The Leather History Timeline: 1970-1984

1970
Time	Event
1970	The explicitly homoerotic SM film Born to Raise Hell starring Val Martin, produced by Terry LeGrand and directed by Roger Earl, is released in Los Angeles. It remains a classic of the genre to this date.
1970	Publication of Cruising a murder mystery novel by Jay Green set in New York's leather bars. When later made into a movie starring Al Pacino it was the subject of vocal demonstrations by gay activists who objected to the portrayals. The Young Master by William Lambert III, one of the best from this prolific author of gay erotica with an SM twist. Leather Ad V1: M and V2: S novels by Larry Townsend. Sex and the Lash Lovers by R. Rodgers Kingman.
1970	Michael Holm starts Revolt Press in Sweden. He publishes Tom of Finland's books of artwork, and later starts Mr. SM and Toy magazines.
1970	Formation of Boston Bike Club; Centaur MC of Richmond VA; Druids MC of Washington DC; Entre Nous of Boston; The Lake Riders of Chicago; the Libertines of Kansas City; MS Amsterdam, MSC Rhein-Main Frankfurt; MC Kemo of Montreal; PCMC of Los Angeles; Praetorians of New York City; The San Franciscans; South Pacific MC of Sydney; Southern Cross MC of Melbourne; Spearhead of Toronto; TOR MC of Toronto and Vulcan Rubber Club of Washington DC. New York First, a council of New York motorcycle clubs is formed.
1970	Spearhead holds its first Roundup run and the Vanguards hold their first Oktoberfest. The first Leather Sabbat is held in Washington DC.
1970	Leather bar openings include: the Barn in NYC; Boots in Ft. Lauderdale; The Cellblock in NYC, The Leather Game in Los Angeles; The Leather Stallion in Cleveland, the Eagle's Nest, NYC; the Triangle in NYC. ADDENDUM: The Eagle's Nest had been an ancient, working class dump called the Eagle Open Kitchen, open since the early 1930s, until a gay couple bought it, in 1970. They black-washed the interior, and plopped an old bike inside for atmosphere and kept the metal eagle sign just outside the door. They christened it the Eagles Nest, and kept that name for a year before learning its unfortunate Third Reich connotations. It became The Eagle after that, and quickly became the most popular leather joint in town and when out of town visitors returned home and decided to open leather bars of their own, about half of them were named “The Eagle.” contrib. Chris M. March 2024.
1970	Professor Louis Compton of the University of Nebraska teaches the first gay studies course in the US.
1970	The Gay Activists Alliance selects the Greek letter lambda as a symbol of the gay movement.
1970	According to tim1965 on LiveJournal.com: In 1970, DSI Sales was raided again. This time, the federal government opted for a jury trial. The narrow-minded jury convicted Spinar and Germain on all counts in late July 1970. This conviction, however, was overturned in Spinar and Germain v. United States, 440 F.2d 1241 (1971). Directory Services had been raided before. See the 1967, Jul. 26 entry in this timeline.
1970, Jan.	More than 250 homosexuals, led by the Rev. Troy Perry, march for police reform on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
1970, Jan.	Customs officials seize and seek permission to destroy, ten artworks from an international erotic exhibit scheduled to show in New York City. Permission is denied by a New York court citing the First Ammendment.
1970, March	A gay San Francisco postal worker fights an attempt by the Civil Service commission to terminate him for "moral incompetency," recovering his job in November, and paving the road for future Civil Service Commission reforms. REQUEST: I've been unable to find any further details about this item online. It would be helpful for someone to provide further information and cite primary source material. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1970, June	Celebrating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the first gay pride parades/marches/rallies are held in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Cycle MC marches in the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade in NYC. ADDENDUM: According to the English version of the "Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS)": At the first anniversary, the „Christopher Street Day“ 1970, about 5.000 gays and lesbians meet for a parade. This marks the beginning of the „Gay Pride“ movement, which actively works against the discrimination of homosexuals in the USA. IMAGE SOURCE: Lacey Fosburgh, “Thousands of Homosexuals Hold a Protest in Central Park," New York Times, June 29, 1970. CITED by DACHS: hamburg.gay-web.de/chronik/brd2.shtml Blazek, Helmut „Rosa Zeiten für rosa Liebe. Zur Geschichte der Homosexualität“. Fischer Verlag Frankfurt am Main, November 1996, p. 270 Here is the text of Thousands of Homosexuals Hold A Protest Rally in Central Park, a news story by Lacey Fosburgh which appeared in the New York Times on June 29, 1970: Thousands at young men and women homosexuals from all over the Northeast marched from Greenwich Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park yesterday, proclaiming “the new strength and pride of the gay people.” From Washington. Boston and Cleveland, from Ivy League colleges, from Harlem, the Fast Side and the suburbs, they gathered to protest laws that make homosexual acts between consenting adults Illegal and social conditions that often make it impossible for them to display affection in public, maintain jobs or rent apartments. As the group gathered In Sheridan Square before marching up the Avenue of the Americas to hold what the participants described as a “gay-in.” In the Sheep Meadow, one of the organizers said a new militancy was developing among homosexuals. “We're probably the most harassed, persecuted minority group in history, but we'll never have the freedom and civil rights we deserve as human beings unless we stop hiding in closets and in the shelter of anonymity,” said 29-year old Michael Brown. He is a founder of the Gay Liberation Front, an activist homosexual organization that has held small demonstrations in Greenwich Village in the past year. “We have to come out into the open and stop being ashamed, or else people will go on treating us as freaks. This march,” he went on, “is an affirmation and declaration of our new pride.” Then, chanting, “Say it loud, gay is proud,” the marchers held bright red, green, purple and yellow silk banners high in the warm afternoon air and began to move up the avenue. Crowd Estimates Vary Estimates of the size of the demonstration ranged from that by one police officer, who said casually there were “over thousand,” to organizers who said variously 3,000 and 5,000 and even 20,000. “We've never had a demonstration like this,” said Martin Robinson, 27, a carpenter who is in charge of political affairs for the Gay Activities Alliance. He walked with the others past crowds of people standing in silence on the sidewalks. “It serves notice on every politician in the state and nation that homosexuals are not going to hide any more. We're becoming militant, and we won't be harassed and degraded any more,” Mr. Robinson said. Throughout the demonstration, first along the Avenue of the Americas and later in the park, where the group sat together, laughing, talking and waving their banners, hundreds of on-lookers gathered. Some eagerly clicked their cameras, others tittered, many were obviously startled by the scene. There was little open animosity, and some bystanders applauded when a tall, pretty girl carrying a sign, “I am a Lesbian,” walked by. Michael Kotis, president of the Mattachine Society, which has about 1,000 members around the country, said that “the gay people have discovered their potential strength and gained a new pride” since a battle on June 29, 1969; between a crowd of homosexuals and policemen who raided the Stonewall Inn, a place frequented by homosexuals at 53 Christopher Street. “The main thing we have to understand,” he added, holding a yellow silk banner high in the air, “is that we're different, but we're not inferior.” contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1970, July 6	Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church, and a leatherman, sits on the steps of the Federal Building in Los Angeles refusing to eat or leave until someone from the city of Los Angeles comes and talks to him about Gay rights. Eleven days later city Councilman Robert Stevenson holds a curbside meeting with Perry, ending his vigil.
1970, Aug.	North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) holds its final meeting in San Francisco. Morris Knight leads street people in to smash NACHO. "Anarchy faced off with arrogant conservatism, and anarchy won," says Jim Kepner.
1970, Sept.	The Federal Commission on Obscenity and Pornography urges the repeal of most anti-pornography laws.
1970, Sept. 15	ADDENDUM: Larry Townsend, as president of Homophile Effort for Legal Protection (H.E.L.P.), founded the H.E.L.P. Newsletter in 1972. H.E.L.P. was a group in Los Angeles founded in 1969 to defend homosexuals during and after arrests by Los Angeles Police Department. SOURCE: Jack Fritscher, The Life and Times of the Legendary Larry Townsend, www.JackFritscher.com. contrib. Ambrosio April 2, 2023.
1970, Nov. 25	Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after a failed attempt to incite a riot at a Military school in Japan. (Born Jan. 14, 1925).

