Welcome to The Leather Journal's annual IMBB and IML Contestants Preview
We have all four of the Bootblacks and 63 of 69 IML contestants
Who are your favorites?
There are four confirmed contestants for International Mr. Bootblack this year. With the assistance of Jeremiah Morris we were able to present this to you. Jeremy is the Coordinators for the International Mr. Bootblack Competition. For more about International Mr. Bootblack including judges and rules check out http://www.imrl.com. To see our coverage of the 72 men competing for International Mr. Leather go to https://www.theleatherjournal.com/news/regional-news/item/2019-iml-2018-contestants-photos-and-bios
Members of the IML Class of 2018 who appeared at Mid Atlantic Leather in January.
A record 71 men have officially registered by the early May deadline as contestants for IML 40 or International Mr. Leather 2018. IML contestant coordinator Jeff Tucker, an IML 1994 titleholder himself, greatly assisted in compiling this information. Contestants were given the opportunity to submit decent photos and brief bios. We have photos of all 71 and three-fourths of the supplied bios.Take a look and pick your favorites. One might pick their own Top 20 and compare it later to the list announced on stage at The Auditorium in Chicago, IL on Sunday night, May 27. This article originally had 72 contestants. One dropped out a few days before the contest due to a medical emergency. Find out more about IML at http://www.imrl.com
As many as 2,500 Leatherfolk attended CLAW 18 (Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend) at the Westin Downtown Cleveland April 26-29. CLAW and its affiliated CLAW Nation events have rung up over $800,000 in donations to charity since its inception in 2001. With fundraising activities everywhere, everyone is having the time of their lives while giving.
Teagan from girl ang was chosen to be International Ms Leather 2018 and Teagan was named International Ms Bootblack in front of 768 cheering spectators at the DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose in San Jose, CA on Saturday night, April 21. The Heart and Soul Award winner was Sir Dom who was chosen so by all of the contestants. IMsL runner-up was Jesbian and IMsBB runner-up was Brynn Bietzel.
The seven women who competed for IMsL are girl ang, Jesbian, Scarlett Sin, Sir Dom, Carla, Princess Jinnie and Tig; and the five who vied for IMsBB are Teagan, Brynn Beitzel, Bootblack KL, Red and Vivian.
The International Ms Bootblack judges were Meghan, Pawlish, Yolanda, Briar Wood and Daddy Joey.
The International Ms Leather judges were Lascivious Jane, Ralph Bruneau, Dee, Mufasa Ali and Issa Arden.
International Ms Olympus Leather 2003 Bootpig delivered the keynote during the Sunday brunch.
IMsL and IMsBB weekend featured many events including a Bootblack Master Class, vendors, a hospitality suite which is the envy of most Leather events, Shiners movie, Thursday night Seduction, pool party, ONYX Dance, play space, Boots and Cigars and silent auction among others. There's more - to find out what, go to https://imslbb.org/
International Ms Leather 2018 girl ang
girl ang is a rugged Femme hedonistic switch, service oriented Leather woman based in Melbourne, Australia. Her kinks include squirting, fisting, energy exchange, sensation play, tea parties, Leather and latex. She is passionate about the Leatherwork she has created over the last 2.5 years through her business Little Miss Leather. girl ang is well into her psychology degree and completed her Certificate IV in Training and Assessment in 2011; she loves to learn and share knowledge. She chooses happiness and is an insatiable flirt.
International Ms Bootblack 2018 Teagan
Teagan fell in love with bootblacking at a young age, doing her shoes before church. Although these days her skills are often being put to more salacious uses, down deep she still identifies as a spiritual bootblack. For her, bootblacking harkens back to the foot-washing ritual. She enjoys providing a humble service to her community. Teagan is Southern California Bootblack 2016 and Southwest Bootblack 2017. During her title year as Southwest Bootblack she invited our community to “Take Refuge” in the capable hands of our bootblacks. Teagan is from Oakland, CA.
