a&e features
50 years of pioneers
Golden anniversary of Philadelphia ’65 event to honor early gay activists
Barbara Gittings at the 1966 Independence Day protest. (Photo by Kay Tobin Lahusen, courtesy LGBT50)
LGBT 50th Anniversary
Thursday, July 2
Wreath laying at gay pioneers marker, 2:15 p.m.
National legal panel, 6:30 p.m.
National politics panel (moderated by Blade editor Kevin Naff), 8:15 p.m.
50th anniversary party, 10 p.m.
Friday, July 3
National interfaith service, 4 p.m.
“Gay Pioneers” screening, 6 p.m.
Saturday, July 4
50th anniversary VIP lunch, 11:30 a.m.
50th anniversary ceremony, 2:30 p.m.
VIP cocktail reception, 4:30 p.m.
Several other tie-in events are planned. There is no registration fee and most events are free and are held on or near Independence Mall. For more information, visit lgbt50th.org.
Frank Kameny was always quick to point out to anyone misinformed that the legendary Stonewall Riots of 1969 were not the beginnings of the modern gay rights movement.
“When people say, as you so often hear, that the gay movement started with Stonewall, if I have a chance under the circumstances in which it’s said, I invariably correct them very insistently,” Kameny, who died in 2011 at age 86, told the Blade in a 2009 interview on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of those riots. “And point out that the movement was just sort of 20 years old already and there was a groundwork.”
Kameny, friends and colleagues say, would be pleased that some of the lesser-known early gay rights demonstrations he co-coordinated, are getting properly commemorated. On July 2-5, the 50th anniversary of the East Coast Homophile Organization’s (ECHO), first Independence Day demonstration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965, an event that was continued through 1969, will be commemorated with a lavish, three-day spate of activities. The Mattachine Society of Washington, founded by Kameny and the late Jack Nichols, was one of the main ECHO groups.
The National LGBT 50th Anniversary Celebration is being coordinated by an organizing committee within Equality Forum. Malcolm Lazin, Equality Forum’s executive director and event committee chair, says it’s important these “Gay Pioneers,” (also the name of a 2004 documentary short he helped make that told of the 1965 proceedings) are remembered. A 40th anniversary event was held 10 years ago and many of the pioneers were able to attend, but Lazin says this year’s event is on a much bigger scale.
Among the festivities are panel discussions, a screening of “Gay Pioneers,” fireworks, parties, LGBT history exhibits, concerts, an interfaith service, a wreath laying at the Gay Pioneers historic marker, a street festival and a one-hour anniversary ceremony in front of Independence Hall emceed by lesbian comedian Wanda Sykes. Prominent guests will include James Obergefell, a plaintiff in the current Supreme Court marriage case, along with activists Edith Windsor, Judy Shepard and more. There is no registration fee and most programs are free. Lazin says there’s no way to predict how many might attend but says because of the holiday weekend and Philadelphia’s proximity to Washington and New York, not to mention the historic nature of the proceedings, “we expect a very, very large crowd.”
Lazin says even though the Mattachine Society had held previous protests — perhaps most notably a White House picket in April 1965 — the Philadelphia demonstration deserves special commemoration. He says there were only about 200 people out to any public degree at the time. Kameny remembered it being even fewer.
“The ones before had always been based around a specific issue such as the one at the White House to protest Fidel Castro who rounded up Cuban homosexuals,” Lazin says. “There was another one around military discharges and another around the Civil Service Commission’s prohibition against the federal government employing gays and lesbians. This one was remarkably different. It was not just one city involved, but three. Also, it was the first time it was not based around a specific issue and … it was the first time it wasn’t a one-off. These continued every July 4th from 1965 to 1969 and it was organized by the truly seminal leaders of the movement.”
Lazin calls Kameny and his longtime co-conspirator, the late Barbara Gittings, who was involved with Kameny right from the beginning (though she lived in Philadelphia) and who died of breast cancer at age 74 in 2007, the “father and mother of the LGBT civil rights movement.” Others involved included Rev. Robert Wood, now a nonagenarian whom the Blade interviewed last year (Wood authored the seminal 1960 book “Christ and the Homosexual”) and Lilli Vincenz, who lives in the D.C. area and was involved with Kameny very early on.
