Carol Leigh was a sex worker, writer, HIV/AIDS and decriminalization activist credited with coining the term "sex work". She was a member of ACT UP and the Citizens For Medical Justice. Carol co-founded the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network and founded the Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival.

Quote from Amber Hollibaugh in Talking Sex with Deirdre English and Gayle Rubin (reprinted in My Dangerous Desires, 2000). Photo from The Rubberist Vintage Special (ca 1995).

Members of Tribe Detroit MC, the first leather club in Michigan, founded in Detroit in 1971. Photo from the Stallions MC collection at the LA&M. #LeatherMen #LeatherCommunity

Quote from Consensual Sadomasochism by William A. Henkin and Sybil Holiday (1996). Photo from Lashes Collection No 3 (1986).

Leather community organizers and friends Peter Fiske, Coulter Thomas, Shadow Morton, and Sky Renfro at International Mr. Leather 1991. Photo from the Colt Thomas collection at the LA&M. #LeatherCommunity

Eddie Long co-founded the Keystone boys of Leather in 2008. He was frequent patron of The Bike Stop and The Woods Campground. As a former partner and friend described him, "Everybody who met him liked him. People didn't have a bad word for him. You always knew where you stood with Eddie."

Join us for a most festive fetish holiday season at LA&M! Our annual celebration of all that is kink is back again, and you won't want to miss it! Visibility is Resistance, and we are here to stand proud, loud and kinky as hell!

Roger Mays aka RFM was a writer and the owner of RFM Products, a leathercrafting company that also sold custom bondage furniture, toys, art, books, and more in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Barry Douglas (center) was chairman of the board of the Gay Male S/M Activists. Douglas served on the steering committees for the 1987 and 1993 Marches on Washington, and was a member of the planning board for Stonewall 25.

Bryon R. Todd was the manager of The Watering Hole bar in San Francisco for 10 years.

Join us this weekend for two film events! Saturday, Nov. 15th, 7pm -> Fetish Film Forum: The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972) leatherarchives.libcal.com/event/13393763 Sunday, Nov. 16th, 7pm -> Bijou Film Screening - A Night At The Adonis leatherarchives.libcal.com/event/15211731

Steve Maidhof co-founded and served as the first president of the National Leather Association, which he was inspired to organize after competing at International Mr. Leather in 1986 alongside NLA co-founder Billy Jefferson.

Mack McKinnon was a leathercrafter in Vancouver and community organizer with Vancouver Activists in SM (VASM). McKinnon raised funds for HIV/AIDS through his store and designed one of the first safe sex symbols, a leather condom case to be worn on the epaulette.

Dr. David Lourea was an HIV/AIDS activist, elementary school teacher, and co-founder and chair of The SF Bisexual Center. Lourea worked on on Dianne Feinstein's AIDS Education Advisory Committee and presented workshops at clubs in SF. He co-hosted fundraiser play parties with The Pig Family.

Kevin Lowery was a member Baltimore Leather Association of the Deaf. He was an advocate for ASL interpreters and founded the Mid-Atlantic Deaf and Interpreter Fund for LGBT events. Lowery taught sign language classes at the Pride Center.

Tim Starkey, pictured here with International Ms. Bootblack KD, was titled Mr. Boston Leather 2009 and International Mr. Bootblack 2010. Tim travelled widely and was an active member of the leather community. He received two community service awards.

Ellen Willis was a feminist theorist, cultural critic, professor of journalism, and an unapologetic defender of sexual freedom and diversity.

Due to the winter storm watch and Chicago’s unpredictable weather, the cigar social at LA&M tomorrow is CANCELLED. 😢❄️🥶 We hope this isn’t the end of outside cigar season here in Chicago! Stay tuned for a future cigar social.

Amy Marie Meek was a leather community organizer and activist. Meek ran the Omaha Players Club and was titled Ms. Nebraska Leather 1992 and International Ms. Leather 1993. Meek produced IMsL from 1995 to 2006 and in 1999 founded the International Ms. Bootblack contest.

Philip Douglas was a board member of the Gay Male S/M Activists in New York. He was involved with the group People of Color and Friends and co-chaired the "S/M and People of Color" panel at the 1993 March on Washington.

SAT, NOV 15 @ 7pm join us at Leather Archives & Museum as FETISH FILM FORUM screens the film most requested by attendees, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (1972), co-presented by Gerber/Hart Library & Archives! TIX: leatherarchives.org/events/2025-fetish-film-forum/

Sidney Morris Fineberg was a playwright and gay rights activist born in Pittsburgh. Morris was one of the earliest members of The Eulenspiegel Society (TES), the first kink support group in the USA. He volunteered as a secretary and correspondent for out of town members.

Jon "Nature" Grotte worked for Delta Airlines and lived in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Nature was a founding member of Satyricons MC. He was known for his pink feathered boa, his humor and "devilish ways".

Touko Valio Laaksonen aka Tom of Finland was one of the most influential gay artists of the 20th Century. He artwork introduced many men to the leather scene. He is photographed here with Chuck Renslow and artist Dom "Etienne" Orejudos at International Mr. Leather in Chicago.

Dorothy Allison (top left) was the co-founder of the Lesbian Sex Mafia in New York and an award-winning author. Allison received the Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2024.

