Leather Without Integrity Is Only a Costume
Having just learned about this amazing publication called Black Leather In Color (Thank You
Mr. NJ Leather 2026
) .. make sure to go show both pages some love.
(Home Page:
https://blackleatherincolor.org/
This article by By SIR Guy (South Carolina) says something that desperately needs to be said, especially within Leather.
my thoughts:
(Note: this is written using D/s protocol)
Leather has never been merely about what W/we wear, what W/we do behind closed doors, or how convincingly S/someone can perform an aesthetic. Leather is supposed to be rooted in integrity, consent, responsibility, service, courage, chosen family, and protecting T/those whose lives have been pushed to the margins.
Supporting ICE is not simply a harmless difference of political opinion. It means supporting an institution that raids communities, tears families apart, detains P/people under brutal conditions, and forces human beings to prove that T/they deserve safety, dignity, and the right to exist. Y/you cannot support that machinery and then expect the P/people targeted by it to regard Y/you as family.
The same is true of supporting racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, predatory behavior, or authoritarianism. A title, sash, vest, years of experience, or place in Leather history does not absolve A/anyone of the harm T/they enable. Being called an elder does not make S/someone wise. Being respected in the past does not mean T/they are entitled to respect forever. Respect is sustained through conduct.
i also appreciate that this article refuses to pretend Leather exists above the failures of mainstream society. W/we inherited many of its prejudices, exclusions, and hierarchies. Black, Brown, trans, queer, disabled, femme, and other marginalized Leather P/people have repeatedly been expected to endure bigotry quietly so that the comfort of T/those with power remains undisturbed. Then, when T/they finally speak loudly enough to be heard, T/they are accused of causing division.
Naming the harm is not what divided U/us. The harm created the division. Silence merely protected the P/people responsible for it.
Tradition is not a shield for bigotry. History is not an excuse for exclusion. Leather cannot claim to value consent while supporting systems that strip P/people of agency. It cannot call itself a sanctuary while welcoming T/those who help make O/others unsafe. It cannot speak of honor while ignoring cruelty simply because the cruel P/person has status, history, or friends.
N/nobody is entitled to belonging in a community T/they actively make more dangerous for O/others.
As S/someone who happens to be white ( click here to read why i word it this way ), i believe i have a responsibility to speak even when the harm is not aimed directly at me. my comfort is not more important than S/someone else’s humanity. If my place within Leather requires silence in the presence of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, or authoritarian cruelty, then that place was never built upon the values i was told Leather represented.
If saying this makes certain P/people uncomfortable, so be it. Discomfort is not oppression. Accountability is not persecution. Boundaries are not intolerance.
Leather must be more than gear, titles, nostalgia, and performance. It must mean something in how W/we treat P/people, whom W/we protect, and what W/we refuse to normalize.
Otherwise, it is only a costume.
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