interview published in The New Yorker, Dominique Aury
admits that she is Pauline Reage, author of The Story of O. She
said she wrote the book as a love letter to the man she adored,
Jean Paulhan, a prominent French critic, after he said she
couldn’t write an erotic book.
1994, early
The mailbox Slaves and Masters BBS is founded in Hamburg,
Germany. [wd]
1994
The new constitution of the Republic of South Africa prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation. [G 96]
1994
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
4th Edition is issued with considerably revised definitions of
Masochism and Sadism, which in essence say that they are not
illnesses unless you are bothered by your interest in them and
they interfere with your normal functioning in other aspects of
your life.
1994
Thomas S. Weinberg publishes a summary of two decades of
sociological research on sadomasochism, describing it as
“erotic, consensual, and recreational.” [wd]
1994
The American psychologist Eugene E. Levitt and colleagues
confirm Breslow’s finding that non-prostitute female
sadomasochists exist. [wd]
1994
The first Spanner/Mart fund-raisers, organized by Peter Fiske
and Josehp Bean with sponsosrship of a broad coalition of SM
clubs and businesses, is held in San Francisco to raise money
for the Operation Spanner defense fund. [G 96]
1994
A film version of Ann Rice’s novel Exit to Eden is released. It
is very SM positive, but critics pan it. It is pretty silly, but so
was the novel.
1994
Victor Magide is named American Leatherman and Sarah
Humble is named American Leatherwoman.
1994
Jose Granda is named International Mr. Deaf Leather.
1994
Ryan Johnson is named Mr. Vulcan Rubber 1994.
1994
Missouri high school teacher Rodney Wilson organizes
teachers and community leaders to educate the public about the
history of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. The National Gay
and Lesbian History Month each October grows out of this
movement. [TOL]
1994, Jan.
The Lure, a leather bar, opens in New York city just around the
corner from the former site of the Mineshaft. The consortium
of owners are all leathermen. It is instantly successful.
1994, Jan 19
Tennessee Leather Tribe founded in Memphis. [RR]
1994, Feb. 4
Sheila Kuehl becomes the first out gay or lesbian elected to the
California Assembly. [TOL]
1994, Feb. 26
For the first time Gay and Lesbian Asian-Pacific organizations
are included in the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.
[TOL]
1994, March
Publication of Doomed Rabbit: Recipes from the Kitchens of
Leather Folk and Friends compiled by Aubrey Hart Sparks,
and including recipes contributed by leather people from all
over North America, and from some non-leather people
including Hillary Clinton, is published as a fund-raisers in the
“Hands off Washington” campaign.
1994, March
The American lesbian SM-group Female Trouble in
Philadelphia publishes the study “Violence against SM Women
within the Lesbian Community” (The “Jad Keres Report”).
Based on 539 questionnaires completed by lesbian
sadomasochists, the study documents that 56% of them were
subjected to some form of violence from vanilla lesbians
because of their SM orientation. This is the only known study
on violence against sadomasochists, lesbian or otherwise. [wd]
1994, March 5
John Birch and Beau Lee James of Oak Brook IL are selected
as the International Master and slave at this year’s contest in
Houston.
1994, March 6
The Leather Journal’s Pantheon of Leather awards ceremony is
held in Houston. Joseph W. Bean and K. T. Chase are named
Man and Woman of the Year. Other awards are: Business
Person, Scott Rodriguez of the Cuff in Seattle WA; Business,
Mr. S Leather Co., San Francisco; Club, Centaur MC,
Washington DC; Club-sponsored event, Living in Leather VIII;
Non-Profit Organization, Brother Help Thyself, Washington
DC; Forbearer, Geoff Mains; Lifetime Achievement, Tony
DeBlase; Readers Choice, Lenny Broberg and K. T. Chase;
Publisher’s, Brian Dawson; International, Don Bastian,
Calgary. Regionals: West Coast, Guy Baldwin; Rocky
Mountain, Joe Potter; South Central, Boots Adams; Midwest,
Ed Tobin; Southeast, Jose Alberto Ucles; Eastern, Alan Chiras;
Canadian, Trevor Jacques.
1994, March 19
Anne Bergstedt of Seattle WA, is selected as the 8th
International Ms Leather at the contest in San Francisco. She
later resigns and Cindy Bookout, the first runner up, assumes
the title. Still later, as FTM transsexual Spencer, the former
Anne becomes known as Mr. IMsL.

1994, March 25-27
Omikron of Indianapolis holds its first major run: Omikron
500—Lap 1. The Mr. Indiana Leather Contest was won by
Lance Bray of Fort Wane.
1994, March 31
Tom of Finland exhibition opens at the Schwules Museum in
Berlin for a three month run. A Catalog of the exhibition is
published: Tom of Finland Exhibition 1994-95.
1994, May 27
The second edition of this Leather History Timeline is
published.
1994, May 27-30
Leather Archives & Museum exhibits a portion of its collection
in Chicago during International Mr. Leather 1994.
1994, May 29
The sixteenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Congress Theater. Jeff Tucker, representing Leather
Masters of San Jose, CA, wins the title. The runners up are
Orlando Diaz, Mr. Leather New York, and Terry Gatewood of
Oklahoma City, representing T. U. L. S. A. and Levi’s.
1994, May 29
International Boot Black 1994, William Steele is named during
the IML contest in Chicago.
1994, June
Gay Games IV held in New York City
1994, June
Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots
held in New York City at the conclusion of Gay Games 1994.
Hundreds of thousands of gay men and women fill the city in
celebration.
1994, June
A consortium of NYC area leather/SM clubs sponsors
International SM-Leather-Fetish Celebration. The largest
conference of SM/leather/fetish people yet!
1994, June
Becoming Visible, an exhibit centering on the Stonewall riots,
but extending well into the pre-stonewall era of gay and lesbian
history in New York City is featured at the New York Public
Library. SUPERB!
1994, June
Publication of Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of
the Gay and Lesbian Movement edited by Mark Thompson.
1994, June
Joe Granda wins International Mr. Deaf Leather contest in New
York City.
1994, June 23
The German government television station ARD shows a
documentary on the SM group Suendikat Hamburg. Although
the show ends with a female sadomasochist who plans to get
rid of her orientation, the tone of this programs is mostly
positive. [wd]
1994, July
Michael M. Schein is convicted of obscenity for producing and
distributing gay male videos, including Give That Man a Hand,
depicting urination. He is sentenced to 18 months federal
detention.
1994, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 23 in Michigan. Tony
Philbin receives the Caligula award and Ralph Cheesborough
the J Paul Eaton award.
1994, Sept.
Leather Pride Week in San Francisco. Keith Hunt is named
International Mr. Drummer 1994/95, and Mark Colter is named
International Drummer Boy.
1994, Sept.
