|
| |
1970
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1970: | The explicitly homoerotic SM film Born to Raise Hell starring Val Martin, produced by Terry LeGrand and directed by Roger Earl, is released in Los Angeles. It remains a classic of the genre to this date. |
| 1970: | Publication of
 | Cruising a murder mystery novel by Jay Green set in New York's leather bars. When later made into a movie starring Al Pacino it was the subject of vocal demonstrations by gay activists who objected to the portrayals. |
| The Young Master by William Lambert III, one of the best from this prolific author of gay erotica with an SM twist. |
| Leather Ad V1: M and V2: S novels by Larry Townsend.Sex and the Lash Lovers by R. Rodgers Kingman. |
|
| 1970: | Michael Holm starts Revolt Press in Sweden. He publishes Tom of Finland's books of artwork, and later starts Mr. SM and Toy magazines. |
| 1970: | Formation of Boston Bike Club; Centaur MC of Richmond VA; Druids MC of Washington DC; Entre Nous of Boston; The Lake Riders of Chicago; the Libertines of Kansas City; MS Amsterdam, MSC Rhein-Main Frankfurt; MC Kemo of Montreal; PCMC of Los Angeles; Praetorians of New York City; The San Franciscans; South Pacific MC of Sydney; Southern Cross MC of Melbourne; Spearhead of Toronto; TOR MC of Toronto and Vulcan Rubber Club of Washington DC. New York First, a council of New York motorcycle clubs is formed. |
| 1970: | Spearhead holds its first Roundup run and the Vanguards hold their first Oktoberfest. The first Leather Sabbat is held in Washington DC. |
| 1970: | Leather bar openings include: the Barn in NYC; Boots in Ft. Lauderdale; The Cellblock in NYC, The Leather Game in Los Angeles; The Leather Stallion in Cleveland, the Eagle's Nest, NYC; the Triangle in NYC, |
| 1970: | Professor Louis Compton of the University of Nebraska teaches the first gay studies course in the US. |
| 1970: | The Gay Activists Alliance selects the Greek letter lambda as a symbol of the gay movement. |
| 1970, Jan.: | 
More than 250 homosexuals, led by the Rev. Troy Perry, march for police reform on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. |
| 1970, Jan.: | Customs officials seize and seek permission to destroy, ten artworks from an international erotic exhibit scheduled to show in New York City. Permission is denied by a New York court citing the First Ammendment. |
| 1970, March: | A gay San Francisco postal worker fights an attempt by the Civil Service commission to terminate him for "moral incompetency," recovering his job in November, and paving the road for future Civil Service Commission reforms. |
| 1970, June: | Celebrating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the first gay pride parades/marches/rallies are held in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Cycle MC marches in the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade in NYC. |
| 1970, July 6: | Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church, and a leatherman, sits on the steps of the Federal Building in Los Angeles refusing to eat or leave until someone from the city of Los Angeles comes and talks to him about Gay rights. Eleven days later city Councilman Robert Stevenson holds a curbside meeting with Perry, ending his vigil. |
| 1970, Aug.: | North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) holds its final meeting in San Francisco. Morris Knight leads street people in to smash NACHO. "Anarchy faced off with arrogant conservatism, and anarchy won," says Jim Kepner. |
| 1970, Sept.: | The Federal Commission on Obscenity and Pornography urges the repeal of most anti-pornography laws. |
| 1970, Nov. 25: | Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after a failed attempt to incite a riot at a Military school in Japan. (Born Jan. 14, 1925). |
1971
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1971: | The In Between opens at 1347 Folsom in San Francisco, in between FeBe's and the Ramrod. It soon metamorphosed into the No Name, a popular leather bar. |
