Guy Baldwin, Sam Steward and Irving Klaw Selected for Leather Hall of Fame

The Board of Governors of the Leather Hall of Fame (LHOF) is pleased to announce the 2012 inductees: Guy Baldwin, Sam Steward and Irving Klaw.

Guy Baldwin is a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist, author, activist and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM and leather communities, and more generally in issues relating to non-hetero-normative practices. He won International Mr. Leather in 1989. He is co-founder of an internet-based professional referral resource, the KAP list, now administered by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. He continues to teach at various lifestyle events across the U.S. and Canada.

Sam Steward (1909-1993) was an academic, novelist, historian and tattoo artist born in July of 1909. Steward maintained a card index he called his "Stud File" which documented a detailed account of his sexual experiences in vivid and often very funny detail. In the 1940's and 50's, he worked extensively with famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey as an unofficial collaborator. As tattoo artist Phil Sparrow he mentored both Cliff Raven and Don Ed Hardy. He wrote several books of BDSM fiction under the name Phil Andros.

Irving Klaw (1911-1966) was one of the principal publishers of heterosexual BDSM erotica from the late 1940s to 1964. Klaw produced photographs, cartoons, films, and digest-sized booklets with bondage, fetish, and female domination themes. He drew from the expertise of members of the early heterosexual kink subculture to create materials that he sold, primarily through mail-order, and also purchased work from a variety of talented artists such as John Coutts, Gene Bilbrew and Eric Stanton. He was subject to periodic harassment from law enforcement agencies and congressional inquiries dating from 1950, and in 1964 was convicted on 65 obscenity counts which, although the conviction was later reversed on appeal in 1965, led Klaw to cease publication of kink materials. The family business that he founded continues today (moviestarnews.com).

LHOF was formed to honor and preserve the legacy of the extraordinary men and women who have significantly impacted and shaped the history of the Leather/BDSM communities worldwide since 1950. Nominations can be made by anyone in the community, and the three inductees are selected by LHOF Board of Governors. The previous inductees are Tom of Finland, Chuck Renslow, John Coutts, Tony DeBlase, The Satyrs MC, Frank Olson/Don Morrison, The Eulenspiegel Society, Leonard Burtman and Bob Milne. Learn more about all the inductees at the Leather Archives & Museum or at www.leatherhalloffame.com.

The Leather Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Brunch will be held at CLAW 11 at the Carnegie Ballroom at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, April 29 2012 at 12 pm. We invite all leather people to join us to celebrate and honor the lives and accomplishments of these great inductees. Find out more and order your tickets now at www.clawinfo.org.

The Board of Governors of the Leather Hall of Fame (LHOF) is pleased to announce the 2011 inductees: Bob Milne, Leonard Burtman and the Eulenspiegel Society.

Bob Milne was one of the founders of the gay male SM movement in New York City. Milne came to New York in 1950, before there were actual leather bars and when leather social life mainly consisted of private parties. Milne was one of the main organizers of these parties and of the growing leather presence in gay bars in the 1950s, such as Shaws on Third Avenue.

Leonard Burtman was a publisher, filmmaker, photographer and writer, and is considered the father of the modern fetish publishing industry. He created the first nationwide distribution for kink, the first large successful multi-enterprise kink business, and successfully defended his publications from legal attacks. Burtman was the center of the American heterosexual kink community from the 1950s - 1980s. In 1962 he produced Satan in High Heels, the first fetish film for a mainstream audience. He contributed to the early development of dominatrix Monique von Cleef and publisher House of Milan.

The Eulenspiegel Society (TES) is the oldest and largest BDSM support and education group in the United States. TES is a not-for profit corporation located in New York City promoting sexual liberation for all adults, particularly those who enjoy consensual BDSM. TES provides classes, parties and events two to three times per week, all year long. TES was founded by Pat Bond in 1971, and has been a vibrant organization ever since.

Under LHOF rules, only three inductees are chosen each year. The two closest runners up in this years voting were writer and Kinsey researcher Sam Steward, and Mr. S. founder and community activist Alan Selby.

LHOF was formed to honor and preserve the legacy of the extraordinary men and women who have significantly impacted and shaped the history of the Leather/BDSM communities worldwide since 1950. Nominations can be made by anyone in the community, and the three inductees are selected by LHOF Board of Governors. The previous inductees are Tom of Finland, Chuck Renslow, John Willie, Tony DeBlase, The Satyrs MC and Frank Olson and Don Morrison. Learn more about all the inductees at the Leather Archives & Museum or at www.leatherhalloffame.com.

