In my recent Are Our Educational Efforts Backfiring post I mentioned some concerns I have about the educational efforts offered by some kink clubs, organizations and events. I still stand by those concerns and I think you’ll see by the incredibly thoughtful and plentiful comments that post generated that it’s a hot topic these days. The […]

I was honored to be selected as the men’s Leather Marshal for this year’s Leather Contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade alongside the beautiful Leland Carina as the women’s Leather Marshal. Check out the video to see the entire contingent. I think we represented the kink/leather folks rather well and we all had a great […]

Today I was scanning my usual morning news sites when I stumbled on this Pecs, Personality, and Pre-Internet Bonding: The Story of International Mr. Leather article on The Huffington Post site. All of a sudden I had an odd reaction. For the first time ever, I seriously wondered to myself if perhaps the leather/kink scene has […]

Today I stumbled upon a great blog post by Steve Pavlina titled Why Are You Hiding? It immediately resonated with me. One of my own personal development objectives is to be the authentic me as much as possible in everything that I do. Do I always succeed? No. But clearly Steve Pavlina has a similar perspective and […]

While Mark Morford’s latest column in the San Francisco Chronicle titled Calling all kinkster hippie sluts isn’t specifically about the types of alternative sexuality and relationships discussed on this blog, he makes so many references to them that I think it’s worth reading. Besides, Mark is my favorite columnist and has been for quite some time and […]

My friend, Mike Gerle (International Mr. Leather 2007), and I have authored an article on Leatherati, The Leather “Bar” Takes a Virtual Turn. Check it out. With the diminishing number of leather bars available to the gay men’s kink/leather scene, it’s important for us to figure out unique and creative ways to foster more regular face-to-face […]

This week a review by Guy Baldwin about a highly controversial book on leather protocol posted to Leatherati. If you consider yourself part of the BDSM/leather/fetish/kink world in any way, I recommend you read it. I consider it one of the more important works of writing done in the scene in a long time, in large […]

Most people know about Dan Savage. He’s a sex advice columnist that also regularly appears on television. He also shot to even greater fame when he defined the word santorum, much to a certain politician’s dismay. In Savage’s January 18, 2012 Out Now column, he adeptly answers a question from a reader about BDSM and […]

Here is the speech I delivered at the Leathermen’s Discussion Group 15th Anniversary celebration event held Saturday, December 17, 2011. Good afternoon. Welcome to what I personally consider to be an event that marks an extremely important milestone in our local kink and leather scene. I think it’s safe to say that LDG has established itself […]

LGBT rights and sexuality and relationship rights are inextricably intertwined. In this brilliant speech by Hillary Clinton delivered on December 6, 2012 in Geneva in recognition of International Human Rights Day, Clinton signaled a new day in American foreign policy when it comes to LGBT rights. As a gay man myself, Clinton’s speech literally brought me […]