Sarah Humble hosted the Inside the Leather Jacket series, in collaboration with IMsLBB Productions, Women’s International Leather Legacy (WILL) and the IMsL Foundation, she interviewed Lainy and Julia who hail from Seattle and together have a combined 60-plus years of experience and involvement in the Leather scene. They are founding members of both Outer Limits, Seattle’s original Leatherdyke club, as well as Powersurge, the first International Leatherwoman Conference held in Seattle in 1992.
In 1989, a group came together in San Francisco to celebrate Leatherwomen to select a women who represented the community and would be recognized for the work she had done. Judy Tallwing McCarthy was that first International Ms Leather. Over the 30 years since that day, women have stepped up and represented who we are. One can see a history of the IMsL/IMsBB titleholders on the web or catch up with the current IMsL/IMsBB titleholders. Some have been political, some community builders, but have all lived out a vision of what the women’s alternative sex positive community is.
By Mufasa Ali
Thank you to the LLC Board for trusting me with this auspicious occasion to share, to my husband in his absence, boi Optimus and the Mufasa’s Pride Family, to the National Council of ONYX and all my ONYX family, to my Leather Preservation History Weekend Board members, to all my Leather Community and to His Eminence T’Chala always in my soul ….Wakanda Forever!
By CandiAnne
(Columbus, OH) — National Leather Association - International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/Leather/Fetish community, announced today the finalists for its annual writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the groundbreaking organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about Leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.
The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:
Super Tight: A Fetish For Restraint by Claire Rudy Foster which appeared April 20, 2017 on TheRumpus.net
A Defense of Erotic by Jeff Mann which appeared as the introduction to his book Consent which was released April 28 , 2017 by Lethe Press
The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:
The Big Workbook For Submissives by Rebecca Blanton (Auntie Vice Productions)
Better Bondage For Every Body by Evie Vane (Wanton Press)
Gay Pioneers: How Drummer Magazine Shaped Gay Popular Culture 1965-1999 by Jack Fritscher (Palm Drive Publishing)
The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:
The Master Will Appear by L.A. Witt (self published)
Insatiable by Jeff Mann (Lethe Press)
The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:
Unspeakably Erotic: Lesbian Kink by D.L. King (Cleis Press)
The finalists for the John Preston Short Story Award are:
Winter Fantasia Captive Club by Jeff Mann which appeared on Great Jones Street reading app
The Artist by Daniel Erickson (self-published)
Sand Trap by L.M. Somerton (Pride Publishing)
Falling Action by Kiki DeLovely from the anthology His Aura: A Collection of Transmasculine Erotica ed. Shaun J. Phree (Phreedom Publishing)
Pygmalion by J. Belle from the anthology Unspeakably Erotic: Lesbian Kink ed. D.L. King (Cleis Press)
The Brute and The Brat by Sinclair Sexsmith (Maverick Press)
The winners will be announced at the National Leather Association – International’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held October 21 in Reno, NV in conjunctions with NLA - Northern Nevada’s event, Revelry. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page for more information.
For more information about the awards, please contact the Award Committee Chair, CandiAnne Shafer, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Photo by Denis Largeron Photographie
The National LGBTQ Task Force presented its 10th Leather Leadership Award to Durk Dehner at the opening plenary of the organization's 30th Annual Creating Change Conference in Washington, DC on January 25. Durk co-founded the Tom of Finland Foundation in 1984 and was also first runner-up of the first IML competition in 1979. The award was presented by IML 1996 Joe Gallagher and Annina Aalto, Cultural Counselor at the Embassy of Finland. In accepting the award, Durk told the audience of over 2,000, mainly young people, "Be willing to try on different clothes of life. We are explorers and always remember that!" Many of Tom of Finland's drawings were projected on the ballroom's large screens, including the famous 2014 Finnish stamp in his honor..
The Leather Journal was founded in May, 1987. The Leather community was hungry for news magazine that covered clubs, organizations and events. TLJ has successfully met that need for 34 years. We have adapted to change more than once and when the Internet came about we were there by adding www.TheLeatherJournal.com