1971
Time	Event
1971	ADDENDUM: The Tool Box in San Francisco closes. In "Folsom Street: The Miracle Mile," Gayle Rubin writes: During demolition, the wall with the mural was left standing for some time, all alone in a sea of concrete rubble and twisted steel. IMAGE SOURCE: "Folsom Street: The Miracle Mile" by Gayle Rubin in Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture by James Brook, Chris Carlsson, and Nancy Peters, eds. (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1998) SEE ALSO: Jack Fritscher "Artist Chuck Arnett: His life/our times" in Thompson, Mark (editor). 1991. Leatherfolk -- Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice. 1st ed. Boston: Alyson Books American Leather Goes Mainstream: Anger, Arnett and Life Magazine by Chris M. Life Looks at Leather (1964) contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1971	The In Between opens at 1347 Folsom in San Francisco, in between FeBe's and the Ramrod. It soon metamorphosed into the No Name, a popular leather bar.
1971	The first FFA run is held in Cambria CA.
1971	Formation of Argonauts, Cycle Runners MC, Koalas, and LOBOC in California; Chicago Knights MC; Keystone Riders in Philadelphia; Kingmasters in Los Angeles, Northern Riding Club in the UK; Scorpions MC (originally Centaur MC's DC chapter) in DC; Thunderbolts MC in Connecticut; Tribe MC in Detroit and Unicorns MC in Cleveland. The Boston Bike Club disbands.
1971	Runs initiated include The Centaur's Olympia, Entre Nous' Days of Equinox and Hell-Za-Popper held jointly by Wheels and Nine Plus.
1971	Leather bar openings include: the Bootcamp in San Francisco, DC Eagle, The Ramrod in Phoenix, the Stockade in NYC and the 247 in Philadelphia.
1971	Publication of All or Nothing by Dirk Vaden, one of the most popular leather novels of its time. Run Little Leather Boy and The Scorpius Equation, two of Larry Townsend's best early novels. History of Flagellation in two photo illustrated volumes by Jon A. Peterssen.
1971, Jan. 3	First lesbian center in the US opens in New York City, sponsored by the NY Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
1971, Feb.	The Eulenspiegel Society is founded in New York City as North America's first SM organization. It is open to all sexes and orientations.
1971, Apr.	Bob Ross begins publishing the Bay Area Reporter, aka the B.A.R., in San Francisco. Mr. Marcus begins his leather column in this newspaper in August of 1971. As of this writing in Jan,. 1999, both the paper and the column are still going strong after 28 years!
1971, Apr. 30	Richard Chinn and John Cantrell are arrested in downtown Chicago for kissing each other in public.
1971, June 28	ADDENDUM: Two years after the Stonewal Riots, the New York Times for June 28, 1971 includes this news story: "5,000 Homosexuals March to Central Park for a Rally" by Paul L. Montgomery. About 5,000 homosexual men and women marched in a happy parade from Greenwich Village to Central Park yesterday afternoon in a demonstration of gay pride and solidarity. The goodhumored throng, flying yellow and lavender balloons and chanting at curious bystanders, were participating in the second-birthday celebration of the Gay Liberation Movement. The movement aims at curbing harassment of homosexuals and discrimination in jobs and housing. “We are united today through the strength of our love for each other, in affirm ing our pride in ourselves and in our life-style,” said a statement by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee, the organizers of the march. “As individuals, we may have political and social differences; as, members of the gay community, we are here today, united as sisters and brothers. This is the commitment that draws us together today.” Bigger Crowd Than 1970's The group, a coalition of eight homophile groups in the city, held a similar march last year. Those who observed both said that this year's crowd appeered to be about double last year's. The marchers, most of them under 30 years old, gathered in Sheridan Square in the Village. Most were dressed casually, as though for the beach. There were a few men dressed as women who posed cheerfully for the dozens of amateur photographers who crowded the route. About one-third of the demonstrators were women belonging to various lesbian groups. The police had set off one lane of the Avenue of the Americas with barricades for the march to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. The policemen controlling the flow of traffic looked on without expression as the marchers passed. Bystanders on the hot sidewalks looked on with curiosity but little apparent hostility. There appeared to be a number of homosexuals who stood on the sidewalk to watch but were too shy to join. Politics Minimal While some of the chants and posters had political content (“Out, of the closets, into the streets” and “I'm honest, kind, human Why not equal?”), most were frankly sexual (“2–4–6–8, Gay is twice as good as straight,” “3–5–7-9, Lesbians are mighty fine” and “Heterosexuality can be cured.”) Among the placards identifying groups were ones from Canada, Austin, Tex., Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn., Ithaca and Rochester, N.Y., Boston and Washington, D.C. There were a number of university groups, including ones from the University of Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State and Kutztown, Pa., State College. At the Sheep Meadow, the participants lounged on the dusty grass and marveled over the strength of their numbers gathered in one place. Next year, the group plans to march in Washington. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1971 Aug. 5	The Bootcamp, a uniform themed bar opens at 1010 Bryant St. in San Francisco. Marcus Hernandez, aka Mr. Marcus, is manager.
1971, Aug. 29	Tribe M.C. (later Tribe Detroit, Inc.) founded.
1971, Aug.	In Chicago: Thirteen men decide to organize a group specifically to hold gay male SM play parties and the Chicago Hellfire Club is created.
1971, Dec. 31	ADDENDUM: The December 31, 1971 issue of Life magazine includes another article about homosexuality in America. It is entitled "Homosexuals in revolt: The year that one liberation movement turned militant." It included photos by Grey Villet. Here's how it begins: When a bill guaranteeing equal job opportunities for homosexuals stalled in New York's City Council last spring, militants demonstrated at City Hall. At right, with fists raised, they shout a football-style "Gay Power" cheer at police blocking the building. The same activists took a wedding cake (left) adorned with homosexual couples to the New York City Clerk's office to protest his refusal to issue wedding licenses to homosexuals. The Greek letter lambda atop the cake, militants say, "symbolizes unity in the face of oppression." It was the most shocking and, to many Americans, the most surprising liberation movement yet. Under the slogan "Out of the closets and into the streets," thousands of homosexuals, male and female, were proudly confessing what they had long hidden. They were, moreover, moving into direct confrontation with conventional society. Their battle was far from won. But in 1971 militant homosexuals showed that they were prepared to fight it, and a report on their efforts is shown on these 11 pages. SEE ALSO: Revolting homosexuals of yore in thornyc's LiveJournal. contrib. Ambrosio April 30, 2023.

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2000-2014 || 2015 and later || Other Versions of the LHT and Similar Timelines

1972
Time	Event
1972	The Folsom St. Barracks at 1147 Folsom St in San Francisco is the city's first leather oriented "Bathhouse".
1972	Marcus Hernandez, leather bar manager and leather columnist for The Advocate and later for the B.A.R., is selected as the first gay Emperor of San Francisco. (Not counting the Emperor Norton, of course.)
1972	Formation of Atlantis MC (originally Unicorn/Atlanta) in Atlanta; Atons of Minneapolis (April 4, 1972); Bucks MC in Pennsylvania; Celtics MC in Mississippi; Hawks MC in Los Angeles; the Interclub Fund in San Francisco; Iron Cross MC in Montreal; Knights of Malta, Black Rose Chapter, Portland OR; Knights of Malta, Emerald Chapter in Seattle; NY Levi Club; Omaha Meatpackers; Rainbow MC in California; The Selectmen of Detroit, The Stallions of Cleveland; and Titan MC of Boston.
1972	Frank Ball founds TAIL, The "Total Ass Involvement League," with members all over the world who communicate through frequently published newsletters, and membership rosters with carefully coded indications of sexual specifics offered and sought.
1972	Marshall Loeb begins publication of SMads, which offers gay male subscribers a chance to place and respond to explicitly SM personal ads.
1972	Cycle MC sponsors its first tour to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
1972	Iron Cross publishes first issue of its newsletter Crossroads and Nine Plus publishes last issue of its Scimitar.
1972	Two New York leather bar institutions, the Ramrod and The Spike (formerly the Stockade) open. Nine Plus moves to a new location between The Spike and The Eagle.
1972	Publication of Black In White IN by K. Kevork, Interracial gay sex with strong elements of SM. A Persian Boy by Mary Renault, a novel that follows a slaveboy in the service of Alexander the Great. Punishment, An Illustrated History by Peter N. Walker The Leatherman's Handbook by Larry Townsend, the first non-fiction book about gay male leather lifestyles.
1972	Producer Terry LeGrand and Director Roger Earl make a gay male SM film starring Val Martin and a large cast. Born to Raise Hell is still regarded as one of the best gay male SM films ever made.
1972	R. Litman and C. Swearingen, in an article in the Archives of General Psychiatry, describe a "bondage subculture" in the USA. This is the first such reference to any leather group recognized as a "subculture" in the professional literature. ADDENDUM: The English version of the Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS) states The idea that sadomasochists are not single, isolated, sick persons, remains quite alien for science until the Eighties of the 20th century. SEE ALSO: Litman, Robert E., and Charles Swearingen. "Bondage and Suicide." Archives of General Psychiatry 27, (1972): 80–85. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1972	ADDENDUM: According to the English version of the "Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS)": Alex Comfort’s book „Joy of Sex“ is published. In this sex education book, which addresses itself not to a subculture, but to the normal population, S&M practices are portrayed as something natural. Later sex education works often lag behind this idea until the 21. century. CITED by DACHS: Comfort, Alex: „The Joy of Sex. A Cordon Bleu Guide to Lovemaking“. 1. edn., Crown, New York 1972 Comfort, Alex: „Joy of Sex“. Ullstein, FEHLT 1976 contrib. Ambrosio later 2022.
1972, April	The (San Francisco) Bay Area Reporter newspaper begins publishing a column devoted to leather related news, gossip and information written by "Mr. Marcus," (Marcus Hernandez.) The first, and longest running, column of its type, in 1999 it is still going strong!
1972, April 4	Atons of Minneapolis founded.
1972, May	Chuck Holmes sends out his first mail order flyer for gay erotic 8mm films, one of which starred the legendary king of porn John Holmes (no relation). The business would eventually become Falcon, one of the biggest gay video companies in the world.
1972, May 2	Death of J. Edgar Hoover, for many years the director of the US Bureau of Investigation. For years his federal police force had kept surveillance records on thousands of individuals and organizations including many that were gay or engaged in other sexual activities beyond vanilla. After his death stories surfaced about his 44 year "friendship" with Clyde Tolson (1900-1975) who was his right hand man at the FBI and was his housemate outside the office. Photos of Hoover in female drag have also appeared. It seems that our FBI director, who could blackmail Mafia dons and presidents with ease, was both homosexual and homophobe! ADDENDUM: As much as I'd appreciate the irony, the claim that Hoover cross dressed is sadly unsubstantiated. Most historians, including the harshest critics of J. Edgar Hoover, seriously doubt it. See Also: Stein, Jeff. "Cross-dressing J. Edgar Hoover story dismissed by historians." The Washington Post (Washington), November 11, 2011. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cross-dressing-j-edgar-hoover-story-dismissed-by-historians/2011/11/08/gIQAyiiQCN_story.html. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1972, June 27	Gay News, England's first gay newspaper, founded.
1972, July	Queen's Quarterly a New York based gay male magazine includes a very well illustrated article on the life and work of leather/SM publisher and artist, Steve Masters in Vol 4, #4.
1972, Aug.	Los Angeles police raid a HELP (Homophile Effort for Legal Protection) monthly fundraiser at the Black Pipe, a major leather bar. Among those arrested: HELP president Larry Townsend. The police are surprised when the organization fights back. Some consider this the West Coast Stonewall.
1972, Oct.	In a contest held at the Chicago Leather bar, the Gold Coast, John Lunning becomes Mr. Gold Coast. The FIRST leather title holder.