“When Frank and Barbara and the other gay pioneers stepped forward,” Lazin says, “the federal government would not employ an openly gay person, the American Psychiatric Association classified us as mentally ill and virtually every state made it a crime for consenting adults to engage in same-sex intimacy in their own homes. Most states also made it either a crime or grounds for a loss of license for more than one homosexual to be in a bar, so homophobia was totally accepted and totally pervasive and totally toxic. It took huge courage for Frank and Barbara to step forward, knowing it would make them unemployable and personas non grata, so we all stand on their shoulders.”
Kate Kendell, director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who says it will be a great honor to pay tribute to Gittings at the anniversary ceremony at Independence Hall on the anniversary, agrees.
“It’s so often the case that we sometimes neglect to fully appreciate the shoulders we stand on,” Kendell says. “Barbara Gittings demonstrated a kind of remarkable courage that for the time was unprecedented. To march in front of the White House with a sign demanding that homosexuals not be discriminated against by the government and then to pass out literature to passersby or to those who stopped to talk, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, demanded a sort of bravery that frankly, I would not have possessed. And we know that our visibility is the most important first step to our liberation. She, and of course Frank Kameny, created that visibility out of almost nothing. There was no existing infrastructure there, there were no role models, there were no headlines and every story or reference in pop culture or in the media was shaming, negative and depicted us as a threat and sick. Barbara Gittings with a handful of other people who stood up at that time are owed an un-repayable debt.”
Kay Tobin Lahusen, Gittings’ partner of 46 years, says Gittings would be pleased at the recognition.
“She would have felt like a little bit of heaven had come down to Earth,” Lahusen, 85, says during a phone interview with the Blade. “She would have loved to have seen her fellow picketers recognized for their role in helping launch the movement. She was for anything that advanced the cause.”
Lahusen, who met Gittings at a Daughters of Bilitis picnic in 1961, is in good spirits. Though she won’t attend the festivities next month (“I’ll get lots of reports, don’t worry,” she says), she takes delight in last weekend’s landslide vote in Ireland to legalize same-sex marriage, calling it a “landmark victory of the gay cause.” She quotes an observer who said it “puts us ‘on the vanguard of social change movements’ and I would agree.” She’s also thrilled that a biography of Gittings by Tracy Baim of Windy City Times will be released by the time of the Philadelphia commemoration.
“It’s chock-full of photographs of Barbara and her activities, most of which I took,” Lahusen says. “When I survey all that has happened in the last 50 years, there has been a tectonic shift in attitudes. It’s quite amazing and thrilling.”
Paul Kuntzler, who met Kameny one night at the Chicken Hut, a long-closed D.C. gay bar, in February 1962, is one of the few survivors of the 1965 Independence Hall demonstration who will be attending the 50th anniversary. He knew Gittings well and says she and Kameny were kindred spirits and close friends.
“She was basically the Frank Kameny of Philadelphia,” Kuntzler says. “Very brainy, a very fine mind. Very quick witted. Very smart. She was truly an intellectual and like Frank in many ways.”
He says she’d be honored by the commemoration.
“She was the principal person in Philly and among women in the U.S., she was the most important, the most influential.”
Kuntzler, who has amazing recall of dates and events, remembers some details of the first July 4th event but says some of the other early demonstrations in which he participated with the Mattachine Society, stand out more in his memory.
Kuntzler had spent the weekend in Rehoboth Beach, Del., with his partner, Stephen Brent Miller (who died in 2004).
“I left that morning from Rehoboth Beach in a suit and tie and drove to Philly for the event,” Kuntzler, 73, says. “I believe it was about an hour long. And then I drove back. … I don’t remember any reaction, not particularly. I think we just did it. The one at the White House stands out much more vividly because there were so many photographers there. I guess they were expecting us. I think there were some barricades we marched around. According to people today, there were 40 there but I would be surprised if it was that many. I didn’t remember there being quite that many. But we were all in suits and ties.”
