If you are a local guy who wants to check out the bondage scene, or if you are an out-of-town visitor looking for some fun, be sure to visit the New York Bondage Club, which meets for play every Sunday night.
Men of all ages, shapes and sizes and — all experience levels — are welcome. You can join in on the action, or you can just watch! You owe it to yourself to go at least once!
Check out their website get more information, and to see some of the action that goes on:
I recently finished “My Leather Life: Early Years” by Peter Fiske, narrated by Thomas V. Peterson, and I can’t recommend this book enough!
It’s available for purchase on Amazon.
Peter is one of our most passionate and loving of leather elders, who is well known in gay s/m circles as an expert in flogging and whipping. For anyone interested in learning more about this topic — as well as anyone who wants to understand more in general about who we are as kinky folk and where we came from — this book is highly recommended!
Peter shares personal stories of growing up in New York City and discovering a sexual interest in bondage and spanking at a young age. He also tells of serving in the military in the segregated South and finding leather sex at a dirty movie theater in Times Square. All of this takes place pre-Stonewall! Speaking of Stonewall, Peter was also a patron of this famous bar and tells of being present at three different raids before the famous rioting took place in late June 1969.
Peter was also active in the leather scene in San Francisco, meeting many of the “old guard” leather men of the day and joining a back patch club and attending leather runs. Peter later became active in brotherhood organizations, including The 15 Association, the Chicago Hellfire Club and Delta.
“‘My Leather Life’ reads like porn, but it is my life,” Peter shared in a recent posting on Facebook.
“All of our stories matter. Mine is no different than any of my readers,” Peter continued. “I have been lucky to live at the center and to find love. If you take one thing from my book, it is that it’s in your power to live authentically and to find your love and your friends. Drag queens told me that in the 60s. Be real. You can be real too. All it takes is courage and a glad heart.”
The group picture shown in this blog posting is in the book and is also from Peter’s Facebook page. The caption states that it is from the Folsom Fair in San Francisco in September 1991 and shows, from left, Shadow Morton, Coulter “Colt’ Thomas (who was the fifth International Mr. Leather and Peter’s lover), Sky Renfro, Peter himself, and John.
I absolutely loved reading this book. I’m inspired not only by Peter’s passion for leading an authentic life but also of his stories of standing up for those being discriminated against, including men of color, drag queens and those who are transgender.
But for me the most moving passages were those in which the author describes the way he plays. When Peter flogs or whips a bottom in a leather scene, he does it as an act of love.
We should all be more like Peter.
Andrew Harwin, who died recently, was a member of Inferno, Delta, GMSMA and many other organizations. He was one of the organizers of the popular Folsom Street East block party here in NYC. There will be a memorial service for Andrew on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, from 3 to 5 p.m., at the LGBT Community Center in New York. It will be a wonderful opportunity to reminisce, to connect with those who knew and remember Andrew, and to help celebrate his life.
Civil rights activist and best selling author David Mixner speaks about gay rights, the state of our union, growing up country, developing his political chops and sex.
Wed, July 24, 2019
6:00 to 9:00 PM
554 West 28th Street
Free tickets available here
There’s a really hot exhibition of works by Robert Mapplethorpe through July 10, then returning July 24 until early January, at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. If you are in or are coming to New York, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Although many of these photographs are famous, I had never seen them exhibited in a gallery before. I’m impressed with the technical quality of Mapplethorpe’s work, and I am moved by his subject matter. Mapplethorpe depicted leather and s/m sex, and even rubber and other fetishes! This was incredibly groundbreaking for someone in the 1970s. You have to remember that he was working before the Internet, before Tumblr made subject matter like this abundant.
I thought a lot about one image — “Joe (Rubber Man)” — because I am wondering where he would have gotten that full rubber body suit back then. There’s also some even more shocking stuff (not pictured here) including a watersports picture and another, a self-portrait, in which the artist has a bullwhip up his butt.
My favorite picture of all (shown above and below) is “Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter,” the picture in which a leather Sir has his boy chained up in their living room.
Below are some of the pictures I took of the pictures:
You can learn more about this exhibition at the Guggenheim by clicking here.
There are also several movies about Mapplethorpe, the best of which is (in my opinion) called “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures” — trailer here:
If you are in New York City this weekend for World Pride, be sure to check out the New York Bondage Club! This Sunday — after the World Pride parade — you can celebrate your bondage pride!
The New York Bondage Club meets EVERY Sunday night!
Visit the club’s official website here.
The World Pride weekend continues on Saturday, June 29, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, with a Leather Barbecue!
81 Christopher Street, from 2 to 6 pm
Andrew Harwin died today.
Andrew was a wise and spiritual man who was generous with his time and attention. He had many friends.
He was one of the organizers of the popular Folsom Street East block party and fund-raiser here in NYC. He was a member of Inferno and of Delta.
I got to know Andrew many years back when we served together on the board of GMSMA (Gay Male S/M Activists). I knew him as hard-working, kind, friendly and thoughtful.
Andrew was a longtime survivor of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He bravely battled so many health crises over the years that I thought he would outlive us all.
He is going to be missed.