1973
Time	Event
1973	The American sex researchers John Gagnon and William Simon publish Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, introducing the concept of "scripted behavior" into research.
1973	The US Supreme Court, ruling in Miller v. California, defines obscenity as a violation of the community standards in the location where it is viewed.
1973	The National Gay Task Force is founded.
1973	The Leather Fraternity, a contact club newsletter for leathermen is started in Los Angeles by "Robert Payne".
1973	Tom of Finland's first exhibition of original art, the illustrations for the book, The Loggers, is held in the back room of a sex shop in Hamburg. It is a disaster, poorly hung, poorly lit, no sales, and most of the art disappears.
1973	Formation of the Argonauts of Wisconsin in Green Bay; Cin City CC in Cincinnati; Colorado Riders in Denver; Cycle men South in San Diego; Denim Guy Club in Australia; Gateway MC in St. Louis; Kansas City Falcons MC; Loge 70 in Switzerland; Long Island Spuds, Monterey Dons in California, MSC London in the UK; Northern Lights in Montreal; Olympian Cycle Corps in Dallas; The Pride Chicago; Rochester Rams, NY; Roo Bike Club, Sydney; Saddlemasters, Illinois, SF GDI; Silver Star MC, Milwaukee; Thebans MC (Originally FLLA), Miami; Tridents MC International and Wrangler MC Dallas. The Mid-America (Originally MidWest) Conference of Clubs formed.
1973	Inaugural issues of newsletters: Atlantian from Atlantis MC; The Bolt from Thunderbolt and Scene and Machine from D. B. I. Corp, Washington DC. The latter newsletter publishes a list of leather bars in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. And holds the first Mr. Scene & Machine contest at the NY Eagle--won by Mr. DC Eagle, Johnny Albert.
1973	Inaugural runs: Atlantis MC's Dogwood; and Omaha Meatpacker's Rough Out.
1973	The Thunderbolt's clubhouse burns.
1973	The Red Star Saloon opens, it is connected to the Barracks bathhouse, and is noted for it's sleaze, as exemplified by its Chuck Arnette watersports ads and posters.
1973	Folsom Prison, a leather bar at Folsom & 14th St. opens in San Francisco. It closes in 1977.
1973	Ron Johnson becomes manager of the No Name in San Francisco and converts it into a kind of Performance Art Leather Bar which becomes wildly popular.
1973	The End Up opens in San Francisco and The Interchange Saloon opens in Detroit.
1973	ADDENDUM: John Embry replaces Larry Townsend as the president of HELP. The HELP Newsletter is renamed H.E.L.P. Drummer. SOURCE: Jack Fritscher, Chapter 6 in The Life and Times of the Legendary Larry Townsend, www.JackFritscher.com. SEE ALSO: Larry Townsend "Who Lit up the 'Lit' of the Golden Age of Drummer?" in Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer by Jack Fritscher, PhD (editor), (avaiable as a PDF on www.JackFritscher.com contrib. Ambrosio April 2, 2023.
1973, March 3	Two policemen shoot it out in a Sacramento, California, public toilet after one tries to arrest the other for "oral copulation."
1973, April 28	Mid-America Conference founded during the 8th anniversary run of 2nd City MC in Chicago.
1973, May 6	600 protestors link hands across New York's George Washington Bridge in a demonstration for gay rights.
1973, June 24	ADDENDUM: The UpStairs Lounge, a popular gay bar in New Orleans' French Quarter in the early 1970s, becomes the site of a tragic attack on June 24, 1973, when a man sets the entrance on fire, trapping patrons inside. The blaze spreads rapidly, leading to the deaths of 32 people. The incident is the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ+ community in U.S. history at the time. Initially ignored by the media and politicians, the tragedy only gains significant recognition in recent years as a pivotal event in LGBTQ+ history. CITE: Remembering the Worst Mass Killing of LGBT People in U.S. History by Diane Anderson-Minshall on June 24 2013 in The Advocate contrib. Ambrosio. Aug. 2024.
1973	ADDENDUM: Transvestite activist Sylvia Rivera is initially prevented from speaking at the gay pride rally in NYC. Eventually she takes the microphone and castigates the crowd for not supporting the rights of transvestites. She shouts “If it wasn’t for the drag queen, there would be no gay liberation movement. We’re the front-liners.” She is booed off stage. SEE THE EVENT AS IT HAPPENED: L020A Sylvia Rivera, “Y’all Better Quiet Down” Original Authorized Video, 1973 Gay Pride Rally NYC (VIDEO 5:28) from the LoveTapesCollective Rivera, a Latina trans woman and lifelong trans rights activist in New York City, played a key role in the Stonewall Riots at age 17 and co-founded both the Gay Liberation Front and STAR, a shelter for homeless transgender youth, with Marsha P. Johnson. Rivera criticized the gay liberation movement for excluding marginalized groups like people of color, transgender individuals, and the poor, advocating for greater inclusivity. Her experience at the 1973 gay pride rally would lead her to step away from activism for 20 years. SEE ALSO: The transgender women at Stonewall were pushed out of the gay rights movement. Now they are getting a statue in New York By Gillian Brockell on June 12, 2019 in The Washington Post The History of Pride Part 2: Don’t Forget the Leaders of the Movement on the JCFS Chicago website Pride History: Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Stonewall, and The Protests of Today on the Geeky Girl Experience website Sylvia Rivera's Statement on the PRIDE Movement in 2001 from HarlemCLX (VIDEO 2:17) contrib. Ambrosio. Aug. 2024.
1973 Nov.	The Ambush opens at Harrison and Dore in San Francisco, and attracts a unique laid back crowd of leather hippies. It remains a unique leather bar until it closes in 1986.
1973, December	ADDENDUM: According to the English version of the "Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS)": The APA work group for the creation of the new diagnostic manual (DSM-III) decides – under the pressure of gay lobbyists – to delete Homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. In a referendum, the APA members support the controversial decision. From here on, homosexuals are in principle no longer considered to be ill. This step leads to protests, esp. among psychoanalysts. CITED by DACHS: Baldwin, Guy: „Ties That Bind“. Daedalus, San Francisco 1993 Shorter, Edward: „A History of Psychiatry“. John Wiley, New York 1997, p. 304 Noyes, John K.: „The Mastery of Submission“. Cornell University Press, Ithaca et al. 1997, p. 19 SEE ALSO: Some Notes on Psychology, Homosexuality, and Sadomasochism contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.

Time	Event
1974, Early	The German physician Andreas Spengler begins a sociological study on the German homosexual sadomasochistic subculture. ADDENDUM: According to the English version of the "Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS)": The German physician Andreas Spengler starts with the first empirical study ever on sadomasochistic subculture on the basis of sociological research methods. CITED by DACHS: Spengler, Andreas: „Sadomasochisten und ihre Subkulturen“. Campus, Frankfurt/M., New York 1979, p.59 contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1974	Rob Meijer opens RoB Amsterdam leather shop in Amsterdam. The shop becomes legendary for it's quality and design, and expands to become one of the leading erotic art galleries in the world and THE leading gallery for leather male art.
1974	Tom's Saloon opens in Hamburg, decorated with numerous huge photo murals of specially commissioned Tom of Finland drawings.
1974	Formation of The Alabama Celtics MC (originally Celtics MC Azalea chapter, later Celts MC, Mobile); BALL MC (Bay Area Leather/Levi MC), Tampa/St. Petersburg; Celtics MC, New Orleans; Corps of Rangers, Los Angeles, Handlebar MC, Seattle; Houston MC; Ili Holo Hawaii; International Roadmasters, Detroit; Iron Cross MC, Los Angeles; Knights d'Orleans; Knights of Malta, Western Chapter, Reno; The Lanyards, Toronto; The Links MC, DC; Midland Link MSC, Worcester, UK; MSC Berlin; MSC Hamburg; MSC Panther Koln; NY Ontario Leather Club, Buffalo, Pennine Chain MSC, Cheshire, UK; The Philadelphians MC; Regiment of the Black and Tans, Los Angeles; Rodeo Riders, Elkhart, IN (later Chicago); The Shipmates, Baltimore; SLM Copenhagen; Society of Janus, San Francisco; Sons of Apollo MC, Phoenix; Swords de Montreal; Trash MC, NYC; and Zodiac Fraternal Society, Vancouver BC.
1974	Formation of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs in Chicago, The Forum in San Francisco, and in Europe, ECMC, European Conference of Motorcycle Clubs.
1974	First "Let Us Entertain You" weekend sponsored by the leather clubs of Houston on the weekend following Mardi Gras.
1974	Bar openings include: The Bike Stop in Philadelphia; Gauntlet, NYC; The Horseshoe Saloon, DC; Munich Eagle; A/J Ranch, Harper's Ferry WV; and the Strap, NYC.
1974	Lambda Rising Bookstore opens in Washington DC.
1974	The Leather Underground opens in Baltimore
1974	Bella Abzug and Edward Koch become the first members of the US House of Representatives to introduce legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1974	Robert Opel strips naked in the Los Angeles City Council Chambers during a meeting of the council.
1974	Jim Ward, a jeweler, meets Doug Malloy a wealthy man who had made a lifelong study of body piercing in various cultures. They become lovers, partners, and in 1975, the founders of the body piercing business, Gauntlet.
1974, August	The Society of Janus is started in the San Francisco Bay area by Cynthia Slater. It is an SM interest group open to all genders and orientations. ADDENDUM: According to the English version of the "Datenschlag Chronicle of Sadomasochismus (DACHS)": In San Francisco, Cynthia Slater and Larry Olsen found the „Society of Janus“. In the first years, almost only gay men join in. In 1976, Janus has about 50 members, among them 5 women. Then the ratio of heterosexual members increases, while gays and lesbians retract into their own groups. In the mid-Eighties, Janus has about 250 mostly heterosexual members. In the late Eighties, the group has some internal conflicts, but regains its momentum in the Nineties, mainly because of the Internet. In the beginning of 2000, Janus has 700 members. CITED by DACHS: www.soj.org contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1974	The first World Congress of Sexuality is held in Paris.
1974	Publication of Gay Bondage issue #1 magazine edited by "Tau" (Jim-Ed Thompson). Produced after Jim Ed had convinced the House of Milan, for which he worked as an editor of heterosexual SM titles, to try a gay title. After three issues they are convinced and Gay Bondage is replaced by Action Male, a magazine of more general gay male leather interests. S-M The Last Taboo by Gerald and Caroline Greene. Bound to Serve, first issue, the photo magazine of gay male bondage and SM lasts for 10 issues, through 1980. The Story of Harold a novel by Terry Andrews, which features sm images of burning
1974, Feb 14	Opening night for Doric Wilson and Peter de Valle's Off Off Broadway theatre TOSOS (The Other Side Of Silence) with de Valle's revue Lovers featuring a Leather couple and the song "Belt & Leather".
1974, Feb 14	Fan Dancer Sally Rand performs at Man's Country Music Hall in Chicago (she is in her 70's) setting a precedent that years later allows for nude performances in this theatre.
1974, Apr. 2	Robert Opel appears naked on television worldwide as he streaks the Oscar award ceremony.
1974, Apr. 8	Members of the American Psychiatric Association agree with its trustees to stop listing Homosexuality as a mental disorder. ADDENDUM: In the seventh printing of DSM-II, the ADA removed Homosexuality as a disorder and added “sexual orientation disturbance,” a new diagnostic code for individuals distressed by their Homosexuality. The latter code would remain the manual (under different names) until the release of the DSM-5 in 2013. SEE ALSO: Some Notes on Psychology, Homosexuality, and Sadomasochism contrib. Ambrosio Dec 31, 2022.
1974, May	The first demonstration of gay activists in Portugal, seeking repeal of anti-sodomy laws.
1974, May 18	A study conducted by the Sex Research Institute of Indiana University recommends ending laws and harassment against adult consenting homosexuals. ADDENDUM: Dr. Alfred Kinsey and his research team incorporated as the Institute for Sex Research (ISR) as a not-for-profit corporation affiliated with Indiana University. in 1947. It was renamed The Kinsey Institute for Sex Research in 1981. The institute formally became the Kinsey Institute, Indiana University in 2016. According to the 75th Anniversary Historical Review (pdf) (page 12) on kinseyinstitute.org: Although the Institute planned research on an array of topics, funding agencies only supported its studies on Homosexuality (as a “deviance”), sexual health, and aging. Drs. Bell, Williams, and Weinberg pursued this research, resulting in the publication of Homosexuality: An Annotated Bibliography (in 1972), Male Homosexuals: Their Problems and Adaptations (in 1974), Sex Research: Studies from the Kinsey Institute (in 1976), and Sexual Preference: Its Development in Men and Women (in 1981). SOURCE: kinseyinstitute.org contrib. Ambrosio April 11, 2023.
1974, June 21	The last defendants in the LAPD raid of a HELP fundraiser at the Black Pipe are cleared of all charges.
1974, July 19	Los Angeles Temple Beth Chayim Chadashim (founded in 1972) is chartered by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations becoming the first gay religious organization to receive such official recognition.
1974, Aug.	The Society of Janus publishes it's first newsletter. It will become the club's well known Growing Pains.