Kuntzler says the mood was festive but he was eager to return to his partner at the beach.
“We had dinner that night at the Avenue Restaurant, which was a very popular place, very good food. There were several of us at the table for dinner and I met Richard Davison, who just died a couple years ago, but he was working for the federal government at the time and I remember he was very nervous as I was talking about what had gone on earlier in the day because in those days, if you were gay and they found out, you could get fired.”
Kuntzler says to his knowledge, only a handful who attended are still alive including Randy Wicker of New York, Vincenz and a few others whose names he does not recall.
Kameny long contended that the Stonewall Riots would never have happened had he and the other pioneers not laid the groundwork. It’s a theory Lazin and Kendell readily agree with.
“To say Stonewall started everything is like saying the Boston Tea Party started the American Revolution,” Lazin says. “And forgetting that Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and other seminal founding fathers had laid the groundwork. … What’s remarkable about Frank and Barbara is that not only did they lead the way prior, they continued leading the way after Stonewall as well.”
Kameny told the Blade in 2009 about the convergence of events around the time of Stonewall, which had happened less than a week before the final Independence Day protest in 1969. Kameny, who had been in Washington when Stonewall happened but heard about it immediately through fellow ECHO contacts, said he was elated. Kameny happily joined in the first Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day March on June 28, 1970 — the first Pride march — and said he was thrilled to realize the movement was at a major turning point.
“I remember … seeing this vast horde of people and I was absolutely speechless,” said Kameny, who was used to counting protest participants in the dozens rather than the thousands. “Flowing in like a river into the Sheep Meadow in Central Park, if nothing else, there it was in front of one’s eyes. It would have been impossible in terms of anything movement-wise prior to that. We had clearly overstepped a line. We had transitioned.”
As exciting as that was, Kendell says it would be a travesty if the earlier efforts of Kameny and Gittings and their comrades were forgotten.
“First you start to see the small tremors and people start to question the dominant patriarchy and they start to question the way power is structured and they start to question their own oppression,” Kendell says. “But then there’s a moment when the match just gets lit. … When Stonewall happened, the fury of it was ignited by that simmering sense of injustice, which was, I think, in large part ignited by the events in Philadelphia.”
Kendell also says, even with the enormous strides that have been made, LGBT people today can still be inspired by the examples of Kameny and Gittings.
“For me, the moral of the story is that you can resist wherever you are and whoever you are,” she says. “It’s not something that happens somewhere else. We’re agents in our own liberation.”
Gay protesters at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965. (Photo courtesy LGBT50)
a&e features
Boomer Banks brings beats to MAL Weekend
From porn to the DJ booth, ’I’m the happiest I’ve ever been’
If you enjoy gay adult films, there is a high likelihood you have seen or at least heard of Boomer Banks. His tattoos, muscles, masculine presence, and thick mustache have made him one of the most recognizable — and awarded — Latinx gay adult performers in the industry. This weekend, Banks heads to the nation’s capital to partake in Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend.
As D.C. polishes its leather gay apparel for the annual MAL weekend, Banks, alongside a slew of other gay adult performers and leather lovers, is getting ready to make adult content, meet fans, buy some new leather goods, and perform in the name of sexual expression.
This year will be different for Banks compared to his past MAL weekends, though. He will still be go-go dancing as he has in years past, but this year he has a new hat on — headlining DJ. The Blade sat down with the 44-year-old performer to discuss his sex work career, the changing industry, and his passion for DJing.
On Friday night, Banks is one of three headlining DJs for the main dance event of the night, UNCUT XL. He explained that his love for music has always been there, but since the death of his best friend, with whom he connected on a shared love of music, his sets mean more than ever to him now.
“I loved music for my whole life,” Banks told the Blade when asked about how he got started in music. “My proximity to legendary New York DJs has always been there. I lost my best friend and brother over two years ago, and it just caused a lot of changes [for me]. We both loved music so much … I was talking to one of my DJ friends [about this connection to music], and they were talking to me, and all of a sudden I’m at their studio, playing around with the controller and all that, and it just happened. Here we are, two years later, and now I’m headlining at MAL with some legendary DJs that I have been a fan of since I was young.”