| 1971: | The first FFA run is held in Cambria CA. |
| 1971: | Formation of Argonauts, Cycle Runners MC, Koalas, and LOBOC in California; Chicago Knights MC; Keystone Riders in Philadelphia; Kingmasters in Los Angeles, Northern Riding Club in the UK; Scorpions MC (originally Centaur MC's DC chapter) in DC; Thunderbolts MC in Connecticut; Tribe MC in Detroit and Unicorns MC in Cleveland. The Boston Bike Club disbands. |
| 1971: | Runs initiated include The Centaur's Olympia, Entre Nous' Days of Equinox and Hell-Za-Popper held jointly by Wheels and Nine Plus. |
| 1971: | Leather bar openings include: the Bootcamp in San Francisco, DC Eagle, The Ramrod in Phoenix, the Stockade in NYC and the 247 in Philadelphia. |
| 1971: | Publication of
| All or Nothing by Dirk Vaden, one of the most popular leather novels
of its time. |
| Run Little Leather Boy and The Scorpius Equation, two of Larry Townsend's best early novels. |
| History of Flagellation in two photo illustrated volumes by Jon
A. Peterssen. |
|
| 1971, Jan. 3: | First lesbian center in the US opens in New York City, sponsored by the NY Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. |
| 1971, Feb.: | The Eulenspiegel Society is founded in New York City as North America's first SM organization. It is open to all sexes and orientations. |
| 1971, Apr.: | Bob Ross begins publishing the Bay Area Reporter, aka the B.A.R., in San Francisco. Mr. Marcus begins his leather column in this newspaper in August of 1971. As of this writing in Jan,. 1999, both the paper and the column are still going strong after 28 years! |
| 1971, Apr. 30: | Richard Chinn and John Cantrell are arrested in downtown Chicago for kissing each other in public. |
| 1971 Aug. 5: | The Bootcamp, a uniform themed bar opens at 1010 Bryant St. in San Francisco. Marcus Hernandez, aka Mr. Marcus, is manager. |
| 1971, Aug. 29: | Tribe M.C. (later Tribe Detroit, Inc.) founded. |
| 1971, Aug.: | In Chicago: Thirteen men decide to organize a group specifically to hold gay male SM play parties and the Chicago Hellfire Club is created. |
1972
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1972: | The Folsom St. Barracks at 1147 Folsom St in San Francisco is the city's first leather oriented "Bathhouse". |
| 1972: | Marcus Hernandez, leather bar manager and leather columnist for The Advocate and later for the B.A.R., is selected as the first gay Emperor of San Francisco. (Not counting the Emperor Norton, of course.) |
| 1972: |  Formation of Atlantis MC (originally Unicorn/Atlanta) in Atlanta; Atons of Minneapolis; Bucks MC in Pennsylvania; Celtics MC in Mississippi; Hawks MC in Los Angeles; the Interclub Fund in San Francisco; Iron Cross MC in Montreal; Knights of Malta, Black Rose Chapter, Portland OR; Knights of Malta, Emerald Chapter in Seattle; NY Levi Club; Omaha Meatpackers; Rainbow MC in California; The Selectmen of Detroit, The Stallions of Cleveland; and Titan MC of Boston. |
| 1972: | Frank Ball founds TAIL, The "Total Ass Involvement League," with members all over the world who communicate through frequently published newsletters, and membership rosters with carefully coded indications of sexual specifics offered and sought. |
| 1972: | Marshall Loeb begins publication of SMads, which offers gay male subscribers a chance to place and respond to explicitly SM personal ads. |
| 1972: | Cycle MC sponsors its first tour to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. |
| 1972: | Iron Cross publishes first issue of its newsletter Crossroads and Nine Plus publishes last issue of its Scimitar. |
| 1972: | Two New York leather bar institutions, the Ramrod and The Spike (formerly the Stockade) open. Nine Plus moves to a new location between The Spike and The Eagle. |
| 1972: | Publication of
| Black In White IN by K. Kevork, Interracial gay sex with strong
elements of SM. |
| A Persian Boy by Mary Renault, a novel that follows a slaveboy in the service of Alexander the Great. |
