International Mr. Leather

International Mr. Leather (IML) is an international, though largely American, conference and contest of leathermen held annually in May since 1979 in Chicago, Illinois.

International Mr. Leather Nr. 29, 2007 in the Chicago Theatre

The International Mr. Leather conference is a multi-day and activity event to recognize International Mr. Leather. Shared interest events, such as speakers, socials, themed dance parties and a leather market are part of ways in which the competitors become known to the evaluating committee and enthusiasts, including the BDSM community, can share in the experience.

IML is an internationally recognized distinction with an informal relationship with how contestants qualify: contestants must either be a winner of a lower-level feeder competition of a bar, local or regional leather contest or be sponsored by a leather-related bar, business, club, or organization.

History

The forerunner of the competition was the 1970s "Mr. Gold Coast" bar contest held at Chicago's Gold Coast leather bar, owned by Chuck Renslow and his then-partner, Dom Orejudos. The "Mr. Gold Coast" contest became one of the bar's most popular promotions causing the need to locate the competition to a larger venue (in 1979), upon which the title was changed to International Mr. Leather.

In 1984 Ron Moore became the first black man to have the title of International Mr. Leather.[1]

Competing in the 1986 International Mr. Leather contest inspired Steve Maidhof to organize a conference for members of the growing SM, leather, and fetish community, which would focus on education and political activism. To host this conference, named Living in Leather, Maidhof recruited several friends and leading members of Seattle's leather community including: Cookie Andrews-Hunt, Wayne Gloege, Billy Jefferson, Jan Lyon, George Nelson, and Vik Stump. Together, they formed the National Leather Association (NLA), which officially incorporated in the summer of 1986. In October, they hosted the first Living in Leather (LIL) conference.[2]

The leather pride flag was designed by Tony DeBlase, and he first presented the design at the IML competition on May 28, 1989.[3]

The International Mr. Bootblack (IMrBB)[4] competition was added to the IML program in 1993. At its inception in 1993, the competition was properly titled the International Bootblack Competition, and both men and women were allowed to compete. In 1998, it was announced that the competition would be changed to the International Mr. Bootblack Competition and that a separate competition solely for women would be held at International Ms. Leather. This change was made largely because it was commonly held that women had a significant disadvantage competing for ballots from the mostly gay male IML attendees, who often base their bootblack selection at least partly on their sexual attraction to the bootblack. Since 1999, competitors for IMrBB are restricted to persons over the age of 21 who can provide a valid government-issued form of identification that identifies them as male.

In 1999 IML received the Business of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.[5]

In 2007 and 2012 IML received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.[6]

In May 2009 it was announced that IML proceeds would be placed in a trust to benefit the Leather Archives and Museum.[7] The Leather Archives and Museum holds the records of the IML.[8]

IML established in July 2009 the policy that IML Leather Market participation would exclude "any entity which promotes barebacking or distributes/sells any merchandise tending to promote or advocate barebacking."

In 2010 IML was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.[9]

Also in 2010, Tyler McCormick became the first openly transgender man, the first wheelchair user, and the first person from New Mexico to have the title of International Mr. Leather.[10]

Starting in 2013, the International Mr. Bootblack (IMrBB) contest in the IML program has implemented a judging system to select the winner. Contestants are evaluated by a panel of judges on the basis of their technical bootblacking skills, how they present themselves on stage and in public and what they say in an interview with the judges. Ballot voting still makes up a percentage of the contestant's total score.

In 2018, IML was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame during Cleveland Leather Annual Weekend 2018.[11][12]

IML was called off in 2020.

IML contest criteria

Preliminary round

Contest finalists are selected following:

1. A preliminary interview with each of the nine judges, up to 8 minutes in length, are held in private (60% of the preliminary score).
2. Stage presence and personality at a Saturday "Pecs and Personality" event (40% of the preliminary score).

The judge's highest and lowest scores for each contestant on each criterion are dropped, and the contestant's remaining seven scores are tallied to determine the 20 contestants with the highest combined scores to proceed as finalists at the Sunday IML contest event. The only time that the dropped scores are included in the tally is when there is a tie for the 20th place; the contestants in question have their dropped scores included in the tally but if the stalemate continues then each of the nine judges must vote for only one of the two contestants. Preliminary judging scores are not carried forward. There are also two tally masters.