Banks went on to explain that this connection and newfound passion for DJing is what has made his career shift from studio porn to a solo career easier. He also said the continued support from his house music fans has made him want to work even harder on creating memorable sets.
And create memorable sets he has. Banks has headlined events all across the country over the past two years — from Provincetown to Rehoboth Beach and even headlining Folsom, which is the biggest leather event of the year. He explained that he has one overwhelming emotion —gratitude.
“I’m really grateful that Zach [Renovatés] and everybody at Kinetic and Bunker have really taken a liking to my storytelling through music, because that’s what it is for me,” Banks said. “I like taking people on a journey. It’s usually my journey. But I read the crowd, I read energy, and I’m always smiling, and that’s the only place that I do smile. I feel like people often categorize me as intimidating, and a lot of times that’s what I got in the porn industry. But with DJing, the people are always like, ‘You’re so happy up there. You’re smiling all the time.’ And, yeah, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and it’s exciting. I love doing it, and I’m grateful and very humbled that people are seeing that this isn’t just a gimmick.”
He went on to explain that this happiness wasn’t always at the base of his work —especially when he was involved with the studio porn system with CockyBoys and Raging Stallion. Various factors, including race, he shared with the Blade, were why it was less than enjoyable at times. But it provided a platform in which he was able to grow and gave him an opportunity to help newcomers in the industry.
“When I got into porn, other brown men were not nice to me; other people of color [were not nice to me]. I thought that it would have been different. So when I was established, I made sure not to do that. I have a few little Banks boys that I nurtured into the industry, and, not to claim them, but it’s just so that they had someone to talk to because I didn’t have that.”
Despite some structural problems within the industry, Banks felt he was able to get what he needed from the career, including a paycheck and a platform.
“Porn did work out for me,” he said. “I was very fucking successful, and I was not white. I did the work, but I just couldn’t keep doing it any more. It wasn’t good for my mental health, and so I knew how to bow out. Who knows? It [studio porn days] might happen again. I don’t know, but I know for today, I love music. It’s my heart. I’m grateful for the platform that sex work gave me because it’s given me a heads up with the music.”
That music has kept him going. More specifically, New York house-style music has kept him going. Banks’s ability to take in the music he loves has made him a stronger DJ, he said.
“’I’m a New York house DJ,” he said. “That’s the style that I bring. The craziest it gets is like tech house and maybe some early 2000s mid-2000s circuit music. It’s what I grew up with and what I love and what I like to put out there. I’m really grateful that I was not only showing up to these gigs, but I was absorbing the art that is music in a way that it seeped into my pores and my soul, that now I can share how I feel about music, and that’s exciting.”
He touched on how although many people can be fans of DJ music, it takes more to become a successful DJ.
“The thing about music is you can’t fake music tastes. You can learn all the knobs and the technical parts of DJing, but if you’re not playing good music, and if the room isn’t vibing, it doesn’t matter.”
When asked about the current political climate—seeing as the host hotel for MAL weekend is a mere half mile from the Capitol building—Banks reflected on the importance of weekends like this for the LGBTQ community, which is increasingly facing the backlash of conservative politicians.
“We are in uncertain times,” he said. “These are the weekends where we’re able to be who we are. And it’s unfortunate that we have to still have these events to express ourselves. Because a lot of these guys, they wait their whole year for this weekend to be able to express themselves. With what’s going on with the world, they’re basically being told that these are the only places they can. I know that in New York we live in a bubble. I know in D.C., we live in a bubble. But I want to show people that are coming from the middle of nowhere that they can have a good time, and even if it is for this weekend, they can rely on us. I want our community to know that I am here for them.”
You can find Boomer Banks headlining Friday’s main dance event UNCUT XL from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. at REPUBLIQ Hall (2122 24th Pl NE) and go-go dancing during Saturday’s PERVERT XXL party at A.I. Warehouse (530 Penn St., N.E.) from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. as well as on X @Boomer_Banks and on Instagram @baconlvr.
