Complaints from prudish neighbors didn’t stop kinksters from strutting their stuff down 28th Street on Sunday at the 16th annual Folsom Street East in New York‘s West Chelsea gayborhood.Will Clark and Xavier Rage emceed the naughty block party, which included performances by The Glamazons, Dallas DuBois, Naked Highway, Derek Bishop, Heloise & the Savoir Faire and Brett Gleason.
Dudes in jockstraps, harnesses, banana hammocks and other accoutrement squeezed through the crowds to ogle flogging and bondage demonstrations, peruse leather wear and toys, get a drink at the Eagle, and pick up info from Leathermen’s Academy, Lucas Raunch, the Imperial Court of New York, Gay Naturists International, New York Bondage Club and other outfits. And of course watch the annual pie-eating contest. (Let’s just say they’re not eating that pie off a plate and leave it at that.)
Seriously, we don’t know what those uptight yuppies are complaining about—it was just some good, clean fun. Well, it was good fun, anyway.
Click through for more images from Folsom Street East 2012
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Photos: Jeffrey James Keyes
Sam Luigi
Is a pride parade for gay men the same as Halloween for straight girls? To quote Mean Girls: “Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”
Cam
And of course Queerty finds the absolute twinkiest picture EVER taken at an event like this for the article. lol
DC
How do they arrive at this event, walk down the street? subway or taxi? Are there lockers or a place to store your street clothes?
I find this all to be so confounding — what is the attraction to leather? I would feel foolish.
Jonathan
# 16….wow!
Jonathan
@Jonathan: Make that #17!
MikeNYC
LMAO these twinks and guys in the photos don’t know the first thing about actually being “masculine”.
Vince
Ugh leather has become such a joke these days and has been for the last 30 years.
John C
#1, second from the right. YES, 100%. In a heartbeat.
Jeff
#16 on the left is Sam Barclay – British gay pornstar
timncguy
I’ll take 9 & 10. The rest of them you can have…
Chad
OK that should be pic #17 where the guy is wearing a shirt.
Charlie
@MikeNYC: Do they need to?
DrewNYC
The Pie eating contest was disgusting!
It had men eating whipped cream and other pie fillings out of men’s ass holes and rimming them.
What a way to promote unsafe sex and rimming isn’t safe since you can get HPV-warts, and various strains of Hepatitis that way.
MikeNYC
Charlie-Yes they do.
Brandon
#18 is up my alley… I like them fully clothed.
I know its in our culture to mingle in sexuality and debauchery, but I just feel that these types of events are getting old. I would like to go to ONE gay event where the majority of us are fully clothed. Is that a possibility?
FelixWood
AAAAAAAA.
Jesus wept.
My eyes 🙁
Kinky Man
Quite frankly, if these kind of events aren’t for you…don’t come. If you don’t like leather…stop clicking through the photos. If the men aren’t masculine enough for you, fuck someone else. If you feel foolish around leathermen, spend more time getting to know the culture or go away. If the leather culture has gotten too *TOO*, take it back; your lack of leadership has led the community here.
No one is forcing you to spend any time around us. At all. Folsom Street East is part of a day out of the year, on one block, in a city of 8 million people. If you don’t want to hang out, are afraid to hang out, are disgusted, are bored…there is a LOT going on everywhere else in this city. Go there and leave us to our “debauchery.”
Eric in Chicago
Awww I love Mr. Friendly and Friendly Pup! (Pic 17) – Dave is a great guy. Fight the stigma of HIV – join Mr. Friendly on Facebook!
Eric in Chicago
@Kinky Man: Right on!
Aaron in Honolulu
@Charlie:
Why would they need to be masculine??? YOU’RE GAY! Lots of straight men already think you’re not masculine enough or even worth being called a man. Gay machismo is hilarious.
You’re like a man with no legs trying to convince his paraplegic friends that he can do anything a person with two legs can. Get over it, you’ll never come across as straight. Straight men can sniff gays like you out easily.
Aaron in Honolulu
@Charlie:
Sorry Charlie, that was meant for Mr. I’m-gay-but-you’ll-never-be-able-to-tell-because-I’m-so-damn-macho, MikeNCY 😉
Timmeeeyyy!!!
@Brandon:
There are tons of gay events where everyone is clothed; theater, cocktail parties, awards dinners, outdoor clubs, bowling, family days, gay days at amusement parks, roller skating, church services, book clubs, barbeques, happy hours for professionals, sports teams, formal dances, river cruises, etc.
And this is just in my neck of the woods in upstate NY. You should get out more.
Zack
@MikeNYC Actually, I know the two on the right, and they’re pretty butch. Even so, you should stop being a toad. Femme-bashing isn’t going to make you any friends here, or anywhere else in this city.
Terence - Melbourne AUSTRALIA
Great pics. Very sexy men indeed!
AF
@Cam:
thank you. god why is everyone obsessed with skinny, rotely attractive gay guys! most annoying creatures on earth.
AF
@Kinky Man: free speech, my man, free speech. if they cant talk shit then you cant have a kinky parade. just sayin.