| Punishment, An Illustrated History by Peter N. Walker |
| The Leatherman's Handbook by Larry Townsend, the first non-fiction book about gay male leather lifestyles. |
|
| 1972: | Producer Terry LeGrand and Director Roger Earl make a gay male SM film starring Val Martin and a large cast. Born to Raise Hell is still regarded as one of the best gay male SM films ever made. |
| 1972: | R. Litman and C. Swearingen, in an article in the Archives of General Psychiatry, describe a "bondage subculture" in the USA. This is the first such reference to any leather group recognized as a "subculture" in the professional literature. |
| 1972, April: | The (San Francisco) Bay Area Reporter newspaper begins publishing a column devoted to leather related news, gossip and information written by "Mr. Marcus," (Marcus Hernandez.) The first, and longest running, column of its type, in 1999 it is still going strong! |
| 1972, April 4: | Atons of Minneapolis founded. |
| 1972, May: | Chuck Holmes sends out his first mail order flyer for gay erotic 8mm films, one of which starred the legendary king of porn John Holmes (no relation). The business would eventually become Falcon, one of the biggest gay video companies in the world. |
| 1972, May 2: | Death of J. Edgar Hoover, for many years the director of the US Bureau of Investigation. For years his federal police force had kept surveillance records on thousands of individuals and organizations including many that were gay or engaged in other sexual activities beyond vanilla. After his death stories surfaced about his 44 year "friendship" with Clyde Tolson (1900-1975) who was his right hand man at the FBI and was his housemate outside the office. Photos of Hoover in female drag have also appeared. It seems that our FBI director, who could blackmail Mafia dons and presidents with ease, was both homosexual and homophobe! |
| 1972, June 27: | Gay News, England's first gay newspaper, founded. |
| 1972, July: | Queen's Quarterly a New York based gay male magazine includes a very well illustrated article on the life and work of leather/SM publisher and artist, Steve Masters in Vol 4, #4. |
| 1972, Aug.: | Los Angeles police raid a HELP (Homophile Effort for Legal Protection) monthly fundraiser at the Black Pipe, a major leather bar. Among those arrested: HELP president Larry Townsend. The police are surprised when the organization fights back. Some consider this the West Coast Stonewall. |
| 1972, Oct.: | In a contest held at the Chicago Leather bar, the Gold Coast, John Lunning becomes Mr. Gold Coast. The FIRST leather title holder. |
1973
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1973: | The American sex researchers John Gagnon and William Simon publish Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, introducing the concept of "scripted behavior" into research. |
| 1973: | The US Supreme Court, ruling in Miller v. California, defines obscenity as a violation of the community standards in the location where it is viewed. |
| 1973: | The National Gay Task Force is founded. |
| 1973: | The Leather Fraternity, a contact club newsletter for leathermen is started in Los Angeles by "Robert Payne". |
| 1973: | Tom of Finland's first exhibition of original art, the illustrations for the book, The Loggers, is held in the back room of a sex shop in Hamburg. It is a disaster, poorly hung, poorly lit, no sales, and most of the art disappears. |
| 1973: | Formation of the Argonauts of Wisconsin in Green Bay; Cin City CC in Cincinnati; Colorado Riders in Denver; Cycle men South in San Diego; Denim Guy Club in Australia; Gateway MC in St. Louis; Kansas City Falcons MC; Loge 70 in Switzerland; Long Island Spuds, Monterey Dons in California, MSC London in the UK; Northern Lights in Montreal; Olympian Cycle Corps in Dallas; The Pride Chicago; Rochester Rams, NY; Roo Bike Club, Sydney; Saddlemasters, Illinois, SF GDI; Silver Star MC, Milwaukee; Thebans MC (Originally FLLA), Miami; Tridents MC International and Wrangler MC Dallas. The Mid-America (Originally MidWest) Conference of Clubs formed. |