For more information about MAL events visit leatherweekend.com or kineticpresents.com.
Half a mile from the Capitol building on New Jersey Avenue, the Hyatt Regency Washington is getting ready for one of the city’s biggest, gayest, and kinkiest weekends of the year — the annual Mid-Atlantic Leather (MAL) Weekend.
The weekend, which has a long and fabled history that spans two different hosting Motorcycle Clubs (MC), multiple host cities, thousands of LGBTQ people dressed head to toe in leather, and as the Centaur MC website explains, all began with an hour of cocktails and a cock ring.
In 1976, members of the Links MC gathered in a room at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel to mingle and discuss shared interests (including leather and various sexual proclivities), when one of the party’s guests accidentally dropped his cock ring on the bathroom floor. The loud clang of a cock ring against the tile floor made everyone in attendance laugh. At the next party the Links MC hosted, another member intentionally dropped his cock ring on the floor too, calling back to the prior party’s fun and a tradition was established.
The event grew in popularity among LGBTQ leather lovers, moving to various East Coast cities before finding a permanent home with the Centaur MC in Washington in 1984. Since then, the city has hosted the Leather Cocktail party each year and has expanded to include an exhibitor hall, where leather makers and other kink product creators showcase their wares, the prestigious Mr. MAL Contest, and multiple high energy (and clothing optional) dance parties.
MCs comprised exclusively of queer members have been documented since at least the mid-1950s, with the Satyrs Motorcycle Club of Los Angeles being one of the earliest known examples. During the McCarthy era, when LGBTQ individuals were subjected to brutal discrimination due to unfounded fears that being queer was synonymous with being un-American or even suggested Communist leanings, the groups provided an essential refuge. While such fears were baseless, the formation of these clubs offered a vital safe space for queer people to express themselves in an environment where their identities were not just stigmatized but often criminalized. These MCs became much more than places for sexual expression — they were havens of protection and solidarity, offering a sense of community that would have been nearly impossible to find in the hostile, post-WWII social climate.
This year’s MAL is set to be the biggest year yet with four days of kinky queer fun. It all begins on Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) with the Full Package/Three Day Pass Pick-Up from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Here guests who have purchased a Full Weekend Package can collect their wristbands.
On Thursday from 9 p.m.-3 a.m., the MAL kick-off Kinetic BOOTCAMP dance party will whip you into shape as international DJs Alex Lo and Dan Slater start off the weekend right. The venue has not been named yet, but Kinetic Events, which oversees this year’s official MAL dance parties have said the space will soon be announced and will “be complete with play zone designed for maximum seduction.”
After beginning MAL weekend on the dance floor, Friday is full of events to keep the kinky vibes going. From 3-10 p.m., guests who have not picked up their Full Package Pass on Thursday can continue to collect them in Capital Room A on the lobby level (located behind the north tower elevators) of the Hyatt Regency Washington. If you haven’t purchased a pass, no worries, both day and weekend passes for MAL hotel events are available for purchase online or at the hotel’s entrance from 3-10 p.m.
The passes vary in price depending on what day(s) you attend. The 3-day pass is $45 plus processing fees and provides access to the Hotel and Exhibitor Hall for the entire weekend, as well as the Mr. MAL Contest on Sunday. The Single Day Pass is $20 plus processing fees and allows access to the Hotel and Exhibitor Hall on either Friday or Saturday. The Sunday Day Pass is $30 plus processing fees and includes access to the Hotel and Exhibitor Hall on Sunday, along with entry to the Mr. MAL Contest. To purchase your pass online visit at sickening.events/e/mal-weekend-2025/tickets or at the hotel’s entrance.
To get in an elevator up to a hotel room a staff member will check for a hotel room wristband. Non-registered guests can only access host hotel rooms if they are escorted by a registered guest with a valid wristband. Registered guests are permitted to escort only one non-registered guest at a time. Non-registered guests with a wristband who are already in the hotel before 10 p.m. may remain until midnight. However, non-registered guests without a wristband will not be admitted after registration closes.
