I decided to look at and clean up private and draft posts. The title of one of my draft posts caught my eye from 2013:

“Blah blah blah we’re a dying breed blah blah blah”

It was a good read, I’m not going to post it currently, howeverI think it’s still valid because I see this sentiment out there. I’ve had some good conversations with folks in different cities that I’m connected to, and my counter arguments still stand.

Some concerns are completely valid – for example, one conversation I had recently surrounds consent and how people are breaking people’s boundaries and that impact on desire for people to go out. I hope that’s limited to a few folks rather than a community standard because I know I won’t stand for my boundaries being broken and people need to learn what “no” means.

I digress, some I would say are completely invalid – Leather men are alive and well out there and I can cite good concrete examples.

During my visits to the UK and Europe, I’ve seen communities crumble and rebuild. Scotland comes to mind with Leatherman Scotland.

In the United States, I’m seeing people raise the necessary questions, what do we want to be? This is what I’m seeing, is anyone else seeing it?

Focusing more on Toronto, I’ve seen the fall of MLT and Heart of the Flag. I’ve seen BLUF grow over the past year, having started two years ago, and I’ve seen younger members – the next generation step up and build events with great energy that foster not just leather but a significant number of fetishes and identities.

I’m seeing necessary change, communities looking inward, some good thought and execution. Build it and they will come in many respects.

I propose, the folks who are saying “blah blah blah we’re a dying breed blah blah blah” are the ones who aren’t willing to change with the times, and that’s sad because they could easily be focusing their energies on staking their place.