Carl Patrick “Charles” Hughes, a founding member of the Baltimore Gay Alliance and Gay Community Center of Baltimore, died March 7th in his Charles Village home of 53 years. He was 78 and had been diagnosed with an inoperable aneurysm after suffering a heart attack in October. The aneurysm was the likely cause of his death. Cover image: Charles (right) and Scott Emmons at gay pride in New York in the 1970s Charles, also known as Buster, was born in Palm Beach, Florida, but lived most of his life in Baltimore City. He was the son of Joseph Hughes, a […]
Meet Mx Maryland Leather 2023
Since 1991, COMMAND, MC, has produced the Mr. Maryland Leather Contest each November. Last November the Baltimore-based leather club made a decision to open the contest to all genders and sashed Finn Michael Coy-Gresavage as Mx Maryland Leather 2023. It has been a busy year for Finn. I was able to sit down with them right before Finn left for Austin Kink Weekend in Austin, Texas. Growing up in rural Nanjemoy, Maryland, taught Finn about community and how people help each other in times of need. When Finn’s mother passed from cancer in 2016, a man who often hiked on […]
IMsLBB Gen 5 Weekend: A Great Success
From the technical boot competition to the hospitality suites, the 2023 International Ms Leather and International Ms Bootblack contests (IMsLBB) were held by their fifth generation this weekend in Piscataway, New Jersey. Leather women of all kinds gathered to play, learn, and compete in a space geared towards their enjoyment. The leather community gathered from Thursday to Sunday with women working hard and playing harder. Producer Mademoiselle Ceci and the crew of people that led this weekend created a hotel takeover on the East Coast. They created IMsLBB Generation Five and it was a smashing success. Top image: International Ms […]
FreeState Justice Offers Free Legal Advice
FreeState Justice is excited to partner with the Pride Center of Maryland to bring pro-bono legal resources to LGBTQIA+ communities across the state. These clinics will focus on helping Marylanders with name and gender marker changes on all official documents and a chance for clients to ask our team of pro bono attorneys for legal advice. There will be monthly clinics for the next three months, with a special one at Pride in the Park in June. These clinics will be at 2601 North Howard Street, Baltimore, and are entirely free of cost. Whether you are in need of these […]
Queer Jewish Arts Festival on the Road in Baltimore
In honor of Pride month this June, the Gordon Center for Performing Arts invites the community to join for a series of programs on the road, in the gallery, and at the Gordon. The festival celebrates multiple facets of our identities – including gender, race, religion, and class – through the arts. Sponsored by the Grandchildren of Harvey M. & Lyn P. Meyerhoff Philanthropic Fund, the festival will highlight local, national, and international artists who are making art with queer and Jewish content and examine the complexity of how we present ourselves and move throughout life. “This year, we have […]
New Jersey Leather Weekend: We’re Back!
This past weekend, after an over three-year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, Dragonslair Productions brought back the highly anticipated New Jersey Leather Weekend to Paradise and the Empress Hotel in Asbury Park, which hosts the Mr. and Ms NJ Leather Contest. Boy, did it not disappoint! This year’s master of ceremonies, as before, was the amazingly, awe-inspiring Jeff Tucker, International Mr. Leather 1996. The weekend was dedicated to “Daddy” Dion Daly-Susino, one of the founding producers, who lost a battle to cancer this past year. I know he was there in spirit loving every single minute of it, and I for […]
Pennsmen Celebrate 45 + 1 Years
Historically leather clubs host large events for milestone anniversaries. Unfortunately, the pandemic derailed lots of plans. As a result, over the weekend of February 24th to 26th the Pennsmen held their 46th anniversary weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This fun-filled gathering included lots of cocktail parties, instructional classes, and the 200th meeting of the Atlantic Motorcycle Coordinating Council, an umbrella organization for many of the leather clubs in the New England and Mid-Atlantic area. I arrived early and had time to run over to the Brownstone Lounge, the home bar of the Pennsmen, for happy […]
Meet Mr. Mayhem Leather Bear 2022
David Sugar of Baltimore, Maryland was sashed Mr. Mayhem Leather Bear 2022 during the annual Bears, Bikers & Mayhem event held on May 5th to 8th in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Baltimore, David discovered the leather community in December of 2013 when he was asked to deejay for the ShipMates leather club’s annual Daddy Christmas fundraiser. David pledged the ShipMates in 2017 and began his leather journey. The […]
Struggling to Make the Most of It
For the LGBTQ+ community, June means Pride Month. It is a time to remember and honor those proud people who fought for respect and equity. It is also a time to celebrate how far we have come. In June of 2019 my fellow ShipMate Club members and I participated and enjoyed area Pride events in Washington, Baltimore, Frederick, Westminster, and Annapolis. June of 2019 was a great Pride Month. I had a wonderful time. I do not need to tell you what happened in June of 2020. Everything was canceled. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait […]
Escape to the Woods
For many years, the ShipMates Club of Baltimore and the Centaur MC of Washington, DC, hosted leather weekends at a campground. The ShipMates called their weekend “Keelhaul” and the Centaur MC hosted “Olympia.” In the spirit of leather brotherhood, the events were alternating years. (The clubs did not wish to conflict or compete.) Odd years brought Keelhaul and on even years leather folks headed to Olympia. Attendees paid one price, which included a bed in a cabin, all meals, endless cocktail parties hosted by various leather clubs, a run pin, and lots of fun. There was always a dungeon “play […]