1975
Time	Event
1975	Publication of The Boy Keeper by Carl Strater Confessions of O, Conversations with Pauline Reage by Regine Deforges in France, US edition in 1979. Tailpipe Trucker by Clay Caldwell. A Book of Terms, Symbols, Abbreviations by R.F.M. A Glossary to help in reading the SM personal ads. Discipline & Punishment, The Birth of the Prison by Michael Foucault in France. English edition in 1979. A Collection of SM edited, and partially written, by RFM. This is the first, aside from his autobiography, in a series of magazine sized anthologies of gay male SM erotica to be published by RFM. Care and Training of the Male Slave, by Robert Payne the first of a series of this title. My Life as a Masochist Volume 1, an autobiography by RFM (Roger Mays). Volume 2 follows in 1977. The Story of Harold by Terry Andrews. new edition. This one includes illustrations by Edward Gory.
1975	Robert Payne publishes a book of still photos from the SM film, Night of Submission.
1975	The Story of O is made into a Movie.
1975	ADDENDUM: Release of the movie The Image. (The film adaptation of the Story of O was released that same year.) The film The Image is based on L'Image, a French novel by Catherine Robbe-Grillet writing under the pen name "Jean de Berg." The novel was released in 1956. The Image can be seen on Youtube. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1975	The Advocate, the only nationally circulated Gay newspaper, is purchased by David Goodstein and moved from Los Angeles to San Mateo, California.
1975	Pier Paolo Pasolini, poet, film maker, and political activist, is murdered in Italy by a hustler. (Born March 5, 1922)
1975	French philosopher Michel Foucault spends much of the year teaching at Berkeley, and being thrilled by the liberated gay sexuality he found in San Francisco, especially in the bathhouses. He becomes particularly fascinated by "limit-experiences" such as SM. He continued to visit San Francisco through 1983.
1975	Formation of ASMC, American Social Mens Club, Boston; Association Sportive Motorcycliste de France; Battalion Motorcycle Corps, Dallas; The Blackhawk MC, Richmond VA; Black Sabbath San Franciscans MC; Blue Max Cycle Club, St. Louis; Brothers MC, Jacksonville; Centurion MC, SF; Chicago Cossacks Brotherhood; Colts MC, Ft. Lauderdale, Conquistadors MC, Orlando; Elagabulus MC, Norwood, South Australia; Excelsior MC, NYC; Five Star MC, New Zealand; Hawaii Club, LA; Heart of Texas MC, Austin; Iron Guard BCE, NYC; Kansas City Pioneers; Knights of Malta, 49ers Chapter, SF; Knights of Malta Stockmen's Chapter, Denver; Militia MC, Norfolk, VA; Mini Bikers MC, New Orleans; MSC North West, New Brighton, UK; Munchner Leder Club; Nova NYC' Ottawa Knights; Rodeo Riders, Chicago; Rurals MC, Roermund, Netherlands; Sierra Mountaineers, South Lake Tahoe; Sierra Pacific Rangers; Signs of Zodiac, Detroit; SLM Stockholm (originally SLM Sweden); Sternwheelers, Louisville, KY; Space City MC, Houston; Sunrays MC, Miami; Sunrays MC, Miami; Tejas MC, Houston; Trade-Winds of Chicago; Voyagers, New Bedford, MA; Vulcan Rubber Club, Boston Chapter; and Yorktown Levi Denim Club, Toronto. Inter Club Fund incorporated in San Francisco and Southern Conference of Motorcycle Clubs formed.
1975	Bar openings include: The Cell Block, Philadelphia; The Chamber, Kansas City; Hombre, SF; and Knolle, Berlin. The Exchange, a leather shop in the Columbus OH Eagle, opens as does the Emporium in San Francisco.
1975	The Catacombs, a private club for SM and, primarily, fisting opens in San Francisco.
1975	Gauntlet, a business devoted to body piercing, is started by Jim Ward and Doug Malloy.
1975	Larry Townsend founds, and becomes president of the Hollywood Hills Democratic Club, the first openly gay political club in Los Angeles, and possibly anywhere.
1975, March 26	ADDENDUM: In the March 26, 1975 issue of the The Advocate, Larry Townsend explains to the larger gay community (i.e., vanilla) the complications for leatherfolk for coming out twice. I have heard all of these liberationists speak about their concern for the young person who emerges as a gay human being within an outwardly hostile world. They are concerned for his (or her) ability to survive without the support of other...groups or persons who share this sexual orientation. They should be doubly concerned with the dilemma of a person who must first go through the trauma of accepting himself as a homosexual, and then cope with his S&M proclivities. For him (or her)... the coming out process is two-fold and fraught with twice the number of pitfalls. Practiced intelligently and with a degree of moderation, S&M can provide a tremendous catharsis. It can allow the participants to discharge an enormous amount of pent-up emotional tension. By the same logic that we justify a gay relationship on the basis of its being healthier to do it than to abstain and suffer the emotional consequences of deprivation, so I believe it is better for the sadomasochistically oriented person to act out these impulses with a willing partner than to stifle the whole in a quagmire of guilt. SOURCE: Jack Fritscher, Chapter 6 in The Life and Times of the Legendary Larry Townsend, www.JackFritscher.com. contrib. Ambrosio April 7, 2023.
1975, Apr. 15	Gay Students Union of UCLA presents a panel discussion on SM as a part of Gay Awareness Week II, Fred Halsted, Joey Yale and 2 others are invited to present.
1975, June	John Embry, Alternate Publishing, begins publication of Drummer magazine. ADDENDUM: Jeanne Barney, a straight woman, was its editor-in-chief for the first eleven issues. SOURCE: Jack Fritscher, The Life and Times of the Legendary Larry Townsend, www.JackFritscher.com. contrib. Ambrosio April 6, 2023.
1975, June 4	Fred Halsted's film Sextool opens at the Lincoln Art Theater in New York City at the O'Farrel Theater in San Francisco. It will also be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the San Francisco Art Institute and Joey Yale, it's star, will be featured on the cover of People magazine.
1975, July 4	The Federal Civil Service Commission bans the arbitrary dismissal of, or refusal to hire, known homosexuals.
1975, July	The first Prairie Fire run jointly sponsored by 2nd City MC, Chicago Knights MC and The Pride Chicago.
1975, Aug.	Robert Payne announces the film, and accompanying photo still book, The Pledge in Drummer #2.
1975, Aug.	Robert Opel's "Requiem for a toolbox" in Drummer #2 is the artist's ode to the famed San Francisco leather bar.
1975, Aug.	Scott Masters' story "Five in the Trainer's Room" begins serialization in Drummer #2. It runs for nine issues.
1975, Aug.	Robert Payne announces publication of a collection of still photos from the film Sextool.
1975, Sept. 8	Leonard Matlovich appears on the cover of TIME magazine with the bold print: "I Am a Homosexual." Len's story broke on the front page of the New York Times and nationwide by wire service on Memorial Day Monday of the same year. ADDENDUM: The Sept. 8, 1975 issue contains three related stories: Homosexuality: Gays on the March The Sexes: The Sergent v. The Airforce The Sexes: Crossing Signals In the third story, the author wrote: In gay bars these days, the men's costumes, with their coded signals, are so elaborate that even habitues are beginning to get confused. Keys dangling from a belt over the left hip generally signal a desire to be sexually dominant; on the right, a passive disposition. But the designations may change from city to city and bar to bar. An expert on left-right symbolism interviewed for the gay tabloid the Advocate last week warned of a further possible misunderstanding. If they are on the right side he said, it may just mean that the wearer is righthanded. In the third paragraph of the same story, the author explained: Like most subcultures, the homosexual world has its own language. To cruise is to go out looking for sex. A nellie is an effeminate fellow, and a butch a virile one. Male gays who project or seek hypermasculinity go to leather bars, often to pick up a partner for s. and m. (sadism and masochism) or b. and d. (bondage and discipline)—terms sometimes used among heterosexuals as well. Brown leather refers to either a newcomer to the leather crowd or a bar where patrons are more interested in posturing than in seeking risky sex. Trade refers to a very masculine hustler (prostitute), and rough trade refers to straight men who seek homosexual sex (called rough because of the risk of violence from the straight partner once the sex is over). contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1975, Sept. 19	Leonard Matlovich is discharged from the army for Homosexuality. They gave him a medal for killing a man and kicked him out for loving one! CORRECTION: According to History.com, he was given a "general" discharge by the USAF on October 22, 1975. His discharge was upgraded to "honorable " in 1979 after winning a court case against the USAF. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1975, Sept. 29	ADDENDUM: Several readers of the Sept. 8, 1975 issue of TIME Magazine, responded to the three articles about Homosexuality with letters to the editor. The reactions to The Sexes: Crossing Signals were varied. Althea L. Hart of Kenosha, Wis. quipped Homosexuality [Sept. 8] was once called 'the love that dare not speak its name.' Now it won't shut up. In response to "The Sexes: The Sergent v. The Airforce", Harry J. Mooney Jr. of Denver observed Only in the armed forces can you be highly decorated for killing thousands of your fellow men and be drummed out of the corps if you dare to love one. In response to The Sexes: Crossing Signals, Mrs. Gordon Burke of San Jose, Calif. gave this account: My husband has to carry a number of keys because of his work. Because of worn-out pockets, sore legs from keys digging into them and unsightly bulges, he decided to carry his keys on a hook on his belt. Now we find out this is a homosexual signal. Needless to say, he will go back to worn-out pockets, sore legs and unsightly bulges. CITE: Forum in Sep. 29, 1975 issue of TIME Magazine. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1975, Oct.	Drummer #3 includes the publication's first masthead listing Robert Payne as Publisher, Jeanne Barney as Editor in Chief, and V. C. Kuemmel as Art Director. And it includes the Magazine's first centerfold, a collage of Target photos from "The Pit" series shot in the so-named lower floor of Chicago's leather bar, the Gold Coast.
1975, Oct. 1	The Story of Q by Robert Payne is first published.
1975, Oct. 31	Val Martin is selected "Mr. Leather" in Los Angeles at the Hawk's annual Leather Sabat.
1975, Oct. 31	The Cycle Sluts are born in Los Angeles at a "Gay Girls Riding Club" Halloween Costume ball, a significant step in leather gender bending.
1975, Oct.-Dec.	The date on the first issue of the magazine Leather Bound.

