Leather Contests and Hard Cocks: Southwest LeatherSIR/Leatherboy Contest, Phoenix, AZ

When I came out as a Gay man I immediately felt an attraction to Leather. I stood in awe the first time I saw an older, muscled Leatherman in tight-fitting trousers. I formed my first fantasies the night I watched two masculine men walk hand in hand while wearing vests and chaps, their bulging cocks outlined in their tight jeans. And I will never forget the night when a handsome, titleholder knelt before me, took my cock into his mouth, and showed me what a blow job truly felt like. Twenty-five years later as a judge for Southwest LeatherSIR/Leatherboy contest, I still ultimately define Leather by what makes my cock hard.

There are no holds barred during an ILSb interview, with questions ranging from play techniques and personal history to the straightforward query, “Would you drop your pants?” I have judged quite a number of contests but nothing prepared me for the response of the winning boy contestant. After stripping off his Leather shorts, naked except for his harness and boots, he got down on all fours and began bucking like a rodeo bull. Double kicks, pawing the ground, nearly humping the floor while he tossed his head from side to side. His antics betrayed a sexual energy that had been masked during his earlier verbal responses. He arose, partially tumescent and panting.

“Well, you enjoyed that,” I observed, referring to his lengthening cock.

“Yes,” he said out of breath.

And, as if in response, I felt my own cock push hard against my tight jeans.

On Saturday night, this same boy suspended himself from a frame on stage. Midway through his fantasy, I heard him growl quietly to his top, “Hit me harder!” His musclar top obliged, flogging his naked ass with more abandon and then shoving a nightstick hard up the boy's jockstrapped hole. With no shame, the boy privileged us with full view of his sculpted ass. En face, in ballet terms. A true fantasy, I am sure that many in the audience retreated home after the contest and stroked their cocks with that image fresh in their minds.

I awarded a perfect score to the Sir contestant for his fantasy, something I rarely do. The Sir started his fantasy by picking up a handsome boy clad only in a cotton jock and boots, After slamming the boy on a raised table, he shackled his hands and feet together, and then proceeded to play the boy's body with a violet wand. The violent wand worked well against the darkness of the outdoor stage and the boy's defined body. Phrasing his play with deep, mouth-probing kisses, the Sir continued to build the intensity of the scene. Finally, the Sir pushed a twenty dollar bill hard into the boy's gaping mouth and made a hasty exit. A brutal contrast to the passion of the scene. Rough Trade indeed!

Adding to the sexual energy of the contest, I attended a formal Leather dinner and a victory brunch. Both full of hot men. Banter was cruisy and light-hearted, Leathermen accentuating their embellishments of yellow and red with personal comments about the previous night's, post contest play. Here was a group of like-minded, horny men that also defined their Leather by rough play. They were men like myself who understood that brotherhood is founded not only on trust, honesty, and integrity, but also on good, hard cock.

Congratulations to Sir Bill and boy Robert, the new Southwest titleholders. Two hot men. Can't wait to see your combined fantasy at ILSb/ICBB in July.

Contests, Sex, and Old Leather

On the way back to the airport on Monday morning, I was asked what one thing stood out during the weekend. A tough question considering the number of events produced throughout the weekend. I thought about the intense, single tail scene that I enjoyed on Friday night at the Black Eagle with a boy in my Clan, I revisited the interviews, smiling as I recalled the boy contestant channeling his inner puppy, his pants hanging down past his knees. And, looking at my partner in the van, I thought how great it was to have him beside me for the entire weekend. A rare treat. But the thing that stood out most was the absence of the producers at the events.

I did, of course, see Brandon and Dan during the weekend. Without fanfare they did their job as producers with a smile and an apparent sense of enjoyment. No unfolding dramas. No overt politics. Always greeting us with confidence and a smile.

I especially applaud them for celebrating their new Titleholders with a play party. LeatherSIR, Leatherboy, and Community Bootblack are players titles, after all. For me, play means hot, man to man sex. I do not make distinction between my SM and my sexuality. I get hard when I play. And to this end, Steamworks did a great job as sponsor, creating spaces to satisfy this SIR's twisted proclivities. Nothing better than a gaping mouth to piss in between scenes or an eager hole to fuck while beating on a man's distended balls.

Sexual play with few limits is the Old Leather that I encountered decades ago. In my opinion, it is the cornerstone of that Older Tradition that the Community tries to define today through workshops and textbooks. More important than protocols. More integral than ritual. Leather is about rough, hard sex!

On Saturday during the contest, Tom Stice posed a question to me. “What is the hottest sex you have had while traveling during your title year?” I stood sullenly and mumbled an answer. Seems I have always been too tired to bring a man back to my host's house or my hotel. After Sunday's play party, I now have answer for him.

“The cbt scene at Steamworks beside my Canadian brothers. Nothing hotter than grabbing the balls of a man in a sling and pulling him hard on my cock! A great fuck!”

Bravo to the producers of Eastern Canada LeatherSIR/Leatherboy for facilitating a weekend of hot, steamy play. And my hearty congratulations to their new titleholders, Master Chuck and boy Iain.

Silence = Death

In the early nineties, ACT-UP's rallying cry warned society that Gays and Queers were no longer willing to remain passive about the lack of AIDS/HIV funding. Dissent “unleash(ed) power,” forcing changes that enabled greater accessibility to new medications. Associated with this visibility, Queer Studies programs began appearing in colleges and universities to examine the politics of this dissent. As a result, a new generation found voice never to be silenced again.

The Leather Archives and Museum was born in tandem with the emergence of this new scholarship. More than a collection of artifacts and curios, the Museum serves its community by encouraging research in alternative sexuality and Leather history. Because these subjects fall outside of the mainstream discourse, scholars find it challenging to obtain funding from public sources. And for this reason, the Museum has created its Visiting Scholar program.

During last few decades, the privatization of the arts and education has challenged the role of the independent scholar. Seldom does a corporation fund a work out of altruism. Scholars are required to work within the dictates of the funding source. Scholarship must reinforce the discourse of which the funder is part. This poses a challenge for those researchers who want to examine subjects outside of the biased of this discourse. In particular, the subject of alternative sexuality.

I encourage you to give to the Leather Archives and Museum's Visiting Scholar Program. By encouraging independent research we create our own discourse outside of the traditional bias. And as a result, we create a voice that can speak to the next generation of Leather and kink folk.

See LAM's webpage for giving to the Visiting Scholar Program at http://www.leatherarchives.org/amlibweb/scholar.htm.