Final round

Each of the 20 finalists is judged at the Sunday IML contest on a scale from 0 to 100 in the following order:

1. Leather image (up to 40 points).
2. Presentation skills that include a contestant speech (up to 40 points).
3. Physical appearance (up to 20 points).

The highest and lowest scores for each finalist are dropped, the remaining seven scores are added together, and the top three scores designate the second runner-up, first runner-up, and winner, International Mr. Leather. A tie for the title is resolved by adding to the tally the dropped scores of the two contestants; if the stalemate continues then each of the nine judges must vote for only one of the contestants in question.

IML contest winners

The following is a table of IML contest winners:

IML #	Date	IML winner	Winner's preliminary title or sponsor	Winner's city	Field of contestants	Contest's Location and Host Hotel
1	1979-05-20	David Kloss	Mr. Leather Brig	San Francisco, California	12 men from 6 U.S. states	Grand Ballroom of the Radisson Hotel
2	1980-05-10	Patrick Brooks	Mr. Leather Australia	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	18 men from 7 U.S. states and Australia	Grand Ballroom of the Radisson Hotel
3	1981-05-09	Marty Kiker	Sponsored by The Brig & The Phoenix	San Francisco, California	36 men from 3 countries including 11 U.S. states	Park West
4	1982-05-08	Luke Daniel	Mr. Drummer	San Francisco, California	46 men from 14 U.S. states and Canada	Park West
5	1983-05-07	Coulter Thomas	Mr. Texas Leather	Houston, Texas	44 men from 15 U.S. states and Canada	Park West & Allerton Hotel
6	1984-05-27	Ron Moore	Mr. Leather Colorado	Denver, Colorado	30 men from 14 U.S. states and Australia	Park West & Allerton Hotel
7	1985-05-26	Patrick Toner	Mr. Chaps San Francisco	San Francisco, California	27 men from 3 countries including 14 U.S. states	Park West & Allerton Hotel
8	1986-05-25	Scott Tucker	Mr. Philadelphia Leather	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	28 men from 14 U.S. states	Park West & Lake Shore Hotel
9	1987-05-24	Thomas Karasch	Mr. Leather Europe	Hamburg, Germany	31 men from 3 countries including 14 U.S. states	Park West & Days Inn
10	1988-05-29	Michael Pereyra	Mr. Leather San Diego	San Diego, California	42 men from 3 countries including 20 U.S. states	Clubland at The Vic Theatre & Executive House Hotel
11	1989-05-28	Guy Baldwin	Mr. National Leather Association	Los Angeles, California	48 men from 22 U.S. states and Canada	Clubland at The Vic Theatre & Executive House Hotel
12	1990-05-27	Mark Ryan	Mr. Boston Leather	Boston, Massachusetts	42 men from 3 countries including 22 U.S. states	Clubland at The Vic Theatre
13	1991-05-26	D Cannon	Mr. CC (of Palm Springs)	Hollywood, California	50 men from 3 countries including 24 U.S. states	Clubland at The Vic Theatre & Executive House Hotel
14	1992-05-24	Lenny Broberg	Mr. San Francisco Leather	San Francisco, California	56 men from 22 U.S. states and Canada	Aragon Ballroom & Executive House Hotel
15	1993-05-30	Henri ten Have	sponsored by Motor Sportclub Amsterdam (MSA)	Amsterdam, Netherlands	51 men from 5 countries including 23 U.S. states	Aragon Ballroom & Congress Plaza Hotel
16	1994-05-29	Jeff Tucker	Mr. San Jose Leather	San Jose, California	49 men from 5 countries including 21 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
17	1995-05-28	Larry Everett	Mr. Oklahoma Leather	Collinsville, Oklahoma	50 men from 6 countries including 26 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
18	1996-05-26	Joe Gallagher	Mr. Leather New York	New York, New York	49 men from 6 countries including 25 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
19	1997-05-25	Kevin Cwayna	Mr. Minnesota Leather	Minneapolis, Minnesota	53 men from 5 countries including 24 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
20	1998-05-24	Tony Mills	Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather	Washington, D.C.	62 men from 7 countries including 24 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
