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Lavender Mass and the art of serious parody in protest

Part 3 of our series on the history of LGBTQ religion in D.C.

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The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have been parodying religion for decades. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

(Editor’s note: Although there has been considerable scholarship focused on LGBTQ community and advocacy in D.C., there is a deficit of scholarship focused on LGBTQ religion in the area. Religion plays an important role in LGBTQ advocacy movements, through queer-affirming ministers and communities, along with queer-phobic churches in the city. This is the final installment of a three-part series exploring the history of religion and LGBTQ advocacy in Washington, D.C. Visit our website for the previous installments.) 

Six sisters gathered not so quietly in Marion Park, Washington, D.C. on Saturday, October 8, 2022. As the first sounds of the Women’s March rang out two blocks away at 11 am, the Sisters passed out candles to say Mass on the grass. It was their fifth annual Lavender Mass, but this year’s event in particular told an interesting story of religious reclamation, reimagining a meaningful ritual from an institution that seeks to devalue and oppress queer people.

The D.C. Sisters are a chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an organization of “drag nuns” ministering to LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities. What first began as satire on Easter Sunday 1979 when queer men borrowed and wore habits from a production of The Sound of Music became a national organization; the D.C. chapter came about relatively late, receiving approval from the United Nuns Privy Council in April 2016. The D.C. Sisters raise money and contribute to organizations focused on underserved communities in their area, such as Moveable Feast and Trans Lifeline, much like Anglican and Catholic women religious orders.

As Sister Ray Dee O’Active explained, “we tend to say we raise funds, fun, and hell. I love all three. Thousands of dollars for local LGBTQ groups. Pure joy at Pride parades when we greet the next generation of activists. And blatant response to homophobia and transphobia by protest after protest.” The Lavender Mass held on October 8th embodied their response to transphobia both inside and outside pro-choice groups, specifically how the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 intimately affects members of the LGBTQ+ community.

 As a little history about the Mass, Sister Mary Full O’Rage, shown wearing a short red dress and crimson coronet and veil in the photo above developed the Lavender Mass as a “counterpart” or “counter narrative” to the Red Mass, a Catholic Mass held the first Sunday of October in honor Catholics in positions of civil authority, like the Supreme Court Justices. The plan was to celebrate this year’s Lavender Mas on October 1st at the Nuns of the Battlefield Memorial, located right across the street from the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where many Supreme Court Justices attend the Red Mass every year.

 As Sister Mary explained, this year “it was intended to be a direct protest of the actions of the Supreme Court, in significant measure their overturning of reproductive rights.”

 Unfortunately, the October 1st event was canceled due to heavy rain and postponed to October 8th at the recommendation of Sister Ruth Lisque-Hunt and Sister Joy! Totheworld. The focus of the Women’s March this year aligned with the focus of the Lavender Mass—reproductive rights—and this cause, Sister Mary explained, “drove us to plan our Lavender Mass as a true counter-ritual and protest of the Supreme Court of who we expected to attend the Red Mass,” and who were protested in large at the Women’s March. 

The “Lavender Mass was something that we could adopt for ourselves,” Sister Mary spoke about past events. The first two Masses took place at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, right around the corner from the Supreme Court. The second Mass, as Sister Mary explained, celebrated Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; “we canonized her.” Canonization of saints in the Catholic Church also takes place during a Mass, a Papal Mass in particular.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sisters moved the Mass outside for safety, and the third and fourth Masses were celebrated at the Nuns of the Battlefield Memorial. “It celebrates nuns, and we are nuns, psycho-clown nuns,” Sister Mary chuckled, “but we are nuns.” After the Mass, the Sisters would gather at a LGBTQ+ safe space or protest at the Catholic Church or Supreme Court. Although they often serve as “sister security” at local events, working to keep queer community members safe according to Sister Amore Fagellare, the Lavender Mass is not widely publicly advertised, out of concern for their own.

 On October 8th, nine people gathered on the grass in a circle—six sisters, myself, and two people who were close with professed members—as Sister Mary called us to assemble before leading us all in chanting the chorus to Sister Sledge’s 1979 classic song “We Are Family.” 