The Exhibit Hall is located on the ballroom level below the lobby. This year is slated to have 29 exhibitors selling leather and kink goods that range from harnesses to jockstraps and everything in between. The Exhibit Hall will be open on Friday from 4-10 p.m., on Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Back by popular demand, DC Health is partnering with Nasty Pig to provide preventative health services including MPox vaccines, Doxy PEP, HIV Testing, Narcan kits, and Fentanyl test strips. Their booth with these services will be available on Friday from 3-10 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at Capital Room B (located behind the north tower elevators next to Room A).
Also on Friday, the Centaur MC is holding its Welcome Reception from 6-8 p.m. on the ballroom floor. After the Centaur’s Welcome Reception, there will be an International Mister Rubber (IMR) Social from 8-11 p.m. in Congressional Room A.
Friday night’s dance party KINETIC UNCUT XL will be at REPUBLIQ Hall (2122 24th Place, N.E.) and has been billed as “largest and most debaucherous MAL event yet” with a “labyrinth of play zones” and two dance floors. DJ and adult film creator James Anthony kicks off the night and then allows for you to choose where to dance — either in room 1 with DJ Alex Ramos playing tribal beats or room 2 with DJ and adult creator Boomer Banks playing a tech house set. The dance party goes from 10-4 a.m. so make sure those boots are shined and ready to move.
On Saturday MAL will host its annual Puppy Mosh in Regency Ballroom C from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. During the Mosh, pups and their handlers can enjoy a playful puppy playdate while immersing themselves in pup culture. There are strict rules surrounding the Puppy Mosh. The Mosh Monitor has final say and has the right to eject anyone from the Puppy Park for violating the rules. For the full set of Puppy Mosh rules visit leatherweekend.com/puppy-park-rules/.
Immediately following the Puppy Mosh the Super Hero Meet-Up will be held in Capital Room A from 1:30- 3 p.m., where cosplayers and comic book enthusiasts can gather for an erotic meetup celebrating a rendezvous of capes, curves, and vibrant spandex.
From 2-6 p.m. on Saturday, the Onyx Fashion Show will take place in Congressional Rooms A & B for people of color to highlight Black brilliance in leather.
The Leather Cocktail Party that started it all will be held 7-10 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom. Only those with the Full Package Pass can attend and are encouraged to show off their leather and kink fantasy.
The Leather Cocktail Party isn’t the only cocktail party happening on Saturday; from 9-11 p.m., the MAL Cocktail Party will be in Congressional Room B for other MAL attendees to mingle and get a drink.
The last event of Saturday is the KINETIC and Matinée Group’s PERVERT XXL dance party. Beginning at 10 p.m., this will mark the first time that a dance party on MAL Weekend’s Saturday night is an official MAL event. The dance is at A.I. Warehouse in Northeast (address TBA) and has a slew of talent for the celebration. Gigi Goode from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will “whip the crowd into submission” as DJs from around the world, including Erik Vilar (Brazil), Eliad Cohen (Israel), and Paulo (Los Angeles) play non-stop beats all night long (or at least until 4 a.m. when the party ends). In addition to drag royalty and internationally acclaimed DJs, the dance is held in a multi-level warehouse in Northeast D.C. complete with immersive lights, lasers, and play zones.
On Sunday at 1 p.m., the Mr. MAL Contest will be held in the Regency Ballroom. This highly sought after title gives one man the power to become the Mid-Atlantic Leather man of the year. The sash and title come with some requirements though: 1. You must be male, 2. You must be a resident of North America, 3. Must be at least 21 years of age, and 4. You must self-identify as gay. Additionally, if you enter, you must be prepared to represent the title as a contestant in the International Mr. Leather (IML) Contest in Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend 2025. Currently the list of applicants has hit its limit but if you are interested and can meet the criteria you can email [email protected] to be put on a standby list.
From 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Sunday, MAL will hold its Game Night in Capital Rooms A & B.