The first regular German radio program on sadomasochism by
sadomasochists, “Radio Schwazer Adler,” is started in
Hamburg. It will broadcast over 30 programs by July 1997.
[wd]
1994, Oct.
Living in Leather IX is held in Toronto. K. T. Chase becomes
new female Co-chair. Lifetime Achievement awards are
presented to John Preston and Nan Burrows. Titleholders
selected are Mr. NLA Don Bastian of Calgary and Ms NLA
Mary Dante of Toronto.
1994, Dec. 10
Bear Dog Hoffman takes over Richard Bulger’s ailing Brush
Creek Media (Bear and Power Play magazines) and quickly
adds Terry LeGrande’s Parkwood Publications (International
Leatherman, FQ and Roundup) Brush Creek soon revives
Bunknhouse magazine, starts up two new titles, Hombres
Latinos and GBM (Gay Black Men), and purchases Mach from
Desmodus.
1994
Deaths: historian John F Boswell; Mr. Drummer 1993,
Emerson Briney; Mr. Sacramento Leather 1991, Randy Gray;
Great Lakes Drummer Boy 1993, David Hawn; International
Mr. Leather 1987, Thomas Karasch; author John Preston; The
first Mr. Leather New York, Henry Romanowski; Leather
Journal columnist Paul “Papa Bear” Shem; San Francisco
Eagle manager, Terry Thompson; Mr. Indiana Leather 1992,
Ed Tobin; and David Weinbaum of GMSMA. [G 96]
1995
1995
Clubs formed: Brew City Bears (Milwaukee), Coastal Empire
Sentinels (Savannah), The Dedicated and Safe Club (Chicago),
Dragon Leather Club (Columbus OH), Firebirds, Milwaukee;
Harbor City Bears (Sydney), International Dungeon and
Playroom Association, Knight Cruisers (Lexington) Leather
Engineers of Omaha, ONYX/Chicago, Pikes Peak Summit
Masters (Colorado Springs), Red Earth Bears (Oklahoma City),
Seattle Kink Information Network (SKIN), South Sound S&M
Leatherfolk (Olympia WA), Sober, Safe, Sane and Consensual
Club of Chicago; The SOCIETY Connecticut chapter, South
Texas Lather Men (Corpus Christi), The Spanking Club (Los
Angeles), Texas Riders MC Corpus Christi Chapter, Trident
International Baltimore, Vulcan America Southern California
(Los Angeles) West Florida Growlers of Tampa, and Women’s
Welcoming Committee (Seattle). [G 96]

1995, early
The German SM-group aktiveS/Muenchen is formed in
Munich by a splinter group of freieSMuenchen. [wd]
1995
The Polish SM-Society is formed in Nowy Sacz, Poland. This
is the first known SM group in that country. [wd]
1995
Clubs disbanded: Black Angels (Koln), Cascade Bears
(Portland, OR), Lost Angels (DC), Ozbears Australia, and
Vanguards MC (Philadelphia). [G 96]
1995
C-Space, an SM instruction forum ceases operations in Seattle.
[G 96]
1995
The David Weinbaum Foundation is founded in New York
City. The purpose of the foundation it to make cash grants to
organizations to be used for specific projects benefiting the
leather/SM/fetish community.
1995
The 15 Association creates a fund, named for deceased member
Alexis Sorel, in order to assist brothers in need . [G 96]
1995
Northwest Bondage Club (Seattle) secures new meeting and
play space on Capitol Hill. [G 96]
1995
First Ms Florida Leather, International Mr. Fantasy, Mr.
Leather Europe, and Ms New Mexico Leather contests.
1995
Books Published:
The Bottoming Book by Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Lizst
Screw the Roses, Send me the Thorns by Philip Miller and
Molly Devon
Thy Rod and Staff by Edward Anthony
Writing Below the Belt, Conversations with Erotic Authors by
Michael Rowe
Looking for Mr. Preston, A Celebration of the Writer’s Life,
Edited by Laura Antoniou
The Stonewall Experiment, A Gay Psychohistory by Ian
Young.
The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage, A reader’s
companion to the writers and their works, from antiquity to the
present Edited by Claude J. Summers.
Out of the Past, Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the
Present by Neil Miller
Unspeakable, The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in
America by Rodger Streitmatter.
One-Handed Histories, The eroto-politics of gay male video
pornography by John R. Burger.
The Hero, Manhood and Power by John Lash
Studies in Dominance and Submission by Thomas A.
Weinberg, A second, revised, edition. [wd]
1995
Richard Kasak Books publishes a new edition of William
Carney’s novel The Real Thing, originally published by
Putnam’s in 1968 and long out of print.
1995
Greg Lowe is named American Leatherman, Mon Cherie is
named American Leatherwoman, and Kevin McGraw is named
American Leatherboy.
1995
Jack Stice and tom Stice are named International Master and
Slave.
1995, Jan.
Publication of The Politics of Pain: Torturers and Their
Masters Edited by Ronald D. Crelinsten and Alex P. Schmid.
1995, Feb.
The Leather Journal’s Pantheon of Leather Awards: Man and
Woman of the Year, Lenny Broberg and Donna Shrout;
Readers Choice awards, Mark Frazier, Sallee Mallard Huber
and Amy Marie Meek; Lifetime Achievement, Viola Johnson;
Publisher’s awards, Dean Walradt and Ben Cable-McCarthy;
Forbear award, Marcus Hernandez; Club of the Year,
GMSMA; Non-Profit Organization, DSM Project; Club Event,
International SM/Leather/Fetish Celebration; Business, The
Cuff; Business Person, Hilton Flax; International Award, Henri
ten Have. Regional Awards: Southeast, Frank Nowicki; South
Central, J. D. Buchert; Rocky Mountain, David Hoffenbacker;
Western, Andy Magels
and Jeff Tucker; Midwest, Woody Bebout; Northeast, David
Weinbaum; Canadian, Syd Creighton. Local Community
Service Award to Philip Turner.
1995, March 1
Firebirds founded in Milwaukee
1995, March 8
Hungary legalizes common law same sex marriage.
1995, March 25
The State of Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, making slavery illegal in the
state.
1995, May
The Leather Archives and Museum mounts its third exhibition
during International Mr. Leather weekend.
1995, May 28
The seventeenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held at
Chicago’s Congress Theatre. Larry Everett, Mr. Oklahoma
Leather, representing The Silver Star Saloon, wins the title. The
runners up are Al Reese, Mr. San Diego Eagle 1995, and Peter
Schoonheim, Mr. MSA-Amsterdam, of The Netherlands.
1995, May
Tim Cousins wins International Bootblack 1995 during IML
contest in Chicago.
1995, May 26
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled it is illegal to discriminate
on the basis of sexual orientation.
1995, June 1
Effective date of NLA: San Diego’s decision to withdraw from
affiliation with NLA:I and rename itself Club X.