Next, novice Sister Sybil Liberties set a sacred space, whereby Sister Ruth and Sister Tearyn Upinjustice walked in a circle behind us, unspooling pink and blue ribbons to tie us together as a group. As Sister Sybil explained, “we surround this sacred space in protection and sanctify it with color,” pink for the choice to become a parent and blue for the freedom to choose not to be a parent but also as Sybil elaboration, in recognition of “the broad gender spectrum of people with the ability to become pregnant.” This intentional act was sought to fight transphobia within the fight for reproductive rights.

After singing Lesley Gore’s 1963 song “You Don’t Own Me,” six speakers began the ritual for reproductive rights. Holding out our wax plastic candles, Sister Sybil explained that each speaker would describe a story or reality connected to reproductive rights, and “as I light a series of candles for the different paths we have taken, if you recognize yourself in one of these prayers, I invite you to put your hand over your heart, wherever you are, and know that you are not alone – there is someone else in this gathered community holding their hand over their heart too.”

The Sisters went around the circle lighting a candle for those whose stories include the choice to end a pregnancy; those whose include the unwanted loss of a pregnancy or struggles with fertility; those whose include the choice to give birth, raise or adopt a child; those whose include the choice not to conceive a child, to undergo forced choice, or with no choice at all; those who have encountered violence where there “should have been tenderness and care;” and those whose reproductive stories are still being written today.

After each reading, the group spoke together, “may the beginnings and endings in our stories be held in unconditional love and acceptance,” recalling the Prayer of the Faithful or General Intercessions at Catholic Masswhere congregations respond “Lord, hear our prayer” to each petition. Sister Sybil closed out the ritual as Sister Mary cut the blue and pink ribbons between each person, creating small segments they could take away with them and tie to their garments before walking to the Women’s March. The Sisters gathered their signs, drums, and horns before walking to Folger Park together into the crowd of protestors.

 At first glance, the Lavender Mass may appear like religious appropriation, just as the Sisters themselves sometimes look to outsiders. They model themselves after Angelican and Catholic women religious, in dress—they actively refer to their clothing as “habits,” their organization—members must also go through aspirant, postulant, and novice stages to be fully professed and they maintain a hierarchical authority, and in action. Like white and black habits, the Sisters all wear white faces to create a unified image and colorful coronets, varying veil color based on professed stage. Sister Allie Lewya explained at their September 2022 meeting, “something about the veils gives us a lot of authority that is undue,” but as the Sisters reinforced at the Women’s March, they are not cosplayers nor customers, rather committed clergy.  

As such, the Sisters see their existence within the liminal spaces between satire, appropriation, and reimagination, instead reclaiming the basis of religious rituals to counter the power holders of this tradition, namely, to counter the Catholic Church and how it celebrates those in positions of authority who restrict reproductive rights. Similarly, the Lavender Mass is modeled after a Catholic or Anglican Mass. It has an intention, namely reproductive rights, a call to assemble, setting of a sacred space, song, chant, and prayer requests. It even uses religious terminology; each section of the Mass is ended with a “may it be/Amen/Awen/Ashay/aho.”

 While this ritual—the Lavender Mass—appropriates a religious ritual of the Catholic Church and Anglican Church, this religious appropriation is necessitated by exclusion and queerphobia. As David Ford explains in Queer Psychology, many queer individuals retain a strong connection to their faith communities even though they have experienced trauma from these same communities. Jodi O’Brien builds on this, characterizing Christian religious institutions as spaces of personal meaning making and oppression. This essay further argues that the fact this ritual is adopted and reimagined by a community that the dominant ritual holder—the Catholic Church—oppressed and marginalized, means that it is not religious appropriation at all.

Religious appropriation, as highlighted in Liz Bucar’s recent book, Stealing My Religion (2022), is the acquisition or use of religious traditions, rituals, or objects without a full understanding of the community for which they hold meaning. The Sisters, however, fully understand the implications of calling themselves sisters and the connotations of performing a ritual they call a “Mass” as women religious, a group that do not have this authority in the Catholic Church. It is the reclamation of a tradition that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence understand because some were or are part of the Catholic Church.