| 1973: | Inaugural issues of newsletters: Atlantian from Atlantis MC; The Bolt from Thunderbolt and Scene and Machine from D. B. I. Corp, Washington DC. The latter newsletter publishes a list of leather bars in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. And holds the first Mr. Scene & Machine contest at the NY Eagle--won by Mr. DC Eagle, Johnny Albert. |
| 1973: | Inaugural runs: Atlantis MC's Dogwood; and Omaha Meatpacker's Rough Out. |
| 1973: | The Thunderbolt's clubhouse burns. |
| 1973: | The Red Star Saloon opens, it is connected to the Barracks bathhouse, and is noted for it's sleaze, as exemplified by its Chuck Arnette watersports ads and posters. |
| 1973: | Folsom Prison, a leather bar at Folsom & 14th St. opens in San Francisco. It closes in 1977. |
| 1973: | Ron Johnson becomes manager of the No Name in San Francisco and converts it into a kind of Performance Art Leather Bar which becomes wildly popular. |
| 1973: | The End Up opens in San Francisco and The Interchange Saloon opens in Detroit. |
| 1973, March 3: | Two policemen shoot it out in a Sacramento, California, public toilet after one tries to arrest the other for "oral copulation." |
| 1973, April 28: | Mid-America Conference founded during the 8th anniversary run of 2nd City MC in Chicago. |
| 1973, May 6: | 600 protestors link hands across New York's George Washington Bridge in a demonstration for gay rights. |
| 1973 Nov.: | The Ambush opens at Harrison and Dore in San Francisco, and attracts a unique laid back crowd of leather hippies. It remains a unique leather bar until it closes in 1986. |
1974
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1974, Early: | The German physician Andreas Spengler begins a sociological study on the German homosexual sadomasochistic subculture. |
| 1974: | Rob Meijer opens RoB Amsterdam leather shop in Amsterdam. The shop becomes legendary for it's quality and design, and expands to become one of the leading erotic art galleries in the world and THE leading gallery for leather male art. |
| 1974: | Tom's Saloon opens in Hamburg, decorated with numerous huge photo murals of specially commissioned Tom of Finland drawings. |
| 1974: | Formation of The Alabama Celtics MC (originally Celtics MC Azalea chapter, later Celts MC, Mobile); BALL MC (Bay Area Leather/Levi MC), Tampa/St. Petersburg; Celtics MC, New Orleans; Corps of Rangers, Los Angeles, Handlebar MC, Seattle; Houston MC; Ili Holo Hawaii; International Roadmasters, Detroit; Iron Cross MC, Los Angeles; Knights d'Orleans; Knights of Malta, Western Chapter, Reno; The Lanyards, Toronto; The Links MC, DC; Midland Link MSC, Worcester, UK; MSC Berlin; MSC Hamburg; MSC Panther Koln; NY Ontario Leather Club, Buffalo, Pennine Chain MSC, Cheshire, UK; The Philadelphians MC; Regiment of the Black and Tans, Los Angeles; Rodeo Riders, Elkhart, IN (later Chicago); The Shipmates, Baltimore; SLM Copenhagen; Society of Janus, San Francisco; Sons of Apollo MC, Phoenix; Swords de Montreal; Trash MC, NYC; and Zodiac Fraternal Society, Vancouver BC. |
| 1974: | Formation of the Mid-America Conference of Clubs in Chicago, The Forum in San Francisco, and in Europe, ECMC, European Conference of Motorcycle Clubs. |
| 1974: | First "Let Us Entertain You" weekend sponsored by the leather clubs of Houston on the weekend following Mardi Gras. |
| 1974: | Bar openings include: The Bike Stop in Philadelphia; Gauntlet, NYC; The Horseshoe Saloon, DC; Munich Eagle; A/J Ranch, Harper's Ferry WV; and the Strap, NYC. |
| 1974: | Lambda Rising Bookstore opens in Washington DC. |
| 1974: | The Leather Underground opens in Baltimore |
| 1974: | Bella Abzug and Edward Koch become the first members of the US House of Representatives to introduce legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. |
