This #roadtoimslbb2018 has made me question a great many things. The spirit of our Leather elders. How our community views TNG. What can be done to better our place in the world and the world as a whole from our place in it... but I have never questioned if I am headed in the right direction. I helped @vanlaarz and #SFLeatherAlliance to rewrite their gendered bylaws and sat on the committee that made the new, ungendered “person of the year award” because neither of the two people honored with “woman of the year” were women they were both non-binary. Only to be promptly barred from volunteering at our first #SFbootblackcontest by the new President Angel. No good reason was given... no appreciation for the hours of time I have to the organization, for the brochure I designed or the Love I have for our community. But that “person of the year award” exists, so we still win LeatherLand. We still win because they can hurt one of us, make a few of us feel like we don’t belong, but they can’t erase us. If you are an organizer looking to do better for the non-binaries and TNG in our community HMU. @societyofjanus did and look how their IG has grown! Look how they have created an inclusive space that doesn’t discourage participation on the basis of perceived gender or the exclusivity of cliques! I’ll be working with South Africa, @smilyborg in a similar way soon, and I encourage you all to do all you can! They need our support. This is after all.... an international community. . . . #notgonnaseemegiveup #likeawolf #leatherunited #ourguard #ourcommunity #ourleather #LeatherLand #Thomastheleatherboi #canteraseme (at Oakland, California)