 Some sisters still seek out spiritual meaning, but all also recognize that the Catholic Church itself is an institution that hinders their sisters’ access and actively spreads homophobia and transphobia to this day. As such, through the Lavender Mass, the sisters have reclaimed the Mass as a tool of rebellion in support of queer identity.

 Just as the Sisters recognize the meaning and power of the ritual of a Mass, along with the connotations of being a sister, the Lavender Mass fulfilled its purpose as a ritual of intention just as the Sisters fulfill public servants. “As a sister,” Sister Ruth dissected, “as someone who identifies as a drag nun, it perplexes people, but when you get the nitty gritty, we serve a similar purpose, to heal a community, to provide support to a community, to love a community that has not been loved historically in the ways that it should be loved.

 The Sisters’ intentionality in recognizing and upholding the role of a woman religious in their work has been well documented as a serious parody for the intention of queer activism by Melissa Wilcox. The Lavender Mass is a form of serious parody, as Wilcox posits in the book: Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody(2018). The Mass both challenges the queerphobia of the Catholic Church while also reinforcing the legitimacy of this ritual as a Mass. The Sisters argue that although they would traditionally be excluded from religious leadership in the Catholic Church, they can perform a Mass. In doing so, they challenge the role that women religious play in the Catholic Church as a whole and the power dynamics that exclude queer communities from living authentically within the Church.

By reclaiming a tradition from a religious institution that actively excludes and traumatizes the LGBTQ+ community, the Lavender Mass is a form of religious reclamation in which an oppressed community cultivates queer religious meaning, reclaims a tradition from which they are excluded, and uses it to fuel queer activism (the fight for reproductive rights). This essay argues that the Lavender Mass goes one step further than serious parody. While the Sisters employ serious parody in their religious and activist roles, the Lavender Mass is the active reclamation of a religious tradition for both spiritual and activist ends.

 Using the celebration of the Mass as it was intended, just within a different lens for a different purpose, this essay argues, is religious reclamation. As a collection of Austrian and Aotearoan scholars explored most recently in a chapter on acculturation and decolonization, reclamation is associated with the reassertion and ownership of tangibles: of rituals, traditions, objects, and land. The meaning of the Lavender Mass comes not only from the Sisters’ understanding of women religious as a social and religious role but rather from the reclamation of a physical ritual—a Mass—that has specific religious or spiritual meaning for the Sisters.

 When asked why it was important to call this ritual a “Mass,” Sister Mary explained: “I think we wanted to have something that denoted a ritual, that was for those who know, that the name signifies that it was a counter-protest. And you know, many of the sisters grew up with faith, not all of them Catholics but some, so I think ‘Mass’ was a name that resonated for many of us.”  

 As Sister Ray said, “my faith as a queer person tends to ostracize me but the Sisters bring the imagery and language of faith right into the middle of the LGBTQ world.” This Lavender Mass, although only attended and experienced by a few of the Women’s March protests, lived up to its goal as “a form of protest that is hopefully very loud,” as Sister Millie Taint advertised in the Sisters’ September 2022 chapter meeting. It brought religious imagery and language of faith to a march for reproductive rights, using a recognized model of ritual to empower protestors.

The Lavender Mass this year, as always, was an act of rebellion, but by situating itself before the Women’s March and focusing its intention for reproductive rights, the Sisters’ reclaimed a religious ritual from a system of authority which actively oppressed LGBTQ+ peoples and those with the ability to become pregnant, namely the Catholic Church, and for harnessing it for personal, political, and spiritual power. In essence, it modelled a system of religious reclamation, by which a marginalized community takes up a religious ritual to make its own meaning and oppose the religious institution that seeks to exclude the community from ritual participation.  

Emma Cieslik will be presenting on LGBTQ+ Religion in the Capital at the DC History Conference on Friday, April 6th. She is working with a DC History Fellow to establish a roundtable committed to recording and preserving this vital history. If you have any information about these histories, please reach out to Emma Cieslik at [email protected] or the Rainbow History Project at [email protected].

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Valentine’s gifts for the queers you love

Fragrances, X-rated sweet treats, candles, and more

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Put a little love in your heart. That’s what Jackie DeShannon encouraged with her 1969 hit song of the same name, and it’s never been more appropriate than in the context of our current state of affairs. Mute the vitriol this Valentine’s Day and concentrate on what really matters – those you love and who love you back. 