1995, June
Mexico’s first March for Human Rights of Lesbians and Gays
is held in Tijuana. [TOL]

1995, June 6
Craig Byrnes introduces his design for the International Bear
Brotherhood Flag. A design based on the Leather Pride flag,
with seven fur-colored stripes and a paw-print in the upper left,
is accepted. [JWB]
1995, Mid
The German SM group SMarti.e.s. is formed in Hamburg. [wd]
1995, July 6
David Cowan of Indianapolis is selected as the fifth
International Mr. Deaf Leather at the contest in Montreal.
1995, July 20-23
pat baillie wins International Ms Leather in Chicago.
1995, July 30
The 15 Association, The Outcasts and the Society of Janus join
forces to host SpannerMart 2 in San Francisco, raising $7,248
for the Spanner Defense Fund.
1995, July 31
Iran’s parliament votes to ban the sale of seedless watermelons
because “the unnatural melons spread corruption, robbing the
youths of moral values, promoting homosexuality and
asexuality.”
1995, Aug.
The Orange Coast Leather Assembly hosts its second annual
Meet a Master weekend, this year featuring Tony DeBlase.
1995, Aug, 18-20
Fantasy 1995 changes format and includes the first ever
International Mr. Fantasy contest, won by J. D. Buchart.
1995, Sept. 1 - 5
Delta International hosts its first SM run in Pennsylvania. The
core membership of the group is from Chicago Hellfire Club,
and the Delta run is very similar to Inferno, but in an incredibly
better venue!
1995, Sept. 7 - 13
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 24 in Michigan. Michael
Horowitz receives the Caligula Award and Race Bannon the J
Paul Eaton award.
1995, Sept. 23
At the Mr. Drummer contest in San Francisco, David WW
Walker is named International Mr. Drummer and Pup is named
International Drummer Boy.
1995, Oct. 6-8
NLA holds its tenth Living in Leather Conference in Portland,
OR. Mark Frasier becomes male cochair. Tony DeBlase and
Woody Bebout are Keynote speakers. Viola Johnson and Larry
Townsend receive the Lifetime Achievement awards. Mr. and
Ms NLA are David Hoffenbacker and Stacey.
1995, Nov
The Leather Archives and Museum moves to a storefront at
5007 N Clark St. and opens its first permanent exhibition
gallery. The first show highlights items from the collection and
features the original artwork of Dom Orejudos. The collection
is made available to researchers.
1995, Nov.
The Spanking Club of Los Angeles is founded by Glenn
Walker and five other men.
1995, Nov. 5
Motor Sportclub Amsterdam and the European Council of
Motorcycle Clubs sponsored the 1996 Mr. Europe Leather and
Mr. Europe Drummer contests. Antonio Sanchez of Madrid,
Spain, won both titles and will represent Europe in both IML
and the Mr. Drummer finals in 1996.
1995, Nov. 15
Beyond the Edge Cafe, operated by Alena Gabosch and Denise
Pedro, opens in Seattle. It quickly becomes the meeting place
for men and women into the leather/SM/fetish scene. Many
special interest and social groups use it as a meeting space and
it is the site of many scene related art shows and performances.
Closes, Jan. 1999.
1995
TLC: A year with a leather club is released. This documentary
video made by Randy Riddle covers a year of activities by the
members of the Tarheel Leather Club.
1995
Desmodus Inc. stops publishing DungeonMaster and The
Sandmutopia Guardian. Harold Cox and Bob Reite, the owners
of Checkmate purchase DungeonMaster and incorporate it into
their publication. Mitch Kessler and Gerrie Blum, a couple
from New York who have been involved in many aspects of
the SM community for many years, purchase The Sandmutopia
Guardian and resume publication of that title.
1995, Dec. 31
A New Years Eve SM Play Party is the first of many play
parties in the lower level of the Beyond the Edge Cafe in
Seattle.
1996
1996
Formation of Men of Rubber, Chicago; and Wisconsin
Leathermen, Milwaukee.
1996
The National Leather Association of Canada (Vancouver), after
years of no contact with any other part of NLA, changes its
name to VantaSM.
1996
The German activist Matthias Grimme publishes the SM-
Handbuch. This is the first SM safety book written in German.
[wd]
1996
South Africa adopts a new constitution which bans
discrimination based on sexual orientation, the first instance of
such laws being incorporated into a constitution. [TOL]
1996
Books published in English:
Leathersex Q & A by Joseph Bean
The Second Coming - A Leatherdyke Reader, edited by Pat
Califia and Robin Sweeney
My Private Life - Real Experiences of a Dominant Woman by
Mistress Nan.
Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for
Women’s Rights, by Nadine Strossen.
Ritual Sex, by Tristan Taormino and David Aaron Clark

The Gay Almanac, compiled by the National Museum and
Archive of Lesbian and Gay History.
Who’s A Pretty Boy Then?, One Hundred and Fifty Years of
Gay Life in Pictures by James Gardiner
The Only Reason I Mention This: A Collection of the Best of
The Wearin’ O’ The Hides Columns by Daddy Bob.
Hard to Imagine, gay male eroticism in photography and film
from their beginnings to Stonewall by Thomas Waugh
Valentine’s Shanghaied by Valentine Hooven
1996
Daniel Sonnenfeld is named International Mr. Deaf Leather
and Cool Cat is named the first International Ms Deaf Leather.
1996
Morgana and michael, from Denver, are named International
Master and slave 1996.
1996
Kevin Watson selected as International Mr. Fantasy 1996.
1996
The James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center in the San
Francisco public library opens as the first separate lesbian and
gay collection in a US public library. [TOL]
1996, Jan.
New York’s White Columns mounted a show of bright color
photographs of duo John Lovett and Alessandro Codagnone
with their inlaws: Lovett’s parents are all about American
suburbia, Codagnone’s live in a respectable home outside
Milan, Italy. The parents smile, the boys are smiling too—and
draped in leather and bondage gear. “We’re a couple, just as
they’re a couple, and yet who is normal or abnormal?” says
Codagonone.
1996, Jan.
Astride Indricane and Birgita Bohvinger, a lesbian couple, are
legally united under new laws allowing same sex marriages in
Latvia. [TOL]
1996, Jan.
Performance Artist Bob “supermasochist” Flanagan dies at age
42 of cystic fibrosis. [wd]
1996, Feb.
The Salt Lake City school board votes to ban all nonacademic
clubs in order to quash the student’s Gay-Straight Alliance.
[TOL]
1996, Feb.
Beasts & Beauties, The Erotic art of Olaf is published
1996, Feb. 10
The Leather Journal holds its first Mr. and Ms Olympus
Leather during the Pantheon Of Leather weekend. Ron Hendon
and Daddy Flo are named to the titles.