The Leather Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Brunch will be held at CLAW 10 at the Gateway Conference Center at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 12 pm. We invite all leather people to join us to celebrate and honor the lives and accomplishments of these great inductees. Find out more and order your tickets now at www.clawinfo.org

Satyrs, DeBlase and Olson/Morrison Selected for Leather Hall of Fame
Induction Ceremonies at CLAW 9 on April 25, 2010

The Board of Governors of the Leather Hall of Fame (LHOF) is pleased to announce the 2010 inductees: The Satyrs MC; Tony DeBlase; and Frank Olson/Don Morrison (elected as a couple).

The Satyrs MC was founded in 1954 in Los Angeles and is the longest continuously running gay organization in America, leather or otherwise. The Satyrs was formed by leather-clad bikers interested in sex during an era when that sort of sexual expression often resulted in arrest. From the beginning, the Satyrs rode to national parks for camping and sex with men, and they still host their annual Badger Flat Run, now in its 49th year. Many clubs and organizations around the world can trace some part of their roots back to the Satyrs or the bylaws they adopted back in 1954. Member of the Satyrs stood up to the Los Angeles Police Departments raids of the 70s, eventually resulting in the end of those raids and entrapments. The Satyrs continue to be a very active club with as bright a future as they have a notorious past.

Frank Olson and Don Morrison were among the most important founders of the leather scene in New York City. They were famous for many parties, at that time the major leather social events, both in New York City and on Fire Island. Frank was the principal person behind the opening of the Eagles Nest, for many years New Yorks premier leather bar. During the Worlds Fair that took place in New York in 1964/5, the NYPD kept closing gay bars, including the leather bars. Frank kept finding new places as old ones were closed, leading the community like Moses through the social wilderness, until the police pressure abated. He was also a founding member of the gay bike club scene in New York. Frank and Don are still together and living in Pennsylvania.

Tony DeBlase was perhaps the most transformational figure in the history of the leather community. He developed the contest and demonstration schedule at the Chicago Hellfire Clubs Inferno, and he helped export those lessons to other, less experienced SM clubs. He was the Founding publisher of DungeonMaster magazine, the best and most extensive published source of SM technique, much of it written by DeBlase himself. He was the publisher of Drummer magazine during its peak years from 1986-1992. He was a co-founder of the Leather Archives & Museum where he served as an officer and developed the Leather History Time Lines. He wrote leather fiction under the name Fledermous, and was a frequent lecturer and workshop leader. In 1989 he designed the Leather Pride Flag. He won multiple awards and was a mentor to many. Tony died in July, 2000.

The three runners up in the 2010 voting were publisher/writer/filmmaker Leonard Burtman, New York scene pioneer Bob Milne, and Mr. S. founder Alan Selby.

LHOF was formed to honor and preserve the legacy of the extraordinary men and women who have significantly impacted and shaped the history of the Leather/BDSM communities worldwide since 1950. By publicly acknowledging and honoring those individuals, it is LHOFs mission to preserve the history of our communities, to pay respect to the leaders and trailblazers who came before us, and to establish a permanent and unbiased resource for anyone interested in leather culture to learn about the people who built its foundations and guided its evolution. The Board of Governors of the LHOF represents a diverse, pansexual cross-section of the some of the leather communitys most widely-respected and longest-standing academics and activists. LHOF has gone to great pains to insure that the internal voting process is confidential, professional and free of politics or cliquishness. Nominations can be made by anyone in the community. The chief criterion for eligibility is that nominees have made substantial contributions to BDSM/leather dating back at least 15 years. Nominations are accepted throughout the year at www.leatherhalloffame.com. The annual deadline for nominations is October 15th. The Board of Governors carefully evaluates all nominations and selects three inductees each year. Nominations that are not selected are carried over to be considered the following year.

The initial focus is on the earliest pioneers of our community. The LHOFs first three inductees (2009) were Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen), the prolific artist whose stylized homoerotic art had a profound effect on gay and leather culture; Chuck Renslow, founder of the Chicagos legendary Gold Coast bar, International Mr. Leather, the Leather Archives & Museum, and dozens of other projects; and artist John Willie, a major figure in the development of the imagery and culture of heterosexual and lesbian BDSM in the mid twentieth century. Learn more about our first three inductees at www.leatherhalloffame.com.

The Leather Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies will be held at CLAW 9 at the Wyndham Hotel in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, April 25, 2010. We invite all leather people to join us to celebrate and honor the lives and accomplishments of these great inductees. Find out more and order your tickets now at www.clawinfo.org.