1976
Time	Event
1976	Publication of The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction, by Michel Foucault. RFM's second Collection of SM short fiction by himself and other authors. Two Bulls in a Male Harem by Robert Fraum. This is the first in a trilogy of very heavy SM erotic novels. Mannespielen, a portfolio of art by Rex, followed by Icons in 1977 and the Rex calendars, published by The Trading Post, then the Mineshaft, in later years. Gay American History, Lesbians and Gay Men in the USA by Jonathan Ned Katz, Revised edition 1992.
1976	The Gage Brother's film Kansas City Trucking Co. starring Fred Halsted and Richard Locke, is released.
1976	Michael Zen's film Falconhead is released.
1976	Nick O'Demus, owner of A Taste Of Leather shop upstairs at FeBe's, opens The Trading Post at 960 Folsom in San Francisco
1976	Formation of Adventurers/Suncoast Florida; American Leathermen MC of Houston; Companion MC, Philadelphia; The Connecticut Copperheads; The Corn Haulers, Des Moines; Dallas MC; East Anglia Bikers, UK; Falcons MC, Rhode Island; FFA-CAC, DC; Glass City Champions (originally International Roadmasters of Toledo); Griffin Motor Club, Canberra, Australia; Jackaroos, Victoria, Australia; Knights of Omaha; MSC Finland; MSC Groningen, Netherlands; New York Coordinating Committee, Peregrine MC, Atlanta; 76ers, San Bernadino, CA; South Pacific Rangers, SF; Silver Barons MC, Reno; The Spirits of St. Louis; SLC Stuttgart; SLM Norway; The Tarnsmen, Baltimore; Trojans MSC, Toronto; and Valley Knights MC, Sacramento.
1976	Bar openings include: Badlands, NYC; and The Boston Eagle.
1976	The NY Eagle begins Sunday brunch and Tea Dance.
1976	The Slot, a very leather "hotel" sex club, opens on Folsom near 6th in San Francisco. And a sex club called "The Hotel" opens in San Francisco, in 1979 it changes it's name to the Handball Express.
1976, Jan 1	At a New Year's Eve party at the Second City MC clubhouse in Chicago, Andrew Charles and Tony DeBlase, who had sighted each other in the last few seconds of 1975, and who had been lip locked through the transition, meet and begin what is, as of this writing, a 23+ year partnership.
1976, Jan.	Full Moon Night at Larry's, Los Angeles' popular leather bar, becomes so crowded it is changed to admission by invitation (and reservation) only.
1976, February	ADDENDUM: Penthouse magazine included its first fetish-themed pictorial, in the February 1976 issue. It was "My Funny Valentine," a girl-girl shoot photographed by Stan Malinowski. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1976, Feb.	In Detroit, a jury awards $200,000 to a man who claimed that an auto accident, in which his car was rear ended, turned him into a homosexual.
1976, March	Drummer #5 includes the first cartoon strip by British artist Bill Ward. The strip is titled "King".
1976, March	Drummer #5 includes the first installment of "Babysitter" by Phil Andros, with art by Chuck Arnette.
1976, March	Latrec in Leather, a collection of drawings by Chuck Arnette, is advertised in Drummer #5.
1976, March	Eons Gallery, Los Angeles' erotic art gallery has its first show: photographs by Robert Opel.
1976, March 4	Man Friday, a Broadway musical in which Friday offers his body to Robinson Caruso, flops.
1976, March 8	After long court battles in Seattle the Washington State Police drop bars against hiring homosexuals.
1976, April 10	Los Angeles Police Department raids a Slave Auction being held at the Mark IV baths as a fundraiser sponsored by Drummer magazine. A major case of police overkill as the resulting legal actions show. IMAGE SOURCE: Immoral Panics: Black Queer Aesthetics and the Construction of Risk on onearchives.org. SEE ALSO: About Drummer Magazine About Jeanne C. Barney ChatGPT and the Truth About Jeanne C. Barney contrib. Ambrosio April 23, 2023.
1976, April 13	San Francisco Police Chief Charles Gain urges homosexuals on his force to come out of the closet and show that gays can be good cops.
1976, June	SM Dungeon Devices, an illustrated catalog of SM toys is published by The Trading Post in San Francisco.
1976, July	Robert Opel covers a Leather Wedding at Griff's, a popular Los Angeles leather bar, in Drummer #7.
1976, July	"Famous Sadists in History" series starts in Drummer #7.
1976, July	Publication of the first issue of Package, Fred Halsted's "Journal of Men Fact & Opinion." Lasts 6 issues, through Jan 1977.
1976, July	Three gay men in Des Moines restaurant are charged with disturbing the peace after they winked at two heterosexual men who claimed the wink made them nauseated.
1976, Sept.	A California court of Appeals orders two men who had been arrested on lewd conduct charges for kissing in public to register with the state as sex offenders.
1976, Sept.	Chicago Hellfire Club celebrates its 5th anniversary by holding a weekend long event featuring a Saturday night SM party at a remote campground. Called Inferno 5, this is first of what are to become the most infamous and exclusive male SM play events.
1976, Sept.	The Gold Coast, Chicago's premier leather bar, celebrates it's 15th anniversary with a week long party detailed in Drummer #9.
1976, Sept.	Drummer #8 features a photo spread of the gay leather world's best known tattoo artist, Cliff Raven, painting tattoos on Val Martin.
1976, Sept.	Alan Eagles takes over the "Movie Mayhem" series in Drummer #8 and the series takes flight.
1976, Sept.	"Many Happy Returns" by Phil Andros, illustrated by Chuck Arnette, is published in Drummer #8.
1976, Sept.	Blueboy magazine, a Miami based gay nude glossy, publishes an SM issue -- it is a fiasco.
1976, Oct.	The Cycle Sluts are featured in Drummer #9, including a cover photo of one of the leather gender benders. Publisher John Embry, many years later, blames this photo being responsible for one of the worst selling issues in the magazine's history.
1976, Oct.	Drummer #9 includes the first "Erotic Dots", in which the reader connects the numbered dots to reveal an, often otherwise unprintable, drawing. This, as most but not all of the "Erotic Dots", is by the artist Sean.
1976, Oct.	Drummer #9 includes the first part of the serial "The Great SM Murder Mystery" by John Rowberry & Rue Dyllon. The series stops, uncompleted, in Drummer #11. This is the first time Rowberry's name appears in Drummer, the magazine he will serve and influence over many coming years.
1976, Oct. 26	The Mineshaft in New York City opens. This after-hours club allowed and encouraged virtually all forms of sexual activity among its hot male patrons. It was a Mecca for leather/SM types in the Eastern US and Canada. Closed in Nov. 1985.
1976, Nov.?	The cover of Drummer #10 spotlights a new artist, REX, using a drawing he did for the Trading Post poster. But the masthead does not yet include his name.
1976, Nov.?	Drummer #10 features the artist Etienne, with a centerfold and several additional pages of his artwork.
1976, Dec.?	Drummer #11 spotlights the first Bill Ward cartoon strip under the title "DRUM".
1976, Dec. 1	Willard Eugene Allen is released from a Florida mental hospital after being incarcerated for 26 years for having sex with another man. Although the statute under which he had been arrested had been repealed almost 20 years earlier, state authorities had ignored doctor's suggestions that he be released. ADDENDUM: This brings to mind what Master Master L.J.E. writes in Multiple Tops: Master, Mistress and Daddy Makes Three": The time of Old Leather was a time when all forms of sm, bd, or ds were grounds for immediate legal action involving jail time, involuntary institutionalization and infliction of medication, shock treatments or a lobotomy to 'cure' deviants of their unspeakable disease. REQUEST: I have only found one other reference to Willard Eugene Allen online, and it didn't provide any additional information except his DOB and DOD: November 20, 1922 - December 13, 2012. If anyone can point to primary sources (such as news paper articles, magazine articles, or books), it would be great to include them here. SEE ALSO: Encarnación, Omar G. "Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of the State's Long, Shameful History." Time (New York City), May 12, 2022. https://time.com/6176224/florida-dont-say-gay-history-lgbtq-rights/. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.

1977
Time	Event
1977	Formation of Ambassadors of Goodwill MC, Boston; Avengers MC West, Claremont, CA; Black Angels Koln; The Black Guard, Minneapolis; Boomer MC, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Force-5, Palo Alto; Friends of Leather and Denim Club of Montreal; Guardians MC, New Haven; II MC Berlin; Lancers MC, New Orleans; Leatheriders Bike Club, Victoria, Australia; The London Blues, UK, MC Faucon, Montreal; Meisters der Manner, Orlando; Missouri Association of Clubs,; Mobile Man Van Club, Detroit; MSC Rotterdam; Nimbus Cycle Club, Grand Rapids; Nutcrackers MC, Indianapolis; Pennsmen, Harrisburg, Phoenix Uniform Club, SF; SLM Goteborg; SMBB International, Northampton, UK; South Orange Bikers, Santa Ana, CA; Texas Cadre, Austin; and Tsarus/Memphis. Colts MC of Ft Lauderdale disbands.
1977	Founding of American Uniform Association (AUA) in New York City.
1977	Run premiers include First Links MC Leather Cocktails in NYC; Lone Star in Texas; The Philadelphians Tri Cen; and Prairie Fire, at Chicago.
1977	Bar openings include Dirty Edna's Stampede, NYC; Boots, Los Angeles; and The Brig, SF. Folsom Prison, SF, closes.
1977	Peter Adair creates Word is Out, a feature film documentary portraying gay men and lesbians in a positive light.
1977	Doric Wilson's play The West Street Gang is produced in NYC.
1977	The Balcony, a bar at 2166 Market St in San Francisco opens and becomes the prime hang out for the fisting crowd.
1977	Publication of Midnight Express by Billy Hayes, which documents his experiences in a Turkish prison. The later movie of the same title starring Brad Davis, while most interesting and enjoyable, differs greatly from the book. The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy. Action Male magazine, first issue, the successor to Gay Bondage, edited by Tau (Jim-Ed Thompson). Piercing Friends International Quarterly magazine (PFIQ), first issue, by Gauntlet Enterprises, the Los Angeles based manufacturer of piercing jewelry. Story of Q, new edition by Robert Payne beautifully illustrated by Olaf Hard Corps by Michael Grumley & Ed Gallucci Life of a Masochist, the second part of RFM's autobiography
1977	Art by Olaf is first published in Drummer #13.
1977	"SM Gym" by G. B. Misa begins serialization in Drummer #14 and continues through issue #28!
1977	A drawing by the artist A. Jay is featured on the cover of Drummer #15, his first appearance in the magazine he will later art direct.
1977	Art work by The Hun is first published in Drummer # 15.
1977	Drummer #15 includes a drawing by Skipper, depicting a hard hat with nails etc. piercing all parts of his body. This is the first, and one of the very few, published works by this prolific southern California artist who focused on very violent SM scenes.
1977	Robert Payne interviews John Rechy, author of The Sexual Outlaw, in Drummer #16.
1977	A. Jay's cartoon strip "Harry Chess" begins its run in Drummer #16.
1977	Kurt Kreisler's "My Brother, My Slave" begins serialization in Drummer # 16.
1977	A folio of bondage drawings by Tom Hinde is included in Drummer #16.
1977	Al Shapiro, a.k.a. A. Jay, becomes Art Director of Drummer starting with issue #17.
1977	Art by Go Mishima is first published in Drummer #17.
1977	"Trapped" by Houston Smith begins serialization in Drummer #18.
1977	Fist Goodbody's Traveling Torture Show, a 33 RPM record is issued. This is a Bolero-like crescendo of male moans and screams that is remarkably well done in spite of the gender-bender album cover and other hype. IMAGE SOURCE: Discogs web site.
1977	Fred Halsted begins writing a column in Drummer #18.
1977	Drawings by the artist Matt first appear in Drummer #20.
1977	Salo, Pasolini's film version of deSade's 120 Days in Sodom, is released in the US. The film includes explicit stories and scenes of humiliation, scat, torture, and more. However even more such scenes have been cut to get past American censors.
1977	Photographs by David Hurles, A.K.A. Old Reliable, are first published in Drummer #21.
1977	The art of Tom of Finland is featured in a show at Robert Opel's Feywey Studios in San Francisco. Opel interviews Tom in Drummer #22.
1977	Angreas Spengler publishes a short English version of his sociological study on gay sadomasochists in "Manifest Sadomasochism of Males: Results of an Emperical Study". This article is the foundation of modern empirical research on SM. Spengler is the first to describe sadomasochists not as sick individuals but as members of a sexual minority that forms complex subcultures, thereby contradicting psychiatric theory since Krafft-Ebing. The gay selection bias in the study leads him to conclude that there are no female sadomasochists, a view that will be held by psychoanalysts and sociologists alike until 1985.
1977, Jan.	Jeanne Barney leaves as Editor of Drummer. John Embry's name first appears as Publisher in issue #12.
1977, Jan.	Ellen Marie Barrell is ordained as an Episcopal Priest - The first out lesbian ordained by a major Christian denomination.
1977, Jan.	Eons Gallery in Los Angeles holds Tom of Finland show and publishes the Tom of Finland 1978 calendar. Tom attends the opening and meets Durk Dehner who would become his partner in establishing the Tom of Finland Foundation.
1977, Jan. 2	Folsom Prison, one of San Francisco's best known leather bars, closes.
1977, Feb. 7	US State Dept. announces it will no longer automatically bar gays and lesbians from employment.
1977, Feb. 14	Anita Bryant forms "Save our Children" to fight Miami's gay rights ordinance, and ignites a counter movement that brought together gay men and women in unprecedented numbers to stand up for their rights.
1977 March	Drummer magazine moves from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Jack Fritscher becomes editor-in-chief of Drummer beginning with issue #19. ADDENDUM: John Embry, moving Drummer from LA to San Francisco, hires Jack Fritscher as founding San Francisco editor-in-chief through January 1980. Embry and Fritscher worked together on Embry's various magazines referencing Drummer until Embry's death in 2010. contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1977, May 25	The Everard Baths, one of New York City's best known Gay bath houses, and one of it's most leather friendly, burns, killing several patrons and staff.
1977, June 7	Newly won gay rights legislation in Miami is rescinded following Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign.
1977, Sept.	Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 6.
1977, Dec. 16	The province of Quebec passes a stature banning discrimination against gay individuals in employment, housing and public accommodations.