Thom Saporita was a member of Hot Ash, a board member of GMSMA, and former president and treasurer of Defenders New York. He was credited with revitalizing the Defenders. He did events, press and public relations for GMSMA and the Defenders. Thom received the Barry Douglas Community Service Award.

Chris Minor-Mulholland volunteered for Names Project Atlanta and AID Atlanta. He worked for and owned leather related businesses. He was a founding member of Trusted Servants. Chris and Richard were the first couple in San Francisco to be registered as domestic partners on February 14, 1991.

Washington State Ms. and Mr. Leather 1996, Hobbit Smith and Vince Sharkey. Photo from Wes Hurley's photography collection at the LA&M. #LeatherContests #LeatherCommunity

Terry Thompson was a leatherman and manager of The Plunge, the Arena, and the SF Eagle where he organized parties and founded the Bare Chest Calendar in 1984, a fundraiser that raised over $260,000 for HIV/AIDS charity in 2024 alone.

Jim Jensen served in the United States Air Force and was a district manager and Chemical Dependency Counselor. He was a founding member of Colorado Uniform Men and Denver Leather Association. He was titled Mr. Colorado Leather 1997. Jensen edited the Chain Link newsletter until his hospitalization.

Walter Wayne Griffin was a leathercrafter and owner of LeatherRack. Griffin opened a shopfront in Hollywood before moving the shop to Griff's bar in Los Angeles. Griffin and his partner Sam Smith were married in 1993 on the patio of Griff's, article from The Leather Journal.

Quote from Feminism and Sadomasochism by Patrick Califia (in Heresies 12, 1981). Photo from Bondage Adventures No 8 (Oct 1989).

David Hawn (right) was titled Great Lakes Drummerboy 1992. He helped found National Leather Association: Indianapolis and served as president. Hawn was active in Justice, Inc, co-owned Leatherman's Image with his partner Ed Tobin, and co-produced Freeze and Sleaze.

Ad for a Halloween party at Paddles in New York, with a horror S&M show, hot & cold buffet, and prizes for Best Dom/Sub Outfit, Hottest Dom/Sub Couple, and more. #HalloweenArchives

Ad for Sutro Bath's Metamorphosis Halloween party. Sutro Bath House was located on 312 Valencia St from 1974-1977 and 1015 Folsom St from 1977-1984. Sutro was the city's first pansexual bathhouse. #HalloweenArchives

Cover of Mistress of Satan's Roost by Jack Kahler (1967), from the LA&M's Teri Rose Memorial Library. #HalloweenArchives

Photo of a mid-1990's Halloween party at The Watering Hole bar in San Francisco, from Vern Stewart's collection at the LA&M. #HalloweenArchives

The Baroness at the October 1995 Goddess Ball at the Palladium in New York. Photo by Mark McQueen from The Baroness collection at the LA&M, latex by The Baroness. #HalloweenArchives

Cover of Bad Attitude magazine, from the LA&M's Teri Rose Memorial Library. #HalloweenArchives

Photo from the SF Eagle's 2010 Halloween Beer Bust, from Rich Stadtmiller's collection at the LA&M. #HalloweenArchives

Larry Stansbury was the manager of the DC Eagle and first executive director of the charitable organization Brother Help Thyself. He was a founding board member of Capital Pride Alliance, and member of Centaur MC and Spartan MC.

Henry Jakubowski aka Drake was a body piercer. He was a long time volunteer with the Buddy Program of AIDS Project Hartford and a former board member.

Step away from your screens and into the real world, where words aren’t just read - they’re felt. On the night before Halloween, our poets will embody the sensual, the haunting, and the deliciously tangible in a reading that’s as physical as it is spectral!

Cynthia Slater was a professional dominant, educator, and HIV/AIDS and safer sex activist. Slater co-founded the Society of Janus and worked with the San Francisco Sex Information hotline. She co-founded the first mixed gender parties at The Catacombs.

Absolutely Nobody was a member of the Seattle Men in Leather and hosted their first annual holiday party. He ran for Lieutenant Governor of Washington in 1992. The cornerstone of his campaign was to abolish the elected position.

Miss Piggy and leather Kermit at a gay motorcycle club event in the 1970s. Photo from the Stallions MC collection at the LA&M. #LeatherHistory

Gear Night on Halloween? Yes please! Come socialize in your fetish attire or spice it up and come in your Halloween costume! At 8pm we will do a costume show! The audience favorite costume will win a $50 gift certificate for the LA&M Gift Shop! See you Friday, Oct. 31st, 6-9pm!

Founded in 1988, The Rangers is the second oldest leather club in in Ohio. The Rangers have raised over $75,000 for charitable causes including the LA&M, HIV/AIDS charities, the Cleveland and Akron LGBT Community Centers, food banks, breast cancer research, and pet rescue shelters. #LeatherClubs

Gene Bilbrew (1923-1974) was a singer and fetish artist, credited as the first Black career fetish artist by Richard Pérez Seves. Bondage Terror At Women's Prison is available online through the Internet Archive.

Bob Maddox co-owned Male Hide Leathers with his lover and partner Frank Goley. They were inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2001.