| 1974: | Robert Opel strips naked in the Los Angeles City Council Chambers during a meeting of the council. |
| 1974: | Jim Ward, a jeweler, meets Doug Malloy a wealthy man who had made a lifelong study of body piercing in various cultures. They become lovers, partners, and in 1975, the founders of the body piercing business, Gauntlet. |
| 1974: | The Society of Janus is started in the San Francisco Bay area by Cynthia Slater. It is an SM interest group open to all genders and orientations. |
| 1974: | The first World Congress of Sexuality is held in Paris. |
| 1974: | Publication of
| Gay Bondage issue #1 magazine edited by "Tau" (Jim-Ed Thompson). Produced after Jim Ed had convinced the House of Milan, for which he worked as an editor of heterosexual SM titles, to try a gay title. After three issues they are convinced and Gay Bondage is replaced by Action Male, a magazine of more general gay male leather interests. |
| S-M The Last Taboo by Gerald and Caroline Greene. |
| Bound to Serve, first issue, the photo magazine of gay male bondage and SM lasts for 10 issues, through 1980. |
| The Story of Harold a novel by Terry Andrews, which features sm images of burning |
|
| 1974, Feb 14: | Opening night for Doric Wilson and Peter de Valle's Off Off Broadway theatre TOSOS (The Other Side Of Silence) with de Valle's revue Lovers featuring a Leather couple and the song "Belt & Leather". |
| 1974, Feb 14: | 
Fan Dancer Sally Rand performs at Man's Country Music Hall in Chicago (she is in her 70's) setting a precedent that years later allows for nude performances in this theatre. |
| 1974, Apr. 2: | Robert Opel appears naked on television worldwide as he streaks the Oscar award ceremony. |
| 1974, Apr. 8: | Members of the American Psychiatric Association agree with its trustees to stop listing homosexuality as a mental disorder. |
| 1974, May: | The first demonstration of gay activists in Portugal, seeking repeal of anti-sodomy laws. |
| 1974, May 18: | a study conducted by the Sex Research Institute of Indiana University recommends ending laws and harassment against adult consenting homosexuals. |
| 1974, June 21: | The last defendants in the LAPD raid of a HELP fundraiser at the Black Pipe are cleared of all charges. |
| 1974, July 19: | Los Angeles Temple Beth Chayim Chadashim (founded in 1972) is chartered by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations becoming the first gay religious organization to receive such official recognition. |
| 1974, Aug.: | The Society of Janus publishes it's first newsletter. It will become the club's well known Growing Pains. |
1975
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1975: | Publication of
| The Boy Keeper by Carl Strater |
| Confessions of O, Conversations with Pauline Reage by Regine Deforges in France, US edition in 1979. |
| Tailpipe Trucker by Clay Caldwell. |
| A Book of Terms, Symbols, Abbreviations by R.F.M. A Glossary to help in reading the SM personal ads. |
| Discipline & Punishment, The Birth of the Prison by Michael Foucault in France. English edition in 1979. |
| A Collection of SM edited, and partially written, by RFM. This is the first, aside from his autobiography, in a series of magazine sized anthologies of gay male SM erotica to be published by RFM. |
| Care and Training of the Male Slave, by Robert Payne the first of a series of this title. |
| My Life as a Masochist Volume 1, an autobiography by RFM (Roger
Mays). Volume 2 follows in 1977. |
| The Story of Harold by Terry Andrews. new edition. This one includes illustrations by Edward Gory. |
|
| 1975: | Robert Payne publishes a book of still photos from the SM film, Night of Submission. |
| 1975: | The Story of O is made into a Movie. |
| 1975: | The Advocate, the only nationally circulated Gay newspaper, is purchased by David
Goodstein and moved from Los Angeles to San Mateo, California. |
| 1975: | Pier Paolo Pasolini, poet, film maker, and political activist, is murdered in Italy
by a hustler. (Born March 5, 1922) |