1996, Feb. 11
Pantheon of Leather IV is held in New Orleans. Woody Bebout
and Sarah Humble are Man and Woman of the year. Cindy
Bookout and Frank Nowicki receive the Reader’s Choice
awards. Lifetime Achievement to Don Thompson. Forbearer to
Judy Tallwing-McCarthey; Publisher’s award to Walter
Klingler and Gerald “Squeaky” LeGault; Club of the Year to
The 15 Association; Club Event of the Year, MotorSport
Amsterdam’s 25th Anniversary & ECMC Weekend; Nonprofit
Organization of the Year, Countdown on Spanner National
Effort; Business of the Year to Gauntlet, Inc., Business person
of the year to Jim McGlade and Chuck Renslow, International
to Don Bastian and Mary Dante; Regional awards are:
Southeast: Bill Costomiris and Jack Stice, South Central: Dean
Walradt, Rocky Mountain: Greg Lowe, West Coast: Jeff
Henness, Midwest: Jan Hall, Northeast: Lolita Wolf. Canadian:
Paris Elizabeth Sea. Local Community Service to Aubrey Hart
Sparks.
1996, April
Companions on a Journey hold the first gay conference in Sri
Lanka. [TOL]
1996, May
The Alternate Sources Guide by Trevor Jacques is published.
1996, May 8
Death of Alan Oversby, a.k.a. Mr. Sebastian, Britain’s master
piercer.
1996, May 9
The Canadian House of Commons passes landmark legislation
banning discrimination against homosexuals. [TOL]
1996, May 9
The US Postal Service announces that it operated a mail order
pornography company for nearly two years as part of an
undercover investigation aimed at people who purchased illicit
materials depicting children in sex acts.
1996, May 24
Denmark provides protection from employment discrimination
for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. [TOL]
1996, May 26
The eighteenth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Congress Theatre. Joe Gallagher, Mr. Leather New
York, wins the title. The runners up are Mark Norton, Mr.
Dixie Belle Leather 1996, of Kansas City, MO, and Antonio
Sanchez, Mr. Leather Europe 1995, of Madrid Spain. Sanchez
is sponsored by MSC Amsterdam and the ECMC.
1996, May 26
Todd Nelson is named International Boot Black at the IML
contest in Chicago.
1996, June - Aug.
New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art features a
show including three of Pal Cadmus’ most controversial (at
least in the 1930’s when they were painted) works: The Fleet’s
In!, Sailors and Floosies, and Shore Leave, all of which feature
ripe male sailor bodies interacting with prostitutes, and each
other.
1996, June 4
Iceland becomes the fourth country to create a domestic
partnership registry for same sex couples. Denmark was first in
1989, followed by Norway and Sweden. [TOL]
1996, June 22
Beyond the Edge Cafe in Seattle hosts the first in its series of
Fetish Nights.

1996, July
SMart Bremen-Oldenburg becomes the second German SM
group to be awarded the legal status as an eingetragener Verein
(e.V.). [wd]
1996, July
At the Republican National Convention there are four openly
lesbian, gay or bisexual delegates. Later, at the Democratic
convention there are 142. [TOL]
1996, Aug.
Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe (of Arizona) is forced out
of the closet after he votes to allow states to ban same sex
marriage. [TOL]
1996, Sept 6
Karl Watkins is found dead in his cell after being convicted of
gross indecency at Wolverhampton Crown Court (England) His
crime? Outraging public decency by trying to make love to
pavements and, in one case, an underpass. Despite psychiatric
help he hadn’t been able to shake off his strange fixation.
1996, Sept.
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 25 in Michigan. Peter
Fiske receives the Caligula award and Jon Baumgartner the J.
Paul Eaton award.
1996: Sept.
San Francisco Leather Pride Week.
1996: Sept.
International Mr. Drummer Contest is won by Kyle Brandon,
Mike DeNisco is named International Drummer Boy.
1996, Oct.
Jean Beland and Joey Zocher, two lesbians, are elected
Homecoming King and Queen by the student body at
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. [TOL]
1996, Oct. 3-6
Living In Leather XI is held in Portland, OR. Jan Hall becomes
female cochair. Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to
Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose, and to Jo Arnone. The
International Mr. and Ms NLA titles are terminated, though
Stacey is designated to continue as an Ambassador of NLA
until further notice.
1996, Oct. 10
The Austrian SM-group Eat Me, Beat Me, is founded in Vienna
based on the model of American Munches. [wd]
1996, Oct. 18 - 20
Leather University’s Dungeon 101, held in Ft. Lauderdale FL,
brings two days of SM instruction by a nationally recruited
faculty. Small class sizes allow hands-on laboratory
participation. And nightly homework assignments are given.
1996, Nov.
The German lesbian SM group SMacht! “Autonomes Netzwerk
lesbischer und bisexueller Frauen” is founded. This is the first
known lesbian SM group in Germany. [wd]
1996, Nov.
Matthew Bourne’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan
Lake opens in London. Rewritten to feature an all male cast of
swans and a prince who falls in love with the with the Swan
King, who is dressed in black leather, the production is a hit in
London and later in Los Angeles. It opens on Broadway in
Nov. 1998.
1996, Nov.
Euro Bear magazine is launched in Cologne, Germany
1996, Nov. 12
Death in New York City of leather community activist Barry
Douglas. He served four years as Chairman of GMSMA, was
on the steering committee for the 1987 March on Washington,
cochaired the National Leather Conference held at that event,
served on the executive committee for the 1993 March On
Washington and on the board of the International Stonewall 25
commemoration in 1994. In 1988, he was the first person to be
honored as Man of the Year by The Leather Journal. (Born
1949)
1996, Nov. 18
Death of Phillip Miller, coauthor with Molly Devon of Screw
the Roses, Send Me the Thorns.
1996, Dec. 14
Marriage in Portland, OR, of Sharon Contreas and Lori
Michelle Buckwalter. Buckwalter, still legally a male at the
time of the ceremony, is in the last stages of gender change,
which will be completed shortly after the ceremony. Then two
legally recognized women will be partners in a legally
recognized marriage.
1996, Dec. 16.
Mach #34 is published by Brush Creek Media. The magazine
originated as “Drummer’s Big Brother” at Alternate
Publications, becomes International Leatherman’s adopted
brother after Desmodus Inc. sells the title to the Bear family of
magazines. [JWB]
1997
1997 July 18 - 20
Genelle Moore of Lincoln, NB, is named International Ms.
Leather. Her late brother Ron Moore was International Mr.
Leather in 1984.
1997
Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie Boogie Nights is released to
critical acclaim. The story line is set in the porno movie
industry in Southern California in the 1970s and ’80s.
1997
A theme restaurant, La Nouvelle Justine, opens in Manhattan.