21	1999-05-30	Bruce Chopnik	Mr. Rocky Mountain Leather	Denver, Colorado	52 men from 5 countries including 23 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
22	2000-05-28	Mike Taylor	Mr. Heartland Leather	Columbus & Cincinnati, Ohio	60 men from 7 countries including 25 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
23	2001-05-27	Stefan Müller	Bavarian Mr. Leather	Munich, Germany	63 men from 7 countries including 27 U.S. states	Congress Theater & The Palmer House Hilton
24	2002-05-26	Stephen Weber	Mr. Texas Leather	Dallas, Texas	66 men from 7 countries including 28 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
25	2003-05-25	John Pendal	Mr. Hoist	London, United Kingdom	58 men from 5 countries including 25 U.S. states	Congress Theater & The Palmer House Hilton
26	2004-05-30	Jason Hendrix	Mr. DC Eagle 2004	Washington, D.C.	58 men from 5 countries including 23 U.S. states	Congress Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
27	2005-05-29	Michael Egdes	Mr. Ramrod	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	52 men from 6 countries including 25 U.S. states	Navy Pier Skyline Stage & Hyatt Regency Chicago
28	2006-05-28	Bo Ladashevska	Mr. Leather Montreal 2006	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	51 men from 5 countries including 18 U.S. states	Chicago Theatre & The Palmer House Hilton Hotel
29	2007-05-27	Mikel Gerle	Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2007	Los Angeles, California	53 men from 5 countries including 23 U.S. states	Chicago Theatre & The Palmer House Hilton
30	2008-05-25	Gary Iriza	Mr. Palm Springs Leather 2008	Palm Springs, California	51 men from 6 countries including 21 U.S. states	Hyatt Regency Chicago
31	2009-05-24	Jeffrey Payne	Mr. Texas Leather 2009	Dallas, Texas	54 men	Hilton Chicago
32	2010-05-30	Tyler McCormick	Mr. Rio Grande Leather 2010	Albuquerque, New Mexico	52 men	Congress Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
33	2011-05-29	Eric Guttierez	Mr. Leather Europe 2011	Paris, France	53 men	Harris Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
34	2012-05-27	Woody Woodruff	Mr. Michigan Leather 2012	Waterford, Michigan	49 men	Harris Theater & Hyatt Regency Chicago
35	2013-05-26	Andy Cross	Mr. San Francisco Leather 2013	San Francisco, California	51 men	Harris Theater & Marriott Michigan Ave. Chicago
36	2014-05-25	Ramien Pierre	Mr. D.C. Eagle 2014	Washington, DC	46 men	Harris Theater & Marriott Michigan Ave. Chicago
37	2015-05-24	Patrick Smith	Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2015	Los Angeles, California	52 men	Park West and Harris Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
38	2016-05-29	David "Tigger" Bailey	Mr. New Jersey Leather 2016	Howell, New Jersey	59 men from 7 countries and 25 U.S. states	Park West and Harris Theater & Congress Plaza Hotel
39	2017-05-28	Ralph Bruneau	Mr. GNI (Gay Naturists International) Leather 2016	Los Angeles, California	63 men from 13 countries and 23 U.S. states	Auditorium Theatre & Congress Plaza Hotel
40	2018-05-27	James Lee	Mr. Kentucky Leather 2017	Lexington, Kentucky	71 men from 15 countries	Auditorium Theatre & Congress Plaza Hotel
41	2019-05-26	Jack Thompson	Leatherman of Color 2019	Baltimore, Maryland	68 men from 15 countries including 26 U.S. states and Puerto Rico	Auditorium Theatre & Congress Plaza Hotel
42	2020	Contest cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

International Mr. Bootblack Competition

The International Mr. Bootblack (IMrBB) Competition runs throughout the IML weekend. Contestants are given a location in the IML Leather Market at which they perform bootblacking services. Weekend ticket package holders (as well as judges, contestants, and vendors) are each provided with a bootblack ballot which is redeemable for one shine by the bootblack of the voter's choice. Bootblacks are free to shine the boots of any person, regardless of whether that person has a ballot, although it is made clear that the ballots are the means by which the winner will be determined. Tipping is not required, but is quite common.