1978
Time	Event
1978	Thomas S. Weinberg publishes an article on the "sociological perspectives" on sadomasochism. The article is based on the concept of "frames."
1978	Publication of SM Truckers by Clay Caldwell, one of the many gay male erotic publications of its time, but one worthy of special attention for its exploration of the variety of leather relationships. Six of these stories were reprinted in Drummer #138 and 142-146. 9 1/2 Weeks by Elizabeth McNeill. Published as fiction but based upon a real encounter. The book is much more interesting that the later, considerably watered down, movie. Bunkhouse, first issue, a magazine for the Western-Levi Scene. It lasts for seven issues through 1981. Behavior Modification, The Art of Mind Murdering by Richard Camellion. Le Masochisme Au Cinema by Jean Streff, in France
1978	"Tough Shit" begins as a regular humor feature in Drummer #23, continuing publisher John Embry's commitment to exposing the humorous side of leather/SM.
1978	Formation of Avengers MC East, Summit, NJ; Centurions, Columbus; Destiny MC, Miami; Eagle MC, West Palm Beach; FFA Philadelphia; Four Star MSC Belgium; Nickel City MSC, Buffalo; Pegasus MC, Wichita; Pennsylvania Association of Clubs; Phoenix Levi\Leather Club; Pocono Warriors, PA; Reading Railmen, PA; Renaissance MC, Detroit; Rough Riders MC, San Antonio; Royal Eagle, Montreal; Samois, SF; San Francisco Wrestling Club; Scorpio Leather Club, Holyoke; South Florida Council of Clubs; Stud MC, New Haven; Swamp Fox MC, Columbia, SC;Toronto Motorcycle Riders; Trenton Bulls MC; Trojans MSC, Montreal and Youngstown Exiles, OH. Signs of Zodiac, Detroit, Disbands.
1978	Bar openings include: The Arena, SF; Clementine's, St. Louis; Half-Breed, NYC; The New Leather Loft, NYC; The Outlaw, Detroit; Stall, Frankfurt Germany; Tiger's Paw, New Orleans; and The Watering Hole (formerly the Roundup) SF.
1978	Nine Plus clubhouse destroyed by fire in NYC.
1978	The first article on "The Quarters" in San Francisco, appears in Drummer #24. This near mythical, though for a short time actual, training center and boarding facility for slaves, depicted a "Drummer" ideal.
1978	Drummer #24's cover photo is by Robert Mapplethorpe, who will later become a world recognized photographer noted for exploring SM images.
1978	Drummer announces a search for Mr. Drummer, the winner to be picked from photo submitted by those wishing to enter.
1978	Drawings by Cavelo are first featured in Drummer # 27.
1978	"Prison Punk" by Frank O'Rourke begins serialization in Drummer #27.
1978	Photos by Zeus studios are first published in Drummer #27.
1978	Stompers, New York City's unique combination of boot store and leather art gallery, holds a joint exhibit of the work of Tom of Finland and Etienne. A later exhibit focuses on the erotic art of Domino and Stompers publishes a catalog of his work.
1978	Drawings by Domino are first published in Drummer #29.
1978	The photography of Robert Mapplethorpe gets its first solo show at Chrysler Museum.
1978	Gayle Rubin moves to San Francisco to begin studies of the gay Leatherman's culture.
1978	The RoB Gallery opens in Amsterdam.
1978	The Pocono Warriors are founded in eastern Pennsylvania as a combination of the older leather/levi/motor-cycle social club and the more current SM sex club.
1978	The Arena and the Black & Blue, two leatherish bars open in San Francisco.
1978	The Folsom St. Baths opens in San Francisco and by 1979 was renamed the Sutro Baths, which is unique in having regularly scheduled women's nights and bisexual nights.
1978	"Tough Customers" begins its long and popular run in Drummer #25. ADDENDUM: Jack Fritscher's column "Tough Customers" begins it long run in Drummer 25. His outreach goal for "Tough Customers" was to make Drummer reader-reflexive dignifying readers by publishing their authentic "selfie" leather pictures replacing pornstars who were not really leathermen. Tony DeBlase said, "'Tough Customers' was the most popular recurring feature in Drummer." In 1990, Joseph Bean spun "Tough Customers" into its own magazine. contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1978, June	The Rainbow (Gay Pride) flag, designed by Gilbert Baker, is flown as a decorative element at the annual gay pride parade. It later achieved national prominence when a gay man in West Hollywood sued his landlords because they attempted to prohibit him from flying his flag from his balcony. ADDENDUM: BY: Guanaco and subsequent editors - SVG (version of 17:56, 30 Sep 2011), Public Domain, DESCRIPTION: Striped flag, typically six colors (from top to bottom): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. IMAGE SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1978, June 13	Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, and 16 other female sadomasochists found the women's SM group, Samois, in San Francisco. This is the first known women's SM group.
1978, June 14	The US Patent and Trademark Office refuses to register the magazine name Gaysweek, on the grounds that the name is immoral.
1978, June	The Windy City Wrestling Club is reorganized with a national membership.
1978, July	MAFIA (Mid-America Fists In Action) founded. Holds first meeting at Inferno in September.
1978, Sept.15 - 17	Chicago Hellfire Club hosts Inferno 7.
1978, Oct.	The American Uniform Association holds its first annual AUA Review.
1978, Nov 27	Harvey Milk, openly gay San Francisco Supervisor, assassinated, along with mayor George Moscone, by former Supervisor Dan White.