The theme is SM. Along with the French cuisine, the staff of
Top-identified wait-persons and bottom-identified supporting
staff, both male and female, appropriately attired in leather and
paraphernalia, will provide spankings, boot licking and other
services. Prices are on the menu! Most guests sit at the tables,
some eat out of a bowl on the floor.
1997
Tom Trading, Inc. begins marketing a line of designer clothing
for men based upon the clothing worn by men in the art of Tom
of Finland.
1997
The US Supreme Court rules that the Communications
Decency Act, which sought to censor cyberspace, is
unconstitutional interference of free speech.

1997
US Television news programs shock the nation by broadcasting
clips from home videos made in 1991 and 1993 showing US
Marines enthusiastically pounding the sharp metal backs of
awards pins into the bloodied chests of young paratroopers.
Apparently the hazing ritual has been going on for years.
Military officials expressed “shock” and “dismay.”
1997
Jim Raymond is named American Leatherman, Leslie
Anderson is named American Leatherwoman, and Max Steiner
is named American Leatherboy.
1997
Pat Boone, pop singing star of the 1950s and ’60s tarnished his
squeaky clean Christian image by appearing on the American
Music Awards telecast wearing a leather vest, dog collar,
studded wristbands and flashing his 62 year old bare chest with
temporary tattoos. Trinity Broadcast Network quickly canceled
Boone’s weekly gospel music show. On ABC’s Good Morning
America Boone later said, “God is into leather. The first clothes
he made for anybody on this planet, he made them out of
leather.”
1997
Books Published:
Between The Cracks: The Daedalus Anthology of Kinky
Verse, edited by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard.
Bound To Be Free: The SM Experience, by Charles Moser
and JJ Madeson.
Of men, ropes and remembrance, stories from Bound &
Gagged magazine, by Larry Townsend.
Master of Masters by Larry Townsend
The Leatherman’s Handbook, Silver Jubilee Edition by Larry
Townsend.
Rainbow County and other stories by Jack Fritscher
HorseMen: Leathersex Short Fiction edited by Joseph Bean
’Rasslers, ’Ranglers & Rough Guys: The Erotic Art of Matt,
Edited by Joseph W. Bean
1997
Patrick Richardson is named International Mr. Deaf Leather
and Cool Cat is selected to continue a second year with the title
of International Ms Deaf Leather.
1997
Ariq Robinson named International Mr. Fantasy 1997.
1997
Rich Villagracia is named Mr. Vulcan Rubber 1997. The third
man to hold this title, the first since 1994, and also, the last to
hold it. The title will be replaced in 1998 with Mr. International
Rubber.
1997, Jan.
Margo Frasier begins her term as Sheriff of Travid County,
Texas. She is the first out lesbian to be elected sheriff in the
US.
1997, Jan.
New York S/M Activists formed by Leonard Dworkin and
Susan Wright. [LW]
1997, Jan.
Mike Seimer is named Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather ’97
1997, Feb.
The European Court of Human Rights upholds the original
ruling in the British “Spanner” case. [wd]
1997, Feb.
The Black Guard of Minneapolis host their 20th Black Frost
run.
1997, Feb.
Mylez Edward and Dauphine Sowell are named Mr. and Ms
Olympus Leather at the contest in New Orleans.
1997, Feb.
The Leather Journal’s The Pantheon of Leather Awards are
held in New Orleans, winners are: Man and Woman of the
Year to Mark Frazier and pat baillie; Reader’s Choice Awards
to Jack Stice and David WW Walker (tie) and to Sarah
Humble; Lifetime Achievement to Frank Puckett; Publisher’s
award to Jay Allen and Gary Chichester; Forebear Award to
Tony DeBlase; Club of the Year to Sandia Leather; Non Profit
Organization of the Year to the Leather Archives & Museum;
Club event of the Year 25th Anniv. of The Eulenspiegel
Society; Business of the Year to Leather Rack, DC; Business
Person of the Year to Audrey Joseph; International Award to
George Cameron. Regional Awards: South
Central to Jamie Esposito; Southeast to Darryl Flick; Rocky
Mountain to David W W Walker; Midwest to Cara Hanes;
Northeast to Michael Horowitz; Northwest to Scott Rodriguez;
Western to Daniel Sonnenfeld; Mid-Atlantic to Suzette
Dyanick and Joe Morris; Canadian Regional to Trevor Jacques.
The Local Community Service award to Wes Randall.
1997, April 7
Death in Atlanta of Jack Stice, International Master 1995. He
was a leather activist throughout the southeast and the nation.
[LJ 93]
1997, April 19
The first annual Leather Leadership Conference is held in New
York City. [LW]
1997, May
The Internet SM group Datenschlag and the AG SM & Oeffentlichkeit
produce the first map of heterosexual SM groups in
Germany. At this time there are 53 known groups in 45 cities.
[wd]
1997, May
David Cronenberg’s film Crash is awarded a Special Jury Prize
at the Cannes Film Festival “for originality, daring and
audacity.” Based upon J. G. Ballard’s 1973 novel the film
centers on a group of people who are erotically attracted to car
crashes.
1997, May
Gene Harrawood from Bloomington, IL, is named Mr. Bear
Pride 1997 in Chicago.
1997, May 12
The Internet newsgroup soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm is
formed. [wd]
1997, May
Details magazine’s “1997 College Sex Survey” reports that
27% of the college men they asked had done bondage with a
partner, 23% more had fantasized about it. 26% of the women

had done bondage with a partner and 25% more had fantasized
about it. This is more than 50% of all college students who
have at least fantasized about bondage! The same questions
about SM got identical percentages from men and women: 6%
had done it, 11% more had fantasized
1997, May 25
The nineteenth The International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Congress Theater. Kevin Cwayna, Mr. Minnesota
Leather, of Minneapolis, MN, wins the title. The runners up are
Mark Malan, Mr. Piston’s Leather 1997, representing Piston’s
Bar of Long Beach, CA, and Paul Zinser, Mr. L. U. R. E. 1997,
of New York City. Note: Mark Malan’s second place win is
considered to be ground-breaking for bear-identified men.
1997, May 25
Driller is named as International Boot Black during the IML
contest in Chicago.
1997, June
The American film parody, Preaching to the Perverted, opens
in the USA. [wd]
1997, June
Mid America Conference names Rob Ridinger of Trident
Windy City to the newly created post of MAC Historian. [RR]
1997, June
German art publisher Taschen publishes a three volume boxed
set of the complete run of Bob Mizer’s Physique Pictorial.
(Note: this is a complete run of issues still extant, there are no
surviving copies of a few.)
1997, June 4
A full page ad is place in several American newspapers by the
Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America,
American Family Association, Southern Baptist Convention,
Focus on the Family and Coral Ridge Ministries, condemning
American Airlines for pro-homosexual business practices such
as fair treatment of its gay and lesbian employees and its
sponsorship of national and community-based gay and AIDS
service organizations.