Last, but certainly not least, the final event and dance party of the weekend is the KINETIC LUST party, the perfectly sensual and sexy way to end MAL 2025. The party goes from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. as Grammy-nominated Abel and DJ Sam Blacky will end your weekend right with “dark, sexy beats and pulse-pounding rhythms” as erotic porn star performances and exclusive play zones are explored.
Each day of MAL a Recovery Meeting will be held in the Yosemite Room (located on the conference level/ second floor) from 10-11 p.m. with an additional session on Saturday from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. to provide a safe space for anyone who is struggling with addiction or for anyone who needs to take a sober step away from the weekend’s events.
All weekend there will also be a Bootblack station where MAL attendees can get any leather goods cleaned and polished. The money donated to the Bootblacks for their work helps raise money for a local charity (that changes each year) and to cover the Mr. MAL travel fund. Don’t forget to tip.
Even though the weekend is called the Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend, leather is not required. There are some rules regarding outfits though. All expressions of kink are encouraged. Attendees in years past have worn everything from leather to rubber, to furries and even regular street clothes. Just make sure that they abide by the hotel’s dress code rules — in publicly accessible spaces (lobby, hallways, ballrooms, exhibit halls), nudity is not allowed. Men may walk around the hotel shirtless, in a jock, or in chaps with a jock. Women are not permitted to be shirtless or have their nipples exposed. If you are dining, your buttocks must be covered, and at least a vest must be worn.
Please note that all events are 21+ and require an ID check, including every day of events at the Hyatt Regency host hotel. Please make sure you bring your photo ID. Also note that all MAL “Full Weekend Package” pass holders have access to the LUST Sunday Closing Party.
For any additional information on official MAL weekend events and policies, please visit leatherweekend.com or kineticpresents.com.
a&e features
Looking back at the 10 biggest A&E stories of 2024
Menendez brothers, Chappell Roan, ‘Wicked,’ and more
Reflecting on a year in queer entertainment is never one dimensional. You get stories of joy, hate, and everything in between.
And 2024 was no different. For every Chappell Roan, you get a J.K. Rowling. But looking back on this year is vital in recognizing what progress was made in LGBTQ spaces, and which areas need more attention to make a better 2025.
Though there are no 10 stories that are truly “the most important,” here are some events that represented the good, the bad, and the gloriously gay this year.
#10: Joaquin Phoenix abruptly exits gay film: “Joker” star Joaquin Phoenix reportedly exited a gay romance film days before production was set to begin, stirring up a controversial storm in Hollywood.
Sets were built and distribution deals were already made, which left many owed compensation.
Described as a detective love story featuring two men in the 1930s, the film was allegedly made to receive an NC-17 rating and to feature authentic and graphic sex scenes.
#9: Adele snaps back at homophobic fan:What better way to kick off Pride month this year than Adele publicly humiliating a fan who shouted a homophobic comment?
The singer was performing her Las Vegas residency show when an audience member shouted, “Pride sucks.” Her response was appropriately filled with profanities.
“Did you come to my fucking show to say Pride sucks? Are you fucking stupid?” Adele said. “Don’t be so fucking ridiculous. If you have nothing nice to say, shut up, alright?”
A video of the interaction went viral online, and fans rallied on social media to show their support of the singer.
#8: Oprah receives GLAAD recognition: Oprah Winfrey received the GLAAD Lifetime Achievement Award in March. It was a culmination of her strong history of support for the LGBTQ community.
Winfrey used her platform on her self-titled show to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ bias and hold open discussions to challenge stereotypes and promote acceptance.
“Winfrey’s unique blend of empathy, wisdom, and storytelling resonated with audiences, making her one of the most beloved and influential figures in media history,” Los Angeles Blade publisher Troy Masters wrote.
winner after 25 seasons.
Asher HaVon, who performed on team Reba McEntire, became a staple on the show for his hypnotic and rich tone. From Selma, Ala., HaVon also represents the fight for equality.
When former President Barack Obama visited Selma in 2015, HaVon sang for him and 200,000 other people at the historic Selma Bridge crossing.
“For the rest of us, in the LGBTQ community, in the dance clubs, and in the hearts of ones needing a new diva to love, Asher has arrived,” Los Angeles Blade reporter Rob Watson wrote in May.
