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10 Leather Flag |
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THE STORY OF THE LEATHER PRIDE FLAG
On 28 May 1989, at the International Mister
Leather contest in Chicago, Tony Deblase presented his design for a Leather
Pride Flag. In an editorial in his Off The Top column in Drummer 131,
written before Deblase’s trip to Chicago, but not on the newsstands until
afterwards, he explained something of how the idea and design for the flag came
about.
“The rainbow flag has become the symbol of
Gay and Lesbian pride, and I have been proud to wear it on my clothing, march
behind it in parades, and hang it from my balcony. I was thrilled by the
rainbow-colored balloons used in the opening and closing ceremonies of Gay
Games II and the spectacular rainbow of balloons that arched over the main
stage at the G&L pride rally here in San Francisco a couple of years ago.”
“For the 20th anniversary of
Stonewall, I felt that the time was right for the Leather men and women, who
have been participating in these same parades and events more and more visibly
in recent years, to have a similar, simple, elegant banner that would serve as
a symbol of their own identity and interests. I decided that calling a
committee meeting to design it would be counterproductive, so I just did it. I
consulted with most of the staff here at Drummer, and some of their suggestions
were incorporated. I do not expect this design to be the final form, but
[rather] the basis from which a widely accepted banner will evolve.”
“A prototype was constructed and displayed
at the International Mr. Leather Contest in Chicago on May 28. It seemed to be
enthusiastically welcomed. I am having a few more flags manufactured. Drummer
will be presenting one each to the Leather men and women of New York City and
of San Francisco. I have asked GMSMA to be the custodian of the former and The
Society of Janus and The Outcasts to be custodians of the latter. With lick,
both flags will be ready in time to be carried by the Leather continents in
each of these two major pride parades. Drummer will also donate flags to the
National Leather Association and to Chicago Hellfire Club. Both of these are
groups with which I have been intimately involved for quite some time, and both
host major events for the Leather and/or SM community.”
“The flag is composed of nine horizontal
stripes of equal width. From the top and from the bottom, the stripes alternate
black and royal blue. The central stripe is white. In the upper left quadrant
of the flag is a large red heart. I will leave it to the viewer to interpret
the colors and symbols.”
“Desmodus Inc. (DeBlase’s company, at the
time, publisher of Drummer) has a copyright on the design and anyone wishing to
use it for purely commercial purposes must receive our written approval.
However, we welcome members of the Leather/SM community to use the design for
flags, banners, pins, printed material, etc. to be distributed free or sold at
cost, or to be used for fund raising for not-for-profit causes that benefit
Leather men and women. No permission is required for these uses, but we do ask
that you inform us of the use and, where possible, send us samples.”
“We have had cloisonné pins made. These are
about 1” wide and are available for $5. Photos of the flag at IML and,
hopefully, in the parades as well, will be in Drummer 132.”
There was some debate about DeBlase’s
audacity. How dare he design a flag without convening a committee of important
leather men and women? Did he think he would get away with this? Well, no, he
didn’t intend to “get away with” anything. As he said in the editorial, “I do
not expect this design to be the final form,” but indignity requires no excuse.
Nonetheless, the enthusiastic welcome the
design received at IML was barely the beginning. Before anyone really had a
chance to think whether the design should or shouldn’t be changed, it was
everywhere. In fact, perhaps strangely, Drummer magazine, did not work for the
adoption of the flag with anything like the fervor you might expect. The
process took on a life of its own and, in effect, ignored the fact that the
designer was waiting for feedback and expecting to make changes. The promised pictures
in the next issue of Drummer were hardly a push for acceptance.
In the IML coverage, Mister Marcus mentioned
the presentation of the flag and that it had already appeared in “gay parades
across the country.” Marcus also said, “The flag obviously represents the
leather/SM fraternity and their caring, loving brotherhood.” No pictures of the
flag or its presentation at IML were published. What’s more, of the nine parade
pictures published, five of them showing the new flag, were in black and white.
The (parade) coverage [also] mentioned that the flag was flown over the Society
of Janus booth in San Francisco and that several Portland, OR, leather women
had “sewed their own leather pride flag.”
The Portland flag followed the DeBlase
design exactly. On the back cover of that issue of Drummer, the new IML, Guy
Baldwin, and his runners up were pictured in front of the flag. The next
Drummer-designer-related appearance of the leather pride flag was in September,
on stage at the Mr. Drummer finals, and the flag that graced the stage (along
with gay pride flags) appeared on the cover of Drummer 135 - just in the
background.
The following September, at the next Mr.
Drummer contest, one of the most interesting events was the arrival of Clive
Platman, a New Zealander in San Francisco to represent Australia in the Mr.
Drummer finals. He brought with him a new version of the flag, its first major
variant. Over the now-established stripes, Laurie Lane of Laurie Lane’s Leather
World, had appliquéd the stars that also appear on Australia’s national flag.
By this time there were authorized and
unauthorized versions of the flag for sale in endless forms: pins, bumper
stickers, patches and even Christmas ornaments, but the Aussie flag set off a
stir. Everyone began working at variants, some of them great extensions of the
flag and its purpose (titleholder’s sashes), others downright funny (a
Thanksgiving card on which the red heart is replaced by a roast turkey in red).
But there was definitely no doubt by the time of the 1991 Drummer contest that
the flag was, as DeBlase had hoped, “a widely accepted banner.” And, even at
this time, Drummer was not pushing the leather pride design. In fact, the only
ad for the leather pride design was a small classified ad offering the original
pins at $6, 2 for $10.
By 1997, the leather pride flag design was
just eight years old - its ninth birthday being at the IML contest in May, 1998
- and it was solidly accepted around the world. Used and reused everywhere,
twisted and warped into every shape, wrapped around every kind of product and
made of every material from leather to crochet yarn. It has even been worked
into the permanent colors of some leather clubs, a use that DeBlase saw as
particularly significant, a special level of acceptance.
The original prototype of the flag and many,
many examples of the design’s application are on exhibit at the Leather
Archives and Museum in Chicago. Among the examples, you could see there are:
window stickers, run pins, key chains, beaded safety pins, business cards,
jewelry, the logo of Bandanna magazine, the cover of a cookbook, letterhead and
a hand-crocheted cock and ball cover (a cozy?). We have also seen the colors
and design elements of the leather pride flag used as whip handles and whole
whips worked into clothing designs, done as tattoos and hair dye jobs, and
many, many times as cake decorations.
Of course, the leather pride flag has flown
as an arch of balloons at any number of events, perhaps completing the circle
from the inspiration DeBlase started with to the fully realized emblem we have
today.
Unfortunately, on 21 July 2000 Tony DeBlase
died of liver failure in Portland, OR. Born 3 April 1942, he was just 58 at the
time of his death. The front page of The Leather Journal, Issue
#125, August 2000, includes a fine obituary and picture of DeBlase. Although
mostly known for his work in and among the leather/SM community, he also had
interests in mammalogy (specializing in the biology of bats), was involved in
museum administration, was a gourmet cook, was the founding publisher of Dungeon
Master magazine, and wrote fiction under the name Fledermaus. He was
involved in the founding and development of The Leather Archives and Museum,
where he served as vice president of the board from 1992 until 2000.