1997, June 28
Master Roger and slave bill are named International Master and
Slave 1997 at the contest in Denver, CO.
1997, July 4
The Eulenspiegel Society’s Equestrian Club is founded. [LW]
1997, 4th of July weekend
Kyle Brandon, International Mr. Drummer 1996-97 hosts “A
Gathering of Eagles” at a private estate in Pennsylvania. An all
expense paid party for the country’s “Leather A List” served as
the setting at which $1000 checks were passed out to seven
worthy recipients from around the country. The Leather
Archives & Museum was one of the recipients.
1997, July 26
Joseph W. Bean arrives in Chicago to become the first
Executive Director of The Leather Archives & Museum.
1997, Aug 16-17
The Orange Coast Leather Assembly hosts its fourth annual
Meet a Master Weekend, this year featuring Guy Baldwin,
M.S.
1997, Sept.
Atons of Minneapolis celebrate their 25th Anniversary. [RR]
1997, Sept. 4 - 10
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 26 in Michigan. Mel
Austin receives the Caligula award and Tom Pscheit the J. Paul
Eaton award.
1997, Sept.
Leather Pride week in San Francisco.
1997, Sept. 25 -29
Jeffery Adler of Miami, FL, is named International Mr.
Drummer and also receives the Golden Whip Award (bestowed
by the contestants) the first time any man has received both of
these titles. dan hughes is named International Drummerboy.
1997, Oct. 3-5
Leather University’s Dungeon 201, again brings instructors
from all over North America to offer both basic and advanced
courses to leather men (and, starting this year, women) in Ft.
Lauderdale, FL.
1997, Oct.
Living in Leather XII is held in Portland, OR. Under bylaws
revisions, Mark Frasier becomes President and Jan Hall
becomes vice president and president elect.
1997, Oct. 17-19
The Tom of Finland Foundation’s Erotic Art Fair, featuring
hundreds of pieces of erotic art in all media by numerous artists
from around the world. Held in Los Angeles, CA.
1997, Oct. 24 - Nov. 2
Amsterdam Leather Pride Celebration.
1997, Oct. 27
The first version of Time Line of Sadomasochism is created by
the Internet group Datenschlag in Germany. (Selected items
indcated by [wd] in the current Leather History Timeline are
from this document.)
1997, Oct. 31
Mr. Drummer Europe contest.
1997, Nov.
Formation of The Red Chair, a pansexual group created to
promote Safe Sane and Consensual BDSM in north central
Alabama.
1997, Nov. 1
Women’s Studies Conference at State University of New York,
New Platz, includes coverage of SM and leather topics that
enrage members of the SUNY board of trustees and George
Pataki, Governor of the state of New York.
1997, Nov. 8
Mr. International Rubber 1998, Christoff Lehner, selected at a
contest at the Cellblock in Chicago. This title, sponsored by
Men of Rubber, replaces Mr. Vulcan Rubber.
1997, Nov. 9
Mr. World Rubber 1998, Keith Waltrip, selected at a contest at
Man’s Country and sponsored by International Mr. Leather.
1997, Nov. 14 - 16
Black Rose X, the tenth anniversary celebration of Black Rose
is held in Washington DC.

1997, Dec.
The US Supreme Court hears Joseph Oncale’s sexual
harassment case against Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.
Oncale was harassed by his supervisor and other workers on an
oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Lower courts had ruled that
sexual harassment laws required the predator and victim to be
of different sexes. In 1998 the Supreme Court rules in Oncale’s
favor, extending sexual harassment law to same sex encounters.
1997, Dec. 25
Death of erotic artist Olaf Odegaard (born Dec 15, 1938).
1997, Dec. 27
Newsweek includes an article entitled “Lick Me, Flog Me, Buy
Me!” on the mainstreaming of SM.
1998
1998
Two professors at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon,
receive a $5000 grant from the state Oregon and the National
Endowment for the Humanities to study Mainstreaming and
Identity Definition within a Sadomasochistic Subculture.
1998
Martin Hall is named American Leatherman, Mercea Strecker
is named American Leatherwoman, and Terry Sapp is named
American Leatherboy.
1998
The World’s first gay rights organization, The Scientific
Humanitarian Committee, founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in
1887 and disbanded under Nazi pressure in 1933, is relaunched
as an association of autonomous regional groups.
1998
Publication of:
Confessions of a Naked Piano Player by Torsten Barring
Juice, Electricity for Pleasure and Pain, by Uncle Abdul
Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia by
Steve Hogan and Lee Hudson
Czar, a novel of Ivan the Terrible by Larry Townsend,
A Contagious Evil: The Mind of a Serial Killer by Larry
Townsend
Adam: The Male Figure in Art by Edward Lucie-Smith
The Art of Arousal with text by Dr. Ruth Westheimer. (Dr.
Ruth comments on the erotic nature of works of art from all
periods and all parts of the world.)
1998, Jan 15-19
Leather Weekend & Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather contest in
Washington, DC, sponsored by Centaur M.C. Tony Mills of
Miami Beach FL is named Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 1998.
1998, Jan. 8
Avatar of Los Angeles, one of the continent’s oldest SM clubs,
celebrates their 15th anniversary.
1998, Jan 12
NLA: New Orleans Officially accepted as the newest chapter
of NLA: International.
1998, Feb. 13-15
The Leather Journal’s Pantheon Of Leather Awards VII in
New Orleans. Man and Woman of the Year: Joseph W. Bean
and Jill Carter; Lifetime Achievement: Vern Stewart; Reader’s
Choice Tom Stice and Jill Carter; Forbearer: Chuck Renslow;
Club: Black Rose; Non Profit Organization: David Weinbaum
Foundation; Club event: Black Rose X; Business: Play House
Studios and Gallery; Business person: Philip Turner;
International Award: Jacques Happe of Amsterdam; Couple of
the year (first year for this award): Jill Carter, Viola Johnson
and Queen Cougar. Regional Awards: Southeast: Tom Stice;
South Central: Michelle Buckle; Rock Mountain: Leslie
Anderson; Northwest: Spencer Bergstedt; Western: Peter Fiske;
Midwest: R. J. Chaffin; Northeast: Susan Wright; Mid-
Atlantic: Jack McGeorge; Canadian: George Cameron and Jay
Wagner. Local Community Service Award: Billy Lane.
Publisher’s Awards: Lance Brittain, Shelley Hagan and Kay
Hallanger, and the San Francisco Eagle.
1998, Feb. 14
The Interclub Fund holds the 32nd Annual Motorcycle Awards
in San Francisco. The Golden Gate Guards and its members
walk away with 22 honors, the Constantines received four
awards and the California Eagles MC won three. A lifetime
achievement honor is bestowed upon James Connor of the old
Warlocks MC. The Community Service Award goes to Marcus
Hernandez.