1979
Time	Event
1979	Andreas Spengler publishes Sadomasochisten und ihre Subkulturen, the German 129 page version of his study on the sadomasochistic subculture. The detailed German text explains that there is insufficient data to finally conclude there are no female sadomasochists, a point lost in the English version and subsequently on most researchers.
1979	The bar formerly known as the In Between, the No Name, and by several other names over the years is purchased by Hank Diethelm and becomes The Brig, quickly becoming the most popular heavy leather bar in San Francisco. It closes in 1986 not long after Diethelm is murdered by a trick.
1979	The Stables, The Watering Hole and the Trench open in San Francisco. None has a long life but the two latter bars become very popular with the water sports crowd.
1979	A sexclub called the Hothouse opens at 5th and Clara in San Francisco
1979	Formation of Castaways MC, Milwaukee; Chicago MOB (Men of Brotherhood); Dolphin MC, Sydney; Excalibur of New Jersey; The Inn Men, Akron, OH; Leathermen/Atlanta; Minnesota Marauders, Minneapolis; New World Rubbermen, Santee CA, later Port Townsend, WA); and St. Louis Leathernecks. Northern Lights MC, Montreal disbands.
1979	The Pocono Warriors hold their first Whitewater Weekend, which includes opportunities for whitewater rafting, and a very well equipped dungeon space. The first organization after Chicago Hellfire Club to formally include an SM sex party in the activities.
1979	Satyrs MC, the country's oldest, celebrates its 25th anniversary in the Grand Ballroom of the Queen Mary, Long Beach CA.
1979	The Amsterdam Eagle opens
1979	Publication of Rushes by John Rechy, a novel many consider to be strongly anti-SM. Project Lambda, a novel by Paul O'M. Welles. MS a novel by Christian Pierrejouan in Germany<
1979	Publication of the first of a series of magazine size photo books from Zeus studios featuring muscular men in bondage. The series continues through 1986.
1979	The Robert Samuels gallery in New York City hosts the fifth Tom of Finland show, the largest and most successful to date, until the time came for payment and return of the unsold pieces.
1979	Mr. Benson by John Preston, writing as Jack Prescot, begins serialization in Drummer #29.
1979	Hundreds of the 1978 Tom of Finland calendar are left unsold. Durk Dehner comes up with a scheme to cut off the calendar and sell the beautifully printed drawings as a photo set and the Tom of Finland company is born.
1979	Sasha Alyson starts Alyson Publications. Alyson is one of the first publishers to welcome gay leather/SM works, including those by John Preston and the lesbian SM book Coming to Power.
1979	John Rowberry replaces Jack Fritscher as Editor of Drummer, starting with issue # 31. CORRECTION: Rowberry replaced Fritscher in January 1980, not in 1979. contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1979	Drawings by Dirk Dykstra, A.K.A. "Lazy Leo" & "Leo Ravenswood," first published in Drummer #31.
1979	It is a year for leathershop openings in San Francisco. Leather Forever and Leatherworld open in the Castro district. And in the Folsom area Taylor of San Francisco opens on Clementina, and Alan Selby opens Mr. S Leather on 7th between Folsom & Howard.
1979	Bette Midler records My Knight in Black Leather.
1979, Feb.	Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is named an "honorary man" by hosts during a visit to the Persian Gulf so "he" could visit areas barred to women.
1979, March 16	ADDENDUM: John Embry undergoes surgery for cancer. During the six-plus months Embry was falling ill, had surgery, and spent time recuperating, he was absent from the office and gave editor Jack Fritscher and art director Al Shapiro the space to complete the transition of Drummer from an LA magazine into a San Francisco magazine. On this same date, Fritscher meets with John Preston and accepts the first draft of his novel Mister Benson for serialization in Drummer alongside Fritscher's novel, Leather Blues: I Am curious (Leather). contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1979, April 23	ADDENDUM: The article "Sexes: How Gay is Gay?" appears in the Vol. 113, No. 17 issue of TIME Magazine. The tag line reads "Homosexual men and women are making progress toward equality." The third paragraph reads in part: Homosexual men and women are coming out of the closet as never before to live openly. They are colonizing areas of big cities as their own turf, operating bars and even founding churches in conservative small towns, and setting up a nationwide network of organizations to offer counseling and companionship to those gays-still the vast majority-who continue to conceal their sexual orientation. As in New Town, gay people still encounter suspicion and hostility, and occasionally violence, and their campaign to live openly and freely is still far from won. But they are gaining a degree of acceptance and even sympathy from heterosexuals, many of whom are still unsure how to deal with them, that neither straights nor gays would have thought possible just the day before yesterday. The phrase "Stonewall Inn" appears in the magazine for the first time --- ten years after the events on 1969: The turning point came in the summer of 1969 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, when 400 gays flooded the streets for several nights to protest police raids on the Stonewall Inn, a homosexual bar on Christopher Street. The TIME magazine story back in 1969 had briefly mentioned the riots in a single paragraph, but it didn't specify the bar where it began. contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1979, May 14	ADDENDUM: TIME magazine publishes letters from its readers responding to the "How Gay is Gay: Homosexuality in America" cover story in the April 23, 1979 issue. Here are two examples: Geoffrey L. Baer of Oswego, N. Y. wrote If God had wanted Homosexuality to exist, there would have been Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve, but not Adam and Eve. (So close! Geoff almost had it. "Adam and Steve" was right there!) David Karnes of Cambridge, Mass. asked Are we as a society going to come to terms in an open-minded, accepting and loving way with the natural diversity of human sexual behavior? contrib. Ambrosio. late 2022.
1979, May	David Kloff, of San Francisco, is named the first International Mr. Leather at the contest in Chicago. Durk Dehner, of Los Angeles, is First Runner Up. CORRECTION: David Kloss of San Francisco is named the first International Mr. Leather in Chicago. Durk Dehner of Los Angeles is First Runner Up. Jack Fritscher writes first the Drummer article on IML re-printed by Drummer editor Joseph W. Bean in the LA&M book, International Mr. Leather: 25 Years of Champions. contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1979, May 21	Dan White convicted only of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Milk and Moscone. The conviction results in the White Night riots by gay men in San Francisco.
1979, June	Drummer # 30 features Jack Fritscher's "Meditations on Arthur Tress" including several photos by this very homoerotic, and leather suggestive, photographer.
1979, June	"Dykes on Bikes" make their first appearance in a Pride Day Parade, in San Francisco.
1979, July 7	Rod's (bar) opens in Madison WI. Not strictly a leather bar, but leather friendly and for years the best there is in Madison.
1979, July 8	Robert Opel shot and killed by a hold-up man at his Feywey Studios, 1287 Howard St., San Francisco.
1979, Sept. 14-16	Chicago Hellfire Club's Inferno 8 goes to a two night SM party and Tony DeBlase creates a schedule of demonstrations, contests, and a flea market to fill the intervening day. It is covered extensively with text and photos by John Preston and Tony DeBlase in Drummers #34 and 35. This is the first real publicity on Inferno.
1979, Oct. 14	The first Lesbian and Gay March on Washington. Over 100,000 attend.
1979, Oct. 30	A Different Light Bookstore opens in Los Angeles, they will be the first bookstore to have a separate Leather/SM section.
1979, Nov.	DungeonMaster a newsletter of male SM techniques, starts publication. Fledermaus, a.k.a. Tony DeBlase, publisher, editor, etc. He uses the phrase "Safe and Sane S&M" to describe its subject matter.
1979, Dec. 1	Bent, a play by Martin Sherman about the prosecution of gays in the Nazi concentration camps, opens on Broadway.
1979, Aug. - Dec 31	ADDENDUM: According to Jack Fritscher in Appendix 1 ("A Quick Who’s Who in Drummer") of Gay Pioneers: Shapiro and Fritscher exit [Drummer] together taking the Drummer salon of talent such as Robert Mapplethorpe, thus ending what Embry and others term the “classic 1970s Drummer”; Fritscher is the second and last editor-in-chief of Drummer; thirteen months after Fritscher exits, John Rowberry becomes editor with Drummer 40 (January 1981) to Drummer 86 (January 1986) contrib. Ambrosio April 7, 2023.

1980
Time	Event
1980	Formation of Bacchus, St. Louis; Blackhawks MC, Rock Island IL; Centurions LL MC Roanoke, VA; FFA of Miami; The 15 Association, SF; The Foot Fraternity, Gulf Coast Buccaneers MC, Mississippi; HyBreeds of Rochester, NY; National Association of Black and White Men Together; Northern Lights, Edmonton, Alberta; Renaissance Men, Detroit; SMBB International/Australia, NSW; Stingrays MC, West Palm Beach, and Sundance Cattle Co., Houston.
1980	Bar openings include CCW, Detroit; J's Bar, NYC, and Rawhide, NYC. DC Eagle moves to 7th St. NW.
1980	Silver Anchor Enterprises, Inc. begins piercing jewelry business out of Ft. Lauderdale.
1980	Val Martin is named the first Mr. Drummer by publisher John Embry. Entered in International Mr. Leather he places as first runner up.
1980	The American Sociologist G. W. Levi Kamel theorizes that gay sadomasochists develop their interests in a six step "career" that begins with a disenchantment with the vanilla gay community.
1980	The American woman's rights group National Organization for Women (NOW) publishes their "Delineation of Lesbian Rights Issues 1980" confirming every women's right to the "actualization of her sexuality" but excluding sadomasochism. NOW states that including sadomasochism would "violate the feminist principles" on which it was founded, and claim that sadomasochists are trying to "provide a premeditated structure for violence".
1980	Publication of What Color is Your Handkerchief by Samois. This anthology on SM was the precursor to Coming to Power Harry Chess Vol. 1 a magazine sized book collection of the wonderful witty cartoon strips by A. Jay Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee, an unnerving novel of torture and the "other" The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy. The ritual of hazing gone awry in a Military School Mr. Benson by John Preston in book form. Old Time Punishments by William Andrews. Stocks, pillories, dunking stools, etc., The Barn 1948 And More Dirty Pictures by Blade, a catalog published jointly by Stompers and Leslie-Lohman gallery Top Comedy & Bottom Burlesque a collection of cartoons on SM by Bruce N. Duncan Folsom magazine, published by photographer Jim Moss. It lasts for four issues Mach magazine, first issue, by Alternate publishing
1980	Cruising, a movie staring Al Pacino, depicting murder and violence in Leather bars and among leather men, opens in New York City, to loud protests by gay demonstrators.
1980	ADDENDUM: The ADA published the DSM–III. In this version, the APA changed the category of “sexual orientation disturbance” to “ego-dystonic Homosexuality.” CITE: APA Dictionary of Psychology DSM-III includes Masochistic Personality Disorder as a condition needing further study. SEE ALSO: Some Notes on Psychology, Homosexuality, and Sadomasochism contrib. Ambrosio Dec. 31, 2022.
1980, Jan.	ADDENDUM: John Rowberry named "assignment editor" of Drummer (1980) following editor-in-chief Jack Fritscher (1977-1980) who continued contributing writing and photographs to Drummer for sixty issues through 1999. Rowberry finally became "editor" in Drummer 40 (1981) and held the position through Drummer 86 (1986) when new owner Tony DeBlase let him go. Rowberry and Fritscher then collaborated for seven years creating Drummer-like leather features for the gay magazines of the East Coast Mavety Corporation until Rowberry' death in 1993. contrib. Jack Fritscher March 23, 2023.
1980, Feb.	The 15 Association formed in San Francisco by David Lewis and others. It is an all male group dedicated to SM activity.
1980, March 21	Cynthia Slater & Susan Thoraen rent the Catacombs for the first mixed gender, mixed orientation SM play party. It is a success and the parties continue until the Catacombs closes.
1980, Mar. 27	ADDENDUM: Jim Singleton, an African-American psychiatric nurse at Langley-Porter Hospital, a member of the Drummer Salon, and friend to Jack Fritscher dies of a lingering and mysterious illness. contrib. Jack Fritscher 2023.
1980, Apr. 18	The lesbian community in San Francisco holds a public debate on sadomasochism. This is the first known public debate on lesbian sadomasochism.
1980, May	Patrick Brooks of Australia is named the second International Mr. Leather at the contest in Chicago.
1980, Aug.	Brian O'Dell publishes a letter in New York City's Gay Community News which leads to the formation of GMSMA.
1980, Aug. 8 - 10	Chicago Hellfire Club's Inferno 9 is held near Chicago. It is the year of the "Gang of Four" but all goes well.
1980, Sept.	DungeonMaster #6 includes the phrase "safe and sane scenes" to describe the objectives of the Safety Valve column. "Safe and sane S&M" is a phrase often used in subsequent issues to describe the objectives of the publication.
1980, Oct.	Jack Fritscher begins publication of his little magazine Man2Man, which lasts for eight issues.
1980, Nov. 10	A homophobic man fires an Uzi into the crowded Ramrod bar on West Street in New York City, killing one and injuring many leathermen.
1980, Dec.	Gay Male S/M Activists officially organized in New York City, and holds it's first public meeting on January 14.

