KINGS OF KINK

Rawhide Radicals: Meet Five Heroes From The Leather Community

The International Mr. Leather competition, or IML as participants and fans call it, is a hyper-masculine, queer variation of the Miss America pageant. Founded by Chuck Renslow in 1979, the Chicago-based event draws thousands of leather fans from around the world every May. Michael Skiff’s documentary Kink Crusaders, released this week on DVD, illuminates IML’s history, traditions and participants in loving detail.

While many partake in IML—and the leather scene in general—just to have fun, many participants and title holders have used it as a platform for a variety of LGBT-related causes. It’s also a surprising example of queer diversity, with attendees crossing ethnic, sexual and age boundaries. (2010 IML titleholder Tyler McKormick is a wheelchair-bound trans man.)

In honor of Kink Crusaders‘ release, we’re looking at five heroes of the leather community who are more than just pretty faces in harnesses—they’re using the spotlight to draw attention to vital issues.

Click through to meet some heroes of the leather community

Photo via Michael Skiff

 

 

Brent Heinze, 37
Denver, CO
Mr. Leather Colorado 2010

A licensed psychotherapist who developed multiple, state-funded HIV prevention programs, Heinze writes a relationship column for Denver’s OutFront and founded the Ascension fetish ball series. He’d been asked to compete in Mr. Leather Colorado for several years before finally taking the plunge in 2010. “It wasn’t until I felt that I had something in my heart that I wanted to express to the community that I decided I would run for the title,” he says.

Heinze went on to win the National Leather Association Colorado’s 2011 Community Service and Leadership Award. He’s dedicated both his career and community work to wellness and HIV prevention in the gay-male community, while his Ascension events provide a safe space for sexual exploration. “If you do get a leather contest title, be prepared to work,” he advises would-be competitors. “I’ve gained a true sense of enjoyment and appreciation of life, friends, and how much effort it can take to achieve goals. Use this opportunity to do some amazing things.”

 Photo: Brent Heinze

 

 

Danny Logan, 25
New York, NY
Mr. Fire Island Leather 2011

On most nights, Danny Logan dolls it up as drag queen Dallas DuBois, one of the top drag queens in New York, where she performs at Barracuda, Industry and other top clubs. But, though Logan (above at far left) is a relative newcomer to the leather scene, he admits to dabbling with gear since his teen years: “The leather pageants are just like Miss America, except with fewer covered-up outfits, and minus the talent portion and catty behavior,” he dishes. “Just don’t be surprised if another contestant pours a bottle of lube on the floor in hopes that you slip!” Openly HIV+, Logan advocates for homeless LGBT youth and does HIV/AIDS outreach and education work. Last year, he was featured on an episode of ABC’s What Would You Do?,  in which patrons at a restaurant responded candidly (and sometimes unattractively) to his HIV status. The episode resulted in speaking engagements and radio interviews, in which he was able to further address “the stereotypes and struggles people living with HIV face,” he explains.

Though he usually ventures out to Fire Island in heels and wig, he entered Mr. Fire Island Leather in 2011—and won. He credits the leather community with helping him gain self-confidence and embrace his true, dichotomous identity. “As both a professional drag performer and now a title-holding leather boy, my job is to show that, like life, there are gray areas in our community. It’s not so ‘cookie-cutter.’”

Photo: Fire Island Q News

 


Ryan Yoshinaga, 28

San Francisco, CA
Mr. Central CA Leather 2007

Self-professed nerd Yoshinaga entered his first competition, Palm Spring’s West Coast Rubber, at the tender age of 23. Hindered by shyness, he didn’t win—yet when his Santa Barbara leather group dissolved, he was emboldened to enter the Central California Leather competition the following year. And that time he walked away with the sash. “I was always influenced to give back,” he says, “but at a young age, I had little experience and few credentials to provide much. I thought that even making an appearance in competitions would give me some exposure, help me become more visible and allow me more chances to give back in one way or another.”

Yoshinaga went on to co-found  Kink University, a Fetish Fellowship (KUFF), a pansexual, student-organized educational group. Meeting weekly, KUFF members discuss BDSM dynamics, safety and risks—and hold workshops on bondage, electricity play and more.

Ironically Yoshinaga feels that leather itself isn’t that important to the leather community: “It’s that brotherhood we create, where we can go to a bar or event and proudly say, this is my family,” he says. “I have their back and they have mine.” One of the few Asian-American faces seen in Kink Crusaders, he admits that “Asians tend to have strong family traditions, of presenting an image of the perfect child, and leather doesn’t always fit into that, but as I grow, I see families becoming more casual and open to these things. I  always see Asians at events, but [usually] shy and hiding in the dark corners. Maybe it’s a ninja thing?”

Photo: Ryan Yoshinaga

 

 

Tyler McCormick
Albuquerque, New Mexico
International Mr. Leather 2010

A case manager for New Mexico AIDS Services by day, McCormick made leather contest history when he won IML in 2010. Not only was he the first female-to-male transgender man to snag the title, but also the first in a wheelchair (and first New Mexican to boot). Proclaiming himself a “leather gimp,” McCormick brought some Artie Abrams/Glee realness to IML as he joyfully whirled around the stage in his jockstrap.

During his speech, McCormick moved and inspired the audience: “When I first transitioned I was told that I would never be accepted and that I would never be able to take my shirt off in public,” he said. “My presence here as a proud, confident Leatherman is proof to the contrary.”

Also a Mr. Rio Grande Leather active in AIDS/HIV work and fundraising, McCormick spent his IML title year putting in appearances at many events, helping to raise awareness about the leather community and the warm, unconditional acceptance it has represented for him. “I ask you to look into your heart, discover your greatest desire, and pursue  it without fear. Strive to help those around you, the members of your leather family, to find their own paths. If we devote ourselves to providing the kind of unconditional support that I have enjoyed, we will make great strides in improving ourselves, our leather community, and the world.”

 Photo: Tyler McCormick

 

 

Joe Mannetti, 49
New London, Connecticut
Mr. International Daddy Bear 2009

Holder of numerous bear-pageant titles—including Mr. Southern California Cub 2006, Mr. Los Angeles Bear 2008 and Mr. Southern California Bear 2008—Joe Mannetti has long been a community fixture. An actor, public speaker, counselor and activist, his philanthropic pursuits include raising money for the trans community, addiction-recovery services and people with AIDS.

Mannetti first gained notoriety in the early 2000s as bear porn star Joe Falconi (a gig that cost him his job with with Gays and Lesbians Initiating Dialogue for Equality, ironically). More recently, Mannetti has popped up in indie films like 2010’s BearCity and 2011’s The Summer of Massacre. While initially reluctant to compete in bear contests, Mannetti says the opportunity to raise money and awareness for LGBT organizations was enough to make him give it a shot. “Putting the spotlight on something bigger than our furry pecs was what motivated me,” he notes. “Although there’s no denying that I worked out hard before each contest!”

As for his insider’s take on the world of bear pageants? “It’s all glamour, fame, fur, sex, and backstabbing worthy of the crappiest reality show,” he shares. “Seriously, I think that a title, in and of itself, represents nothing. It’s what the individual chooses to do with the spotlight that any title offers them that make it stand for something.”

 

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