1998, Feb. 15
Charles Garrett from Orlando and Katherine from Norcross,
GA, are sashed as Mr. and Ms Olympus Leather during the
Pantheon of Leather Weekend in New Orleans.
1998, Feb. 24
Off Center, a web-based radio talk show on leather /SM/fetish
and related communities debuts with host Race Bannon
interviewing Joseph Bean, Executive Director of the Leather
Archives & Museum.
1998, Mar.
The Leather Journal, issue # 96, appears as a tabloid
newspaper, changing from its previous magazine format.
Commencing with this issue it will have free distribution in
leather bars and other businesses but will still be available by
subscription as well.
1998, Mar. 12
An exhibit, “Queer & Kinky Danger: Artists Relating to
Leather/SM/Kink,” opens at the Gay & Lesbian Historical
Society of Northern California in San Francisco. It runs
through May.
1998, April 4
Wire services announce that Parinya Kiatbusaga, 16, is
Thailand’s best-known kick boxer, having won 20 of 22
matches. He is also a cross dresser who creates a feminine
appearance in the ring with gestures and makeup. The contrast
presented by his forthright femininity in a rough and tumble
sport is causing a sensation in Thailand. “I have the body of a
great fighter,” he says, “but in my heart, I’m a woman. It is
hard to fight beautiful men. I can easily knock them out. On the
other hand, I want to hug and kiss them.”
1998, April 7
George Michael, British singer noted for songs such as I Want
Your Sex and Freedom, is arrested for performing a lewd act in
Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills. Four days later he
appears on CNN to come out as gay and say that he is currently
in a relationship with a man.

1998, April 17 - 19
Leather Leadership Conference II is held in New York City.
1998, April 18
Black Rose of the Washington DC area Publishes The Black
Rose Guide to Hosting a Leather Event in time to be available
at the Leather Leadership Conference II.
1998, April 21
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom sponsors the first
Leather Lobby Day, meeting with a number of Congress
members’ Legislative Assistants to discuss discrimination and
hate crimes involving sexual-minority practices.
1998, April 24 - 26
American Brotherhood Weekend is held in Washington, DC.
American Leatherman ’98 is Martin Hall from Rhode Island,
American Leatherwoman ’98 is Mercea from Chicago and
American Leatherboy ’98 is Terry Sapp from Baltimore.
1998, April 26
Death at age 90 of Dominique Aury, who as Pauline Reage,
authored The Story of O.
1998, April 17-20
Indulgence ’98, a new-men only SM event, modeled after the
Inferno, Delta and Boot Camp events, is held in Ft. Lauderdale,
FL, sponsored by the Ft. Lauderdale Leather Guild, Inc.
1998, May 23
The Mr. Ebony in Leather Contest is held at the Leatherneck
bar in Chicago. André Macial is named the winner.
1998, May 23
Annual Meeting of the Leather Archives and Museum
membership is held in Chicago. The person occupying the post
of executive director of LA&M is made an ex officio member
of the LA&M board of directors and Joseph Bean moves from
his elected seat on the board to this new one. Chuck Renslow
and Tony DeBlase are reelected to the board and Phil “Fluffy”
Swenson is elected to fill the open seat. Hilton Flax is elected
to fill the remaining portion of the three year term to which
Joseph Bean had been elected.
1998, May 24
The twentieth International Mr. Leather Contest is held in
Chicago’s Congress Theatre. Tony Mills, Mr. Mid-Atlantic
Leather, representing the Centaur MC of Washington, DC,
wins the title. Mills lives in Miami Beach, FL. The runners up
are Andrew Lennow, Mr. Mephisto Leather 1998, representing
Mephisto Leathers of Australia, and Ed Ryder, Mr. Mid
Atlantic Drummer 1995, representing Leather Central of
Pittsburgh, PA. 64 men compete, including Billy Lane, Mr.
Seattle Leather, the first FTM transsexual to compete. Lane,
whose reception throughout the weekend was heartily positive.
He placed 10th.
1998, May 24
The first public presentation of the video documentary In God
we Trust, In Leather we Lust is shown at the International Mr.
Leather contest in Chicago. The video was created by Yves J.
Menou and Cyrl Zajac of The Underground Fire Tribe.
1998, May 24
The first public performance of One Common Heartbeat is
presented by composer Gary Aldrich, backed by soloists Joe
Ricci and Kevin Tyrrell and the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus
during the International Mr. Leather show in Chicago. The
Leather Anthem had been written by Aldrich at the request of
Chuck Renslow, executive producer of International Mr.
Leather.
1998, May 24
The International Bootblack Competition is held during the
International Mr. Leather weekend in Chicago. Matthew
Duncan who boot blacks at the DC Eagle and is sponsored by
Centaur MC wins.
1998, June 5
Death, in New York City, of Leonard Dworkin, a longtime
activist in the leather/SM community. He was a founder of NY
SM Activists; one of the motive forces behind the Leather
Leadership Conferences, Creator of the NLA Friends on line
bulletin board and many others of similar interest, a long time
board member of The Eulenspiegel Society and editor of that
organization’s publication, Prometheus.
1998, June 11
Selection of the cover man for the 1999 South of Market Bare
Chest Calendar. This year, sponsored for the first time, by
Miller Brewing Company.
1998, June 12
The first issue of Young Deviants: A newsletter aiming to
broaden the Horizons of the inexperienced is published on-line
by MMingle16@aol.com. The quarterly electronic newsletter is
intended to provide basic safety and other information for
young people interested in leather and SM.
1998, June 26
Opening of The Art of the Motorcycle at The Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The show, which
continues until September 20, presents nearly 100 motorcycles
as art and is both well reviewed and heavily attended. The
catalogue of the exhibit is an oversize, 430+ page book. The
30-page bibliography included, is estimated by its publisher to
include 90% of “significant English-language books” on
motorcycles published “over the past 100 years.”
1998, June 12 - 14
The third annual Southeast Leatherfest is held in Atlanta, GA
1998, July 9
District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley, in the Scanlon v.
Gay Male S/M Activists lawsuit in New York City, issues a
decision dismissing all claims against the three individual
GMSMA board members named in the suit and awards
Scanlon damages for each for two incidents of copyright
infringement.
1998, July 14
Chicagoland Discussion Group, a long running pansexual
leather/SM organization holds its last meeting.
1998, July 17 - 19
Megan DeJarlais of Philadelphia is selected International Ms
Leather 1998 at the contest in Atlanta.
1998, July 31 - Aug. 2
Thunder in the Mountains, a pansexual SM conference
featuring a large roster of well known presenters from all over
North America is held in Denver. The nightly play parties are

great fun too. The Leather Archives and Museum’s Traveling
exhibit makes its first appearance.