The bootblack contestants work during the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of IML during the time that the Leather Market is open, a total of approximately 20 hours over three days. In previous years, the bootblacks were allowed to shine boots and collect tickets at all times during the weekend. Since 2001, the bootblack contestants have established a gentlemen's agreement at the start of the weekend that they will not shine boots or accept ballots except during the established competition hours. This agreement was conceived to give the contestants the freedom to take time to enjoy the weekend without feeling the pressure to always be bootblacking.

At its inception in 1993, the competition was properly titled the International Bootblack Competition, and both men and women were allowed to compete. In 1998, it was announced that the competition would be changed to the International Mr. Bootblack Competition and that a separate competition solely for women would be held at International Ms. Leather. This change was made largely because it was commonly held that women had a significant disadvantage competing for ballots from the mostly gay male IML attendees, who often base their bootblack selection at least partly on their sexual attraction to the bootblack. Since 1999, competitors for IMrBB are restricted to persons over the age of 21 who can provide a valid government-issued form of identification that identifies them as male.

The winner of the International Mr. Bootblack Competition is announced (along with the first and second runners-up and the winner of the Brotherhood Award, on which the IMrBB competitors vote and which is roughly analogous to the Miss Congeniality Award from various traditional beauty contests) at the Sunday contest, immediately following the announcement of the top 20 IML finalists.

In recent years, largely because of coordination of the contest by David Hawks, International Mr. Bootblack 2000, the Bootblack Competition has begun to develop adjunct activities. An IMrBB party is held in a hotel function room on Saturday night, offering food, music, and a silent auction, the proceeds of which go to the travel fund of the winner. Likewise, during the competition hours in the Leather Market, volunteers man a table to answer questions and sell IMrBB Travel Fund pins, which also adds to the travel fund. These sources of revenue have provided the various titleholders with significantly more money to aid their travel to distant events during their title years. The money is controlled by the contest coordinator, and any access to the funds must be accompanied by proof of the travel outlay.

Starting in 2013, the IMrBB contest has implemented a judging system to select the winner. Contestants are evaluated by a panel of judges on the basis of their technical bootblacking skills, how they present themselves on stage and in public and what they say in an interview with the judges. Ballot voting still makes up a percentage of the contestant's total score.

IMrBB contest winners

The following is a table of IMrBB contest winners:

Date	IMrBB winner	Winner's preliminary title or sponsor	Winner's city
1993-05-30	David Morgan	DC Eagle	Washington, D.C.
1994-05-29	William Shields, Jr.	Chicago Eagle & Chicago Hellfire Club	Chicago, Illinois
1995-05-28	Tim Cousins	DC Eagle	Washington, D.C.
1996-05-26	Todd Nelson	The Cuff	Seattle, Washington
1997-05-25	Driller	SF Eagle & Daddy's Bar	San Francisco, California
1998-05-24	Matthew Duncan	Centaur MC	Washington, D.C.
1999-05-30	Robert Ehrlich	DC Eagle	Washington, D.C.
2000-05-28	David Hawks	Centaur MC	Washington, D.C.
2001-05-27	paksen	Centaur MC	Washington, D.C.
2002-05-26	Michael Lanzini	The Lure	New York City, New York
2003-05-25	Richie Chameroy	Daddy's Bar & Powerhouse Bar	San Francisco, California
2004-05-30	Alan Tunstall	The Barracks Bar & Avatar Club	Los Angeles, California
2005-05-29	BooBoo	Great Lakes Leather Alliance & Laws Leather	Cleveland, Ohio
2006-05-28	Benjamin Palmer	PumpJack Pub & Priape Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2007-05-27	Spot	Great Lakes Leather Alliance	Lansing, Michigan
2008-05-25	Bootdog	Alameda County Leather Corps	Oakland, California
2009-05-24	McG	Bootblack Toronto 2009	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2010-05-30	Tim Starkey	Boston Ramrod	Boston, Massachusetts
2011-05-29	Jim Deuder	NYC Bootblack Roundtable, Leathermen NYC & the Eagle NYC	New York City, New York
2012-05-27	Nick Elliott	Oregon State Bootblack, 2011	Portland, Oregon
2013-05-27	Sammy Sklover	Oregon State Bootblack, 2012	Portland, Oregon
2014-05-25	Scout	Eros SF & the San Francisco Eagle	Oakland, California
2015-05-24	Bamm-Bamm	International Leatherboy 2012, SF Eagle	San Francisco, California
2016-05-29	Erick Joseph	Alaska State Bootblack	Anchorage, Alaska
2017-05-28	Ryan "Pawlish" Garner-Carpenter	Independent Candidate	Cincinnati, Ohio
2018-05-27	Lucky Rebel	Mr. Oregon State Leather 2016	Portland, Oregon
2019-05-26	Kriszly de Hond	Mr. Puppy EU 2015, XXXLeather's House Bootblack	Zaandam, Netherlands
2020	Contest cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

