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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2004)
CULTURE ............. ▼.............. Come together Taste this Y ou r complete guide to Oregon Leather Pride Week 2 0 0 4 Fetish groups set aside squabbles to present a unified Oregon Leather Pride Week by ll Leather Pride Week events are open to the public. Leather Tastings is particularly good for newbies. Events are free unless otherwise noted. Visit www.oregonleatherpride.org for updates. A Aug. 6 8 p.m.-close, Leather, Feathers & Fur Fetish Ball at Panorama, 341 S.W. 10th Ave. $12 advance. G a r y M o r r is here’s pride, and then there’s Leather Pride. And why not? T his year, the local leather crowd has gixxl reason to celehrate. It’s not just that sexual culture has hecome more knowledgeable and accepting of B/D/S/M, though Blackout Leather Productions th at’s surely the case. But, in a historic development, all of Portland’s major leather and fetish groups are presenting Oregon Leather Pride Week together, putting aside past disagreements, canceling the catfights and healing hurts in the name o f partying, good works and a celebra tion of all things alternative. This means hears mixing it up with Bad Girls, dominatrixes sharing the barbecue grill with boyz in chaps, and all manner of other hitherto rarely seen couplings. T he groups run the gamut from old-guard leather (like the national organization Masters & Slaves Together) to the Oregon Bears, who are coming out of their caves (well, the Dirty Duck) for the occasion, to the provocatively named Pacific Friction, a recent arrival that stages sex-positive kink events for self-identified women. Major players in the Aug. 6-15 event are, not coincidentally, the big fetish players in town: Blackout Leather Productions and Port land Leather Alliance, with additional support from Bad Girls and In Uniform online magazine. Every Portland subculture that survives goes through a maturing process, and a telling mark of that is the kind of ease and openness that lets an event like Leather Pride happen. It can represent a sec ond coming out for queers. Blackout president Cheryl Spector explains the lure of the leather world: "T he sense of community... the feeling of family... the tribalness called to me.” Being arrested at a San Diego play party a few years hack politicized her. “It became important that 1 hecome involved in the promotion of sexual freedom." Presenting Leather Pride Week as a cohesive group, she says, was a surprisingly easy decision for everyone. “All it tcxik was one person to set a date and a time to gather. T he community came together.” Although participants are pretty hush-hush about what past issues kept fetish groups disparate, realizing that the duplication of efforts each year was wasteful, in terms of both economics and energy, didn’t hurt. With Leather Pride, all those little events scat Aug. 7 5- 8:30 p.m., Kinky Auction at Panorama. 9 p.m.-close, Uniform &. Buzzcuts Party at the Eagle PDX, 1300 W. Burnside St. $4- co-hosts Oregon Leather Pride Week from Aug. 6 to 15 tered throughout the year— the barbecues, play parties, fetish balls and ever-popular W hack-a-Thon— could be combined in one big 10-day party. They should just go ahead and call it “Leather Pride Fortnight,” notes Karen, promotion coordinator for Masters &. Slaves. O f course, the details are daunting. With all the paraphernalia she’s had to accumulate, Karen laments, “My house looks like a leather explosion!” And dealing with permits, finding and nailing venues (Embers and Panorama have been especially helpful) takes time. But the compensations are great, she insists. “It’s like a family,” she says of the organizing committee. Every year Oregon Leather Pride showcases community service, which is no different this year— video screenings, kinky auctions and Leather Tastings will donate proceeds to a variety of charities. The latter event is one of several intended to appeal to those out side the B/D/S/M community. According to Rose Empress XLI Krystel Belle-Rose, one of the c<x)rdinators of Leather Pride Week, Leather Tastings is a kind of sexy smorgasbord with vendors and presenters giving people the opportunity to experience different types of B/D/S/M play. “From hot wax to electric play, it is a safe environment where anyone from vanilla folk [novices] to experienced B/D/S/M players can come together to have fun and learn from each other.” Belle-Rose herself also plans demos and workshops to “broaden the mind-set about B/D/S/M” and will give her all, or at least her ass, at the Whack-a-Thon. T h at annual event, she says, “started out as a way to raise money by selling whacks on my ass during my show. It has become a huge success,” raising money for different charities. O ne o f the recipients is Camp Starlight for children whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS, where Belle-Rose is a camp counselor. j n G ary M orris is a Portland free-lance water. Aug. 8 Noon-4 p.m., Leather Tastings at Panorama. $3-$5. Aug. 9 7 p.m., My Leather Jacket film screening, loca tion T BA . $5-$10 sliding scale. Documentary host ed by Ms. Oregon State Leather Alycyn Britton. Proceeds benefit Chicago’s Leather Archives & Museum. whack! Proceeds benefit Camp Starlight. Aug. 1.2 6- 9 p.m., Leather & Lace Show at Embers. Cover charge applies. Includes a display from the Oregon Leather History Project. Aug. 13 5-6 p.m., Oregon State Leather Contestant Meet and Greet at Embers. 7 p.m., A Night of Myth, Mayhem, &. Magic (an erotic production) at Embers. $5. Proceeds ben efit Leather Archives. 9 p.tn.-midnight, Bears in Leather Bust at Gail’s Dirty Duck, 439 N.W. Third Ave. $8-$ 10. Aug. 14 7- 9 p.m., Mr. &. Ms. Oregon State Leather 2004 Contest at Embers. $ 10. Aug. 10 6- 8 p.m., “Trans Issues in the B/D/S/M Commu nity” panel discussion at Outside In, 1030 S.W. 13th Ave. 10-ish p.m., Mixed Play Party at Ascension Dun geon. $5-$15. E-mail contact@pdxbadgirls.net to attend. Doors close at mid night, party rages all night. Aug. 11 6-9 p.m., Leather Fam ily BBQ at Overlook Park, North Fremont Street and Interstate Avenue. Bring your own meat and a side dish to share. 9:30 p.m., LaFetiche Show and W hack-a-Thon at Embers, 110 N.W. Broadway. Cover charge applies, but only $ 1 a Aug. 15 9 a.m., spiritual service celebrates leather commu nity at Metropolitan Community Church of Portland, 2400 N.E. Broadway. 11 a.m., Mr. & Ms. Oregon State Leather 2004 Victory Brunch and Rose &. Thom Communi ty Awards at Embers. $15. St. Stephens Episcopal Gay ¿r Lesbian Couples Welcome TIN5 DOWNTOWN 1 PARISH# Sunday Services • 7:45 and 10:00 am Sunday School & Childcare at 10:00 am Rev. Lawrence Falkowski, Ph D. rector 1432 SW 13th Avenue • Portland, Oregon 97201 (503) 223-6424 LINNTON FEED & SEED. ,*•*. ¡ wm NOT THE MALL. D on ’t M iss the Rate Train! 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