1981
Time	Event
1981	Formation of Colorado Gay Rodeo Association, Confederation of New York Area Clubs, Florida Brotherhood of Clubs, Lesbian Sex Mafia (LS/M) in New York City, Orlando; GMSMA, NYC; Satyricons MC, Las Vegas; SMGays, London; Stillettos, Jacksonville, FL; and Stingrays, NJ. Elegabulus NC, Norwood Australia, and South Florida Council disband.
1981	Bar openings include Spike, Munich and Stellwerk, Berlin. Buddy Bar in Berlin and Tiger's Bar in New Orleans close.
1981	The Drummer Key Club, a male leather version of the Playboy clubs, opens at Folsom & 11th in San Francisco. Advertised as the first of a nationwide chain, others never open, and quickly evolves into a series of more typical leather bars -- Drummaster, then the Gold Coast, and finally the Compound, a private sex club which closed in 1984.
1981	San Francisco Eagle founded. At the time it was just one of the many leather bars in the city, but it has endured to become the oldest leather bar in San Francisco.
1981	Publication of Whitewater Run by Victor Terry, a fictionalized portrayal of the Pocono Warriors Whitewater Weekend Run Coming to Power, a collection of articles on SM, by the San Francisco based women's SM organization Samois Anal Pleasure & Health, by Jack Morin Ph.D. a guide for both men and women
1981	Publication of Aaron Travis' most famous short story, "Blue Light," in Drummer #44.
1981	Death of Tony Taverossi, one of the inventors of the leather bar, from AIDS related pneumonia.
1981	Advocate reporter Randy Shilts becomes the US's first out gay reporter at a major daily newspaper when he is hired by the San Francisco Chronicle.
1981, June	Ray Pereyra is named the second Mr. Drummer in the first Mr. Drummer Contest.
1981, April 4	A performance art space named, and located at, 544 Natoma, opens in San Francisco. The performance pieces, including play parties, are usually leather oriented and feature members of the Rainbow MC. It closes on 6 October 1983.
1981, May	Marty Kiker is named the third International Mr. Leather at the contest at Chicago.
1981, June 5	Morbidity & Mortality Weekly, announces the mysterious presence of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in five gay men in Los Angeles.
1981, July 3	The New York Times publishes the first article on "the Gay Cancer", the first public news of what was to become known as AIDS.
1981, July 10	A major fire on Folsom St. destroys homes (and art and photos and whips, etc.) of Rex, Mark I. Chester, and many other leathermen.
1981, Aug. 28	Steve McEachern has a heart attack at the Catacombs while engaged in a private scene with his lover. He dies and the Catacombs closes.
1981, Sept.	Chicago Conference of Clubs holds first Wild Onion run near Chicago.
1981, Oct.	German SM-lesbians meet and decide to create address distribution centers in various cities as a form of infrastructure. This is the first known attempt at organization among German SM-lesbians.
1981, Oct. 9-12	Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 10 under canvas at a new location in Douglas MI on Columbus Day weekend. It is too cold for outdoor nudity! Bill Kerr of New York City receives the first Caligula Award.
1981, Oct. 10	Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein opens on Broadway.
1981, Oct 30	The Catacombs #2 opens at 736 Larken in San Francisco.
1981, Dec	GMSMA holds its first Bizarre Bazaar at the Mineshaft in New York City.
1981. Dec.	The New York City Gay Men's Chorus performs at Carnegie Hall, the first openly gay group to appear there.

1982
Time	Event
1982	Formation of Conductors LLC, Nashville; Corpus Christi MC; County Men, Detroit; dreizehn, in Boston; Gaucho MC, Tampa; Harbor Masters, Portland, ME; Leathermasters Inc., LA; Rainbow MC in San Francisco; Somandros, LA; Trident International Detroit; and Tower City Corps, Cleveland, and Vancouver Activists in SM, VASM, in Vancouver, BC.
1982	Rainbow MC founded in San Francisco. Rainbow differs from most other contemporary gay motorcycle clubs in two ways: most of its members were involved in the visual and/or performing arts and it's events were usually art "happenings" But it's members also harkened back to the outlaw biker gangs in appearance, forbidding fancy uniforms or washing of overlays, which were frequently decorated with bodily secretions.
1982	The Danish SM-activist Maria Marcus' book on SM is translated into German as Die furchtbare Wahrheit. Frauen und Masochismus.
1982	Release of the film Connan the Barbarian which opens with a shot of a nearly naked Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Connan, nailed, crucifix style, to a huge and gnarled tree. He tears himself free from the nails. The movie is filled with other SM images.
1982	Publication of The Rose Exterminator by William Carney, an essentially unsuccessful sequel to The Real Thing The Fledermaus Anthology, a collection of explicitly gay male SM short stories by Tony DeBlase writing as Fledermaus Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis by R. E. Linden in San Francisco. A History of Erotic Literature by Patrick J. Kearney The Enema as an Erotic Art and it's History by David Barton-Jay. A coffee table book on enemas! The Mack Anthology, featuring the fiction and superb erotic art of Mack
1982, Feb. 13	The Catacombs #3 opens on Shotwell St in San Francisco.
1982, Feb. 25	Wisconsin becomes the first state in the union to have comprehensive gay rights legislation.
1982, May	Luke Daniel, Mr. Drummer, is selected as the 4th International Mr. Leather at the contest at Park West in Chicago.
1982, June	Luke Daniel of Los Angeles is named as the third Mr. Drummer.
1982, Aug.	Dr. Tom Waddel brings together thousands of gay men and women for the first Gay Games. Originally called the Gay Olympics, the US Olympic Committee brings suit to protect their name. Hundreds of events around the world are called "Olympics" but only the Gay Olympics has been singled out for such prohibitions.
1982, Sept. 24	In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control (CDC) uses the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for the first time in a new MMWR. The CDC also releases the first case definition for AIDS: “A disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease.”
1982, Sept. 10-13	Chicago Hellfire Club returns to September dates and holds Inferno 11 on two sites in Douglas and Saugatuck, MI. Ken Hocking of Sydney Australia receives the Caligula Award.
1982, Oct.	Vancouver Activists in SM, a male SM group, is formed in Vancouver, British Colombia.
1992, Oct. 25	Northern Ireland repeals its laws against sodomy.
1982, late	Mixed Gender SM play parties resume at the Shotwell Catacombs in San Francisco.

1983
Time	Event
1983	Formation of Avatar, LA; Cowtown Leathermen, Ft. Worth; Dreizehn, Boston; Gryphons MC, Dayton, OH; Leather and Lace, LA; Lords of Leather, New Orleans; Manchester Super Chain, UK; and Tower City Corps, Cleveland.
1983	Samois, the nation's first women's SM organization, disbands in San Francisco.
1983	Publication of The Correct Sadist by Terence Sellers. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, an explicitly sexual and SM filled novel, by a major publisher, who admits that the author's name, A. N. Roquelaure, is a pseudonym for a very well known female author, much later revealed to be Ann Rice. This is the first volume of what will become the Sleeping Beauty trilogy. Sadomasochism, Studies in Dominance and Submission by American sociologists Thomas A. Wienberg and G. W. Levi Kamel. The book summarizes the historical research on SM and promotes the empirical sociological viewpoint.
1983, May	Colt Thomas of Houston TX is named the fourth International Mr. Leather at the contest at Park West in Chicago.
1983, June	John Garger is chosen 1983 Mr. Drummer at a contest held at the Russian River in northern California. First runner up David Earl Lee, later assumes the title.
1983, July 14	Massachusetts congressman Gerry Studds comes out as a gay man in a speech to the House, following charges linking him with a male page.
1983, August	ADDENDUM: “A Walk On The Wild Side,” a feature on the New York City sexual underground (written by Playboy's advice columnist John R. Petersen) appears in the August 1983 issue of Playboy magazine. It describes a visit to the Hellfire Club, the infamous star of the kink scene in the Meatpacking District that is now long gone. At the time it was located in the basement of the 1849 triangle building at 675 Hudson St in New York City. Petersen observed S/M is more involved than regular sex. You don’t just put it in and thrust. You create a script, a fantasy. Then you act it out. It’s more elaborate, more intense and more demanding. Elsewhere he writes I still had to consider the possibility that those people [in the clubs] actually reach true ecstasy because they know exactly what it is they want. Normal heterosexuals may be blundering, ambiguous, noncommunicative by comparison. SEE ALSO: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Janet Lever. Slate Jan 29, 2023 Playboy 1983: “A Walk On The Wild Side” on historyofbdsm.com contrib. Ambrosio December 12, 2023.
1983, Aug. 17	An ad-hoc committee of GMSMA issues a report: "Proposed New Statement of Identity and Purpose" using the phrase "safe, sane, consensual."
1983, Aug. 8	ADDENDUM: Newsweek's cover story for the August 8, 1983 issue is titled “Gay America: Sex, Politics and the Impact of AIDS." The cover shows AIDS activist Bobbi Campbell and his partner Bobby Hilliard. IMAGE SOURCE: Digital resource published by the Regents of the University of California SEE ALSO: On August 8, 1983 in lgbt_history on instagram contrib. Ambrosio February 5, 2023.
1983, Sept. 9 - 12	Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 12 in Douglas MI. Ron Bentley of Midland, Texas, receives the Caligula Award.
1983, Sept.	Publication in London of the first issue of SMART, A journal of SM how-to modeled after DungeonMaster. It lasts for three issues.
1983, Oct.	GMSMA switches its meeting site to the new New York City Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center.

1984
Time	Event
1984	Formation of Arizona Gay Rodeo Association; California Eagles, SF; Copperstate Leathermen, Phoenix; Defenders of Mithra, Portland, OR; Disciples of DeSade, Dallas; GLSM Hamburg; Golden State Gay Rodeo Association; Grand Rapids Rivermen; The great Midwestern Society for the Promotion and Proliferation of S&M; On Motor Club, Paris; The Outcasts, SF; Pittsburgh MC; Severn Link MSC, Bristol, UK; SigMa, DC; Tridents MC, Boston; Two Wheelers, Omaha; and Wasatch Leathermen MC, Salt Lake City.
1984	The American medical philosopher Frederick Suppe shows that all diagnosis included in the diagnostic groups of "paraphilias" (perversions) can be substituted by other, non-sexual diagnosis. He concludes that the current classification of sexual disorders by the American Psychiatric Association in DMS-III is "merely the codification of social mores".
1984	An exhibit titled "Eldorado -- Homosexual Women and Men in Berlin 1850 -1950, History, Everyday Life, and Culture" opens at the Schwules Museum in Berlin. This is the first known museum exhibition centering on Homosexuality.
1984	Publication of Urban Aboriginals by Geoff Mains Leather Blues - The adventures of Denny Sargent by Jack Fritscher Corporal in Charge of Taking Care of Captain O'Malley, a collection of short stories by Jack Fritscher Beauty's Punishment by A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice), the second of the Beauty trilogy The Mineshaft a novel by Tim Barrus The Raging Peace by Artemis Oakgrove, the first in the Throne Trilogy of lesbian leatherish erotica The Brig by Mason Powel, a novel which had been previously serialized in Drummer
1984	Lady Thorn sponsors her first Bizarre Flea Market in San Francisco.
1984	San Francisco closes bath houses and sex clubs in an effort to limit the spread of AIDS.
1984, Jan.	Staff writers at the Wall Street Journal were first allowed to use the word "gay" instead of "homosexual".
1984, Apr. 21	"Farewell Catacombs, Fuck You World!" party held at the Catacombs as its final event.
1984, May	Ron Moore of Denver becomes the 6th International Mr. Leather at the contest at Park West in Chicago. He is the first black man to hold an international leather title. (Died: Feb. 25, 1997)
1984, June	Sonny Cline of San Francisco becomes the 1984 Mr. Drummer at the contest in San Francisco.
1984, June	GMSMA organizes its first Leather Pride Night in New York City.
1984, June 25	Michael Foucault dies at the age of 57 of AIDS in Paris, France.
1984, Sept. 7 - 10	Chicago Hellfire Club holds Inferno 13 in Douglas MI. David Lewis of Dallas receives the Caligula Award.
1984, Sept.	The first Folsom Street Fair is held in San Francisco.
1984, Oct 5-8	American Uniform Association 7th Annual Review is held in Denver.

The Leather History Timeline

Further Reading on Leather and BDSM History