See also

• LGBT culture
• Mister Leather Europe
• National Leather Association International

Footnotes

1. ^ Bean, Joseph W. (2004). International Mr. Leather: 25 Years of Champions. International Mr. Leather, Inc. and The Leather Archives and Museum (1st ed.). Las Vegas: Nazca Plains. ISBN 1-887895-38-8.
2. ^ Davolt, Robert (2003). Painfully Obvious: An Irreverent & Unauthorized Manual for Leather/SM. cover design by Steve Diet Goedde. Los Angeles: Daedalus Publishing. p. 212. ISBN 1-881943-19-4.
3. ^ International Mr. Leather, Inc. "Contestant Application" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2005-12-21.
4. ^ "Leather Archives & Museum Announcement". Twitter. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
5. ^ "IML Makes History". Will Clark World. 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
6. ^ International Mr. Leather, Inc. "Official IML Scoring Procedure". Archived from the original on 2005-12-22. Retrieved 2005-12-21.
7. ^ International Mr. Leather, Inc. "IML 2004". Archived from the original on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2005-12-18.
8. ^ International Mr. Leather, Inc. (2005-05-30). Michael Egdes Named International Mr. Leather 2005 Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago. (Microsoft Word). Press release. Archived from the original on 2005-12-23. Retrieved 2005-12-19.
9. ^ "International Mr. Leather – Bootblack Contest". Archived from the original on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2006-04-14.
10. ^ "International Mr. Leather – Past Bootblack Winners". Archived from the original on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2006-04-14.
11. ^ International Mr. Leather, Inc. (2007-05-27). Mikel Gerle Named International Mr. Leather 2007. (Microsoft Word). Press release. Archived from the original on 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
12. ^ "International Mr. Bootblack 2013 Press Release" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
13. ^ Source for 1979 to 2003: Bean, Joseph W. (2004). International Mr. Leather: 25 Years of Champions. International Mr. Leather, Inc. and The Leather Archives and Museum (1st ed.). Las Vegas: Nazca Plains. ISBN 1-887895-38-8.
14. ^ Source for 2004 to 2008: "International Mr. Leather - History". Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-03-15.

References

1. "Displaying items by tag: International Leather". The Leather Journal. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
2. "Finding Aid to the National Leather Association Collection of Records". Leather Archives and Museum. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
3. "Leather History Timeline". Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2008-02-14. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. "Bootblacking or how to love your leather boots". lustmoments. December 24, 2018.
5. 🖉"Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal". www.theleatherjournal.com.
6. 🖉"Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal". www.theleatherjournal.com.
7. "Leather Archives & Museum Announcement". Twitter. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
8. "KANE, "DRUMMER," AND DEBLASE — Rick Storer, Leather Archives & Museum — San Francisco Leathermen's Discussion Group". Sfldg.org. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2015-06-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Tyler McCormick, International Mr. Leather 2010 - Leatherati Online". Leatherati.com. 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
11. "CLAW". Clawinfo.org. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
12. "> Home". Leatherhalloffame.com. Retrieved 2019-12-18.

External links

• Official website
• IML Winners
  • International Mr. Leather 1996: Joe Gallagher
  • International Mr. Leather 2003: John Pendal
  • International Mr. Leather 2004: Jason Hendrix
  • International Mr. Leather 2005: Michael Egdes
  • International Mr. Leather 2007: Mikel Gerle
  • International Mr. Leather 2008: Gary Iriza
  • International Mr. Leather 2009: Jeffrey Payne