#6: Out and proud: Many notable celebrities came out this year, including country singer Maren Morris, track star Trey Cunningham, actor Julia Fox and former “Saturday Night Live” star Sasheer Zamata. From sports stars to country idols, these icons are paving the way for LGBTQ visibility in underrepresented entertainment spaces.
#5: Defying box office charts: Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” is ‘Popular’ with audiences, to say the least.
Roughly one week into its box office run, it became the biggest-grossing movie based on a Broadway musical in North America. It beat previous smashes like “Grease” and “Mamma Mia!” Beyond providing audiences with a faithful yet unique adaptation of the popular book and play, it also gave us numerous viral interviews between its two leading ladies, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, as well as a plethora of fan cams gushing over out actor Jonathan Bailey.
Your move, “Wicked: Part Two.”
#4: Emmys and Grammys and Tonys, oh my!: It was a historic year for queer representation at the biggest nights in entertainment. Jodie Foster collected her first Emmy for her role in “True Detective: Night Country,” while Jonathan Groff accepted his first Tony for his role in “Merrily We Roll Along.”
The Grammys were huge for women and queer artists, recognizing performers like Billie Eilish, SZA, Miley Cyrus, and Victoria Monet. It was a much different story than in 2018, when Grammy organizers responded to a lack of female recognition by telling women to “step up.”
#3: Misinformation fuels hate at Olympics: Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was the center of right-wing rage during this summer’s Paris games after many prominent celebrities and personalities said she is transgender. Khelif has differences of sex development (DSD), which is a group of rare conditions that causes one’s sex development to differ from most others. Women with DSD can have both an X and Y chromosome, which is typically only found in men, but it doesn’t make one transgender or intersex.
The facts didn’t matter to public figures like J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk, who were mentioned in a cyber harassment lawsuit after spreading misinformation online about Khelif’s identity. Rowling labeled Khelif a “male” on X, while others called for Khelif to be banned from competing. This outcry over false claims about her identity overshadowed her gold medal win.
#2: The rise, not fall, of a Midwest princess: It was a stellar year for women and queer performers, headlined by Chappell Roan’s rapid ascension to fame. The singer drew global recognition with notable hits like “HOT TO GO!” and “Good Luck, Babe!”.
More importantly, as a member of the community herself, fame never got in the way of her pro-LGBTQ messaging. She dedicated her Best New Artist VMA win to the “queer youth in the Midwest.” Roan, who’s from Missouri, also used her platform to support the art of drag. She enlisted local drag queens to open her shows this year, and gained instant approval when paraphrasing Sasha Colby’s famous saying: “I’m your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen.”
#1 Ryan Murphy strikes controversial gold again: The ethical implications of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” were hotly debated when it debuted on Netflix in September.
Some loved the show’s aesthetic and its gripping portrayal of the two brothers who killed their parents in 1989. Others criticized it for its flimsy factual representation and glorification of murder through its two overly attractive leads. Whatever your opinion, there’s no denying the show’s impact, which sparked a national debate over releasing the brothers from prison early. With LA electing a new district attorney in November, the push for an early release remains in the headlines and a strong possibility.
Regardless of your opinion of the show, there’s no denying the cultural impact it sparked. Out creator Ryan Murphy isn’t new to producing shows that divide people while generating ratings. The first installment of the “Monster” anthology, centered on Jeffrey Dahmer, was a huge hit despite facing intense scrutiny for similar creative decisions.
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Thank you, Mr. President
LGBTQ rights abroad not discussed during Marco Rubio confirmation hearing
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Two queer artists ready to debut new operas at Kennedy Center
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District of Columbia4 days agoTeen gets probation in attack on gay man at 14th & U McDonald’s
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District of Columbia1 day agoD.C. police demoted gay captain for taking parental leave: Lawsuit
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Congress2 days agoMarjorie Taylor Greene calls Sarah McBride a ‘groomer’ and ‘child predator’ for reading to kids
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Uganda23 hours agoUgandan minister: Western human rights sanctions forced country to join BRICS