1989, Aug 9
Kink, A Women’s Perspective opens at the Leather Archives
and Museum in Chicago. This second special exhibit in the
Museum’s gallery space features contributions of women to the
art and literature of kink. The exhibit runs through Sept. 30.
1998, Aug. 20
The Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union hosts a symposium entitled Leather and the
Law in Los Angeles.
1998, Aug. 21 - 23
Ohio Leather Coalition holds the First Annual Ohio
Leatherfest in Cleveland.
1998, Sept. 4 - 7
Satyr MC hold their 37th Run to Badger Flats.
1998, Sept. 10 - 17
Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 27 in Michigan. Michael
Blackburn receives the Caligula award and J. Weichert the J.
Paul Eaton award.
1998, Sept. 26
The Mr. Drummer finals is held in San Francisco. Hervé
Bernard from Paris, France, Mr. Europe Drummer, is selected
as the 20th International Mr. Drummer. Ryan Goldner, Mid-
Atlantic Drummerboy from Philadelphia is selected as
Drummerboy of the year.
1998, Sept. 30
The Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago hosts a party to
mark the closing of its second special exhibit, and of its
exhibition space, which will be converted to work space to
facilitate handling its ever-increasing collection of leather
memorabilia. Traveling exhibits will represent the LA&M at
events around the country and the former exhibition space in
Chicago will be used for cataloging, conservation and research
of the collection.
1998, Oct. 2-4
Leather University’s Dungeon 301 is held in Ft. Lauderdale
FL. This series continues with increasing female, bi and
heterosexual participation.
1998, Oct. 6
In Laramie, Wyoming, Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old gay
man, and a student at the University of Wyoming, is lured from
a bar by two men, viciously beaten, burned and left tied to a
fence in freezing weather. He dies a few days later. The
incident focuses national attention on Gay bashing and on hate
crimes legislation.
1998, Oct. 9 - 11
The National Leather Association: International holds Living in
Leather XIII in Dallas Texas. Jan Hall becomes President and
Spencer Bergstedt, Vice President and President Elect.
1998, Oct. 16
A Maryland court voids a law criminalizing same-sex oral sex.
The law, which dated back to 1916, made it a felony for
lesbians and gay men to engage in oral sex and attached
penalties of up to $1000 or 10 years in prison.
1998, Oct. 16 - 18
Black Rose of Washington DC holds BR ’98. BR10,
celebrating the club’s 10th anniversary last year was such a
success it will become an annual event!
1998, Oct. 28 - Nov. 2
Rubber Ball fetish party in London attracts over 3500 guests
from around the world. (LW)
1998, Oct. 28
World premier of Razorblade Smile, at Prince Charles Cinema
in London. The film is Jake West’s homage to fetish vampires
(LW)
1998, Nov. 13
Opening of The Art of the Motorcycle at Chicago’s Field
Museum of Natural History. The show runs through March 17,
1999, and is accompanied by multiple subsidiary programs of
film screenings, lectures, etc.
1998, Nov. 23
The Georgia Supreme Court, in a 6 to 1 decision, rules that the
Georgia Sodomy Law is unconstitutional on the grounds of the
“right of privacy.” This is the same law that was upheld by the
US Supreme court in June 1986 in a case involving
homosexuals. The current review of the law was based on
heterosexual incest.
1998, Nov. 26
Former President of Zimbabwe, Canaan Banana, is convicted
of sodomy and sexual assault against 11 male aides. He claims
that charges against him are fabricated by supporters of
vehemently antigay Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
1998, Nov. 29
First meeting of SMarts, an SM educational effort developed
by friends of Joseph Bean. At the urging of the group, Bean
teaches a series of four classes before committing to a
continuing schedule of instruction which, starting in February
1999, will include other instructors.
1998, Nov. 29
Norbert Lindner, the mayor of Quellendorf, Germany, is
removed from office via voter referendum because of his plans
to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
1998, Dec.
The legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania votes to ban
discrimination based upon sexual orientation, along with 19
other grounds, including pregnancy and breast feeding.
1998, Dec.
In India, the Supreme Court orders the government to provide
bodyguards to the two female leads and the director of the film
Fire, a lesbian-themed work that has inflamed the zealots from
the right-wing Shiv Sena party. More than a dozen cinemas
across the nation have been ransacked, and all those involved
in the making of the film have been threatened. “This film
poisons our women. It makes them curious about something
immoral,” said a Shiv Sena spokeswoman.
1998, Dec. 1
Two gay men “marry” each other at Notary Office Number 46
in Bogota, Colombia, the same place where heterosexual
marriages take place. Luis Antonio Arias Bolivar and Isauro
Rincon Angarita sign a joint-ownership-of-property contract

stating that they are gay, love each other and desire economic
union. The document was created by gay lawyer and activist
German Humberto Rincon. The two men, wearing black and
beige tuxedos respectively, watch as Notary Judge Rosa Falla
Laiseca reads the document. Then they sign it, as do the
numerous guests/witnesses. When the Judge signs it, it
becomes official. Photos are taken and all leave for the
reception.
1998, Dec. 1
The Executive Council (EC) of the National Leather
Association: International rescinded the chapter charter for
NLA: Portland.
1998, Dec. 5
Formation of the Gay Video Directors and Producers
Association when 23 such men meet at the home of Ron
Sexton (Can-Am Productions) and Mikal Bales (Zeus Studios)
on the day following the Los Angeles GayVN Awards.
1998, Dec. 9
The National Assembly of France passes a partnership
registration measure that grants unmarried couples spousal
rights in areas such as inheritance, housing, taxation, workplace
benefits, social security and social welfare programs.
1998, Dec. 11
Police raid the gay bar, Tare, in Mexicali, Mexico, beating and
jailing 14 patrons.
1998, Dec. 15
In Canada, Mark Tewksbury, who won three Olympic
swimming medals and set seven world records, comes out as
gay. He had recently lost a six figure contract as a motivational
speaker because he was “too openly gay.” So he decided he
needed to open the closet door all the way.
1998, Dec. 16
The Supreme Court of the province of British Colombia rules
that the school board of the Vancouver suburb of Surrey erred
in banning books about gay relationships from kindergarten
and first-grade classrooms.
1999
1999, Jan.
Members of the former NLA: Portland chapter continue to
meet and, after last month’s rescinding of their NLA chapter
charter, rename their group Portland Leather Alliance.
1999, Jan.
Beyond the Edge Cafe, Seattle’s premier gathering site for the
kinky community, closes its doors.
1999, Jan.
Dean Ross of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is selected as Mr. Mid-
Atlantic Leather. The Centaur MC’s Mid-Atlantic Leather
Weekend this year, for the first time, includes a bootblack
competition which is won by a very popular woman, Tracy.
1999, Feb. 12
Louisiana’s sodomy law is removed by a 3-0 ruling of the state
court of appeals.