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About Me

Apart from the fact that I’m a nice guy who lives in San Francisco , here’s some other information about me you might find interesting.

I’ve been an organizer, writer, educator, speaker and activist in the LGBT, leather/kink, polyamory and HIV/STI prevention realms since 1973. Learning about and exploring nontraditional sex has always been one of my passions since my first forays into the gay men’s leather world. Since that time I’ve ardently explored my own sexuality and encouraged others to do the same. Here’s some other background information about me.

  • Founded, along with Guy Baldwin, Kink Aware Professionals, a non-profit service that refers people to kink-sensitive psychotherapeutic, medical and legal professionals. I recently turned over ownership and management of Kink Aware Professionals to the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and they now maintain that site.
  • Project leader of The DSM Project, a grassroots coalition of psychotherapeutic professionals worldwide that banded together to influence the categorization and diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the book most psychotherapeutic professionals look to when diagnosing mental health issues. The project led to a beneficial change in the way the psychotherapeutic profession views kink.
  • Author of the best seller Learning The Ropes: A Basic Guide to Safe and Fun BDSM Lovemaking, the first basic instructional book on BDSM sexuality catering to men and women of all orientations. A revised 2.0 edition was published as a Kindle e-book in late 2011, available on Amazon.
  • Past leather/kink columnist for the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter for more than seven years.
  • Regular contributor to the blog on Recon.com.
  • Regular contributor to the newly relaunched Drummer Magazine.
  • Founded and served as President and Managing Editor for Daedalus Publishing Company, the first publishing company dedicated to publishing non-fiction books about leather/SM/fetish sexuality. I sold the company many years ago.
  • Prominently featured in the documentaries Vice and Consent (winner of Best Documentary at the CineKink Film Festival in New York), Out of the Darkness: The Reality of S&M, and Folsom Forever.
  • Written many articles on sexuality, sexual health and relationships and a former sex advice columnist.
  • Well-known national advocate for HIV/STI testing and prevention, most recently as a national voice encouraging the use of PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) to prevent HIV infection.
  • Heavily involved in organizing and executing various political and cause-related marches, protests and rallies to promote LGBTQ rights, human rights and the basic dignity of all of humanity.
  • Writer, speaker and educator on BDSM, kink, sex and sex culture, LGBTQ, HIV/STI and sexual health, and non-monogamy/polyamory.
  • Producer and host of Bound To Talk, the first internet talk show about nontraditional sexuality and relationships.
  • Received the 2018 Race Bannon Advocacy Award (renamed after me starting this year) from the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF).
  • National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Creating Change 2013 Leather Leadership Award.
  • San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance Philip M. Turner Lifetime Achievement Award 2011.
  • San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance Co-Man of the Year 2014.
  • Mister Marcus Hernandez Lifetime Achievement Award (Man) Pantheon of Leather Community Service Award, 2010.
  • NorCal/Northwest Regional Pantheon of Leather Award, 2016.
  • National Leather Association International’s Lifetime Achievement Award 2006.
  • Received the 2016 Southwest Leather Conference Leatherman’s Heart Award.
  • Received the 2015 “Key to Folsom Street Fair” from Folsom Street Events in recognition of service to the community.
  • Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year Pantheon of Leather Community Service Award, The DSM Project (Race Bannon, Project Leader), 1995.
  • Southern California Regional Pantheon of Leather Community Service Award, 1991 and 1993.
  • Nominated for the 2015 National Leather Association International Non-Fiction Article (Blog) award for Kink Is About Connection and The Truth About Old Guard.
  • Inducted into the Society of Janus Hall of Fame.
  • Given the Palm Springs Pride 2021 Spirit of Stonewall Lifetime Achievement award for work in LGBTQ communities.
  • Received The Academy SF 2022 Diane Jones Solidarity Award.
  • Past Board of Directors Chair for Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS).
  • Current member of Board of Governors for the Leather Hall of Fame.
  • Current Advisory Board member for The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance.
  • Current Community Advisory Committee member of Diverse Sexualities Research and Education Institute.
  • Past Board member of National Leather Association International, Avatar Club Los Angeles, and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.
  • Co-Founder and Board member of National Leather Association Los Angeles.
  • Co-Executive Producer, Divine Deviance, a multi-part global kink/BDSM/fetish documentary project currently filming.
  • 2012 San Francisco Pride Parade Men’s Leather Marshal.
  • Member, San Francisco Police Department Chief’s LGBT Community Advisory Forum.
  • Organizing member of the Friends of Eagle Plaza overseeing the development and operations for Eagle Plaza, the first city-sanctioned permanent public space honoring the leather communities.
  • Community organizing member of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, the first city cultural district formed to foster arts, culture, livability and programs to benefit the city’s leather and LGBTQ communities.
  • Steering Committee Member and Communications Director for the SF Bay Area Queer Nightlife Fund formed to support local workers in queer nightlife impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • On April 4, 2021, I was sainted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and given the name Saint Daddy Daedalus, Seriously Sensual Scribe and Sentinel of Sound Minds and Sadomasochism.
  • Southern California Master 1991 titleholder (along with Mike Pierce, as Southern California Master and slave 1991 contest winners).
  • Current member of the Chicago Hellfire Club, The 15 Association and the Society of Janus.
  • Regularly interviewed by the press, radio, and television as an expert on alternative sexuality.
  • Can currently be seen on the popular channel/podcast, On Guard Cigar Salon.
  • Spoken to thousands of people at over 400 speaking engagements.

6 Comments on “About Me

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September 18, 2010 at 6:47 pm

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