2009 Closing Speech given by Mistress Khiki

How did you enjoy the first Philadelphia Leather Pride Night?

NOW, how does it feel to be part of history? YEAH!
I was asked to speak on the topic of ‘rebuilding community’ – cuz, well everyone else was sick, or busy here tonight and I was available. So there you have that. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. But to talk about rebuilding community I need to say 2 things:

1: WE ARE NOT BROKEN. And, 2: to discuss building, rebuilding or moving on, we should first touch and acknowledge our history.

As a community or system we are predisposed to stagnation, and yes fragmentation. It is our duty to continue to work and BUILD ON to what has already been established. I do not think we have to re-build, or reinvent the wheel. We HAVE a history. We HAVE a foundation.

I acknowledge that some of our traditions and ideas, especially within the larger ‘kink’ community came from Victorian and other cultures. However it is my belief that the community as we know it today evolved from that which gay male Leather culture established all those years ago.

They created the first Levi Leather Clubs – LLC is not just the Leather Leadership Conference, or Limited Liability Corporation. Those LLC clubs are the roots of your Leather bars and organizations folks… These men created a uniform born of fetish, rough biker attire for safety, and some military tradition – a look that intentionally distinguished them from other gay men. They created a system and a way of gathering as like minded folk to have their needs met – established a hanky code (Thank you Daddy Clyde, RIP) to subtly signal their specific preferences and fetishes because they could not legally (or openly) discuss them in clubs that served alcohol, and they developed protocols and acceptable modes of behavior that worked within their culture.

There was a mystique, and sense of “MEMBERS ONLY” – you had to know HOW to find the scene, then manage to gain entry. Some of us, at least in some ways sort of miss that, but it is what it is and progress is inevitable. So, that scene began evolving into a community. Eventually Leather events took shape, and things began to change – a lot. Did you know that it used to be against protocol to dress in full Leather before 10 PM? It was in Frank Puckett’s day. The motto was “DON’T FRIGHTEN THE VILLAGERS” (read some Joseph Bean) But, here we are now, half of us with our asses hanging out of our chaps at 8 am in the hotel lobby, or kneeling in the hallway at some M/s event.

We did not spring up out of thin air -We did not invent ourselves . I – we – you – came from somewhere. We do not have to reinvent the wheel – we are not broken.

We are factioned – AND?? We say that like it’s a bad thing. Take a second to think about what brought YOU here tonight. We are varied and fragmented and often have more differences than similarities, but still here we are tonight – Leather and non-Leather people, celebrating, socializing, exposing ourselves to each other, EXPOSING OURSELVES TO EACH OTHER, getting naked- Seriously though, we don’t need to endlessly discuss how we should all just try to get along. Leather, suede or pleather, Master and slave, top, bottom, puppies, ponies, boys (bois) and grrls, you know who you are! Something about this night, this particular social setting, these people resonates for you. Why? Could it be that we have a common thread? That our differences, even if they out number our similarities are just not as important? The sum total of our greater community is made up of other communities or tribes. That total is greater than the sum of its parts. I was talking about this with my slave jezebel and she said “you know the larger community is like a big plate of food from a Thanksgiving boofay – (yes, she said ‘boofay’ – and typed this speech) potatoes over here, tofu turkey next to that (yeah, we’re dykes!), peas and pearls over there, all kinds of yummy stuff all over the plate. Each separate bit of food is part of the whole meal. Sometimes you get a couple things mixed together – it happens. But each has a distinct flavor unto itself and that flavor influences everything on the plate. It’s just not a meal if it’s only cranberry sauce.”People we are that meal. Eat up!

If you know me, you know that I identify as Old Guard – and I know many like-minded Leatherfolk who are weary of having the term “Leather” redefined to make it more palatable for the masses, something totally inclusive. There is no need. We can exist, and even better, co-exist within our various identities: the Leather community, the Master/slave community, fetishists, BDSM, just pure kink, whatever, as a greater community. We do not have to huddle under one flag, one set of colors, one name. We can have all of our flags, colors, symbols and identities and still acknowledge that our sense of community, some of our protocols and the fact that we can hold large Leather or kink events comes from the history of those men who were not content with assimilation. It’s no leap for me.
Every day, somewhere, someone in our greater community is taking the WHOLE community to another level by establishing a group, club, event that speaks to the specific needs of a small group of us: MAsT and the Master/slave conferences, International Deaf Leather, The Panthers Levi Leather Club, Black Rose, The Philadelphians MC, The Liberty Bears, The Keystone boys of Leather, The Bootblack Brigade and all of our local munch groups. But still, the sense of a larger community and even safety in numbers outweighs the separate identities.

As a Leather community and a larger kink community, we do need to be able to stand together when THEY come for us. And they ARE coming for us.”They” who want to tear us down, arrest and oppress us, storm and close our bars, dungeons and gathering places. These people do not care what our specific identities are. We are ALL an abomination to them. Freaks and perverts after their wives, children, religion and entire way of life. They don’t get that we don’t want that. Well, maybe their wives. But, as a community at large, we do need to be able to sit at the same table and decide how to present a united front against those who mean us all real harm. This is some of the work we must do.
We are SO not broken. Look at us now. Look how far we HAVE come. From secret bars and completely segregated scenes to a HUGE community with a Leather Archives and Museum, the NCSF, and oh my god – Mama Vi’s Leather Library, so full of history and personal histories – many Leather events across the nation, Master/slave events, educational kink events, contests and titles at every level. We have pushed the envelope and are pushing further every day. This is the work we are doing, and the work we must continue doing to build our community, and continue to strengthen those “Ties That Bind.”

So — Again: How did you enjoy the FIRST EVER Philadelphia Leather Pride Night?

Again, I ask: How does it feel to be part of history, people?