Gucci Guilty Love Edition

Sniffies? You’ll put the site on hold after a whiff of Gucci Guilty Love Edition on the nape of his neck – featuring captivating notes of juniper oil, orange flower absolute and aphrodisiatic Ambrofix – which one review claims to “make your brain sparkle like a fine Champagne.” Cheers to that. $25-$133, FragranceNet.com

Hunky Burning Love Pillow

Sweet dreams are on the docket when you rest your head on the Hunky Burning Love faux-suede square pillow printed with illustrations of shirtless himbos pining for your affection. An exercise in fantasy more than reality, but it beats sitting alone at a bar getting no attention at all. $30, ThePillowTopShop.com

Love Deck

What’s in the cards for your love life in 2025? Fuck around and find out with astrologist Lisa Stardust’s 70-card Love Deck, a tarot set of short spells, meditations and rituals designed to conjure enough love, passion, clarity and confidence to make Potion No. 9 jealous. $13, Amazon.com 

‘Making the Case for Equality’

We’ll continue to fight the good fight over the next four years and beyond – perhaps harder than ever – and Lambda Legal’s “Making the Case for Equality,” a detailed half-century history of our hard-won judicial victories, is a solid reminder of how far we’ve come in the war for LGBTQ+ rights. $45, Amazon.com

Lola Blankets

Schedule an at-home streaming marathon of this year’s Best Picture noms before the big night – there’s a lot to love in 2024’s Oscar picks – and the coziest way to settle in is all snuggled up in the squishiest Lola blankets, reminiscent of the adorable ripples of the cutest Shar Pei. Pick up a couple for the cuddle puddle. $109-$299, LolaBlankets.com

Asa Akira x Cake Life Cookies

Cue the collaboration you didn’t see coming: Adult film star Asa Akira teams up with award-winning trans-owned bakery Cake Life Bake Shop for its sweet-and-spicy Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies, featuring Akira’s XXX-tra special curated box decorated with NFSW phrases like “Cowgirl,” “Cream Pie,” and the ever-subtle “Anal” – that are sure to leave mouths agog at your Gaylentine’s get-together. $19-$21, CakeLifeBakeShop.square.site

Mind Games Candles

Since the late 1990s, the Backstreet Boys have implored us to quit playin’ games with our lovers’ hearts, which is probably why we play mind games instead – and now they come in luxury scents like Jasmine Milk, Tobacco Tonka Bean and Cherry Sandalwood, so you can enjoy mood lighting with your gaslighting. $135, MindGamesFragrance.com

Delysia Chocolates

Inspired by Greek Goddess-of-Love Aphrodite, Delysia Chocolatier’s 16-piece, limited-edition truffle collection includes four each of symbolic Passion (almond-honey-fig), Adoration (raspberry-rose petal-hibiscus), Unity (pomegranate-strawberry), and Love (spiced wine-berry) bite-size chocolates rich enough for savoring and abundant enough for sharing. $60, Delysia.com

DIY Whiskey Hot Sauce

Variety is the spice of life in Thoughtfully Gourmet’s Whiskey-Infused DIY Hot Sauce Kit that combines your favorite cereal spirit with high-quality global ingredients, like Mexican hot peppers, to create sophisticated flavor experiences of varying Scoville heat levels, handsomely housed in fancy decanters. Recipe book, spices and seasonings included; alcohol and antacids are not. $20, Amazon.com

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBTQ lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets around the world. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels.

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Boomer Banks brings beats to MAL Weekend

From porn to the DJ booth, ’I’m the happiest I’ve ever been’

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Boomer Banks (Photo by Greg Endries)

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.

Boomer Banks (Photo by Greg Endries)
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D.C. gets leathered up

Your guide to Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend

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The annual MAL Weekend kicks off this week with dance parties, an exhibit hall, and much more. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

Leather Cocktails in 2013. (Washington Blade archive photo by Tyler Grigsby)

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.”

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

A scene from the 2024 Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

A scene from Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend 2024. (Washington Blade file Key)

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

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