| 1975: | French philosopher Michel Foucault spends much of the year teaching at Berkeley, and being thrilled by the liberated gay sexuality he found in San Francisco, especially in the bathhouses. He becomes particularly fascinated by "limit-experiences" such as SM. He continued to visit San Francisco through 1983. |
| 1975: | Formation of ASMC, American Social Mens Club, Boston; Association Sportive Motorcycliste de France; Battalion Motorcycle Corps, Dallas; The Blackhawk MC, Richmond VA; Black Sabbath San Franciscans MC; Blue Max Cycle Club, St. Louis; Brothers MC, Jacksonville; Centurion MC, SF; Chicago Cossacks Brotherhood; Colts MC, Ft. Lauderdale, Conquistadors MC, Orlando; Elagabulus MC, Norwood, South Australia; Excelsior MC, NYC; Five Star MC, New Zealand; Hawaii Club, LA; Heart of Texas MC, Austin; Iron Guard BCE, NYC; Kansas City Pioneers; Knights of Malta, 49ers Chapter, SF; Knights of Malta Stockmen's Chapter, Denver; Militia MC, Norfolk, VA; Mini Bikers MC, New Orleans; MSC North West, New Brighton, UK; Munchner Leder Club; Nova NYC' Ottawa Knights; Rodeo Riders, Chicago; Rurals MC, Roermund, Netherlands; Sierra Mountaineers, South Lake Tahoe; Sierra Pacific Rangers; Signs of Zodiac, Detroit; SLM Stockholm (originally SLM Sweden); Sternwheelers, Louisville, KY; Space City MC, Houston; Sunrays MC, Miami; Sunrays MC, Miami; Tejas MC, Houston; Trade-Winds of Chicago; Voyagers, New Bedford, MA; Vulcan Rubber Club, Boston Chapter; and Yorktown Levi Denim Club, Toronto. Inter Club Fund incorporated in San Francisco and Southern Conference of Motorcycle Clubs formed. |
| 1975: | Bar openings include: The Cell Block, Philadelphia; The Chamber, Kansas City; Hombre, SF; and Knolle, Berlin. The Exchange, a leather shop in the Columbus OH Eagle, opens as does the Emporium in San Francisco. |
| 1975: | The Catacombs, a private club for SM and, primarily, fisting opens in San Francisco. |
| 1975: | Gauntlet, a business devoted to body piercing, is started by Jim Ward and Doug Malloy. |
| 1975: | Larry Townsend founds, and becomes president of the Hollywood Hills Democratic Club, the first openly gay political club in Los Angeles, and possibly anywhere. |
| 1975, Apr. 15: | Gay Students Union of UCLA presents a panel discussion on SM as a part of Gay Awareness Week II, Fred Halsted, Joey Yale and 2 others are invited to present. |
| 1975, June: | John Embry, Alternate Publishing, begins publication of Drummer magazine. |
| 1975, June 4: |  Fred Halsted's film Sextool opens at the Lincoln Art Theater in New York City at the O'Farrel Theater in San Francisco. It will also be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the San Francisco Art Institute and Joey Yale, it's star, will be featured on the cover of People magazine. |
| 1975, July 4 | The Federal Civil Service Commission bans the arbitrary dismissal of, or refusal to hire, known homosexuals. |
| 1975, July: | The first Prairie Fire run jointly sponsored by 2nd City MC, Chicago Knights MC and The Pride Chicago. |
| 1975, Aug.: | Robert Payne announces the film, and accompanying photo still book, The Pledge in Drummer #2. |
| 1975, Aug.: | Robert Opel's "Requiem for a toolbox" in Drummer #2 is the artist's ode to the famed San Francisco leather bar. |
| 1975, Aug.: | Scott Masters' story "Five in the Trainer's Room" begins serialization in Drummer #2. It runs for nine issues. |
| 1975, Aug.: | Robert Payne announces publication of a collection of still photos from the film Sextool. |
| 1975, Sept. 8: | Leonard Matlovich appears on the cover of Time magazine with the bold print: "I Am a Homosexual." Len's story broke on the front page of the New York Times and nationwide by wire service on Memorial Day Monday of the same year. |
| 1975, Sept. 19: | Leonard Matlovich is discharged from the army for homosexuality. They gave him a medal for killing a man and kicked him out for loving one! |
| 1975, Oct.: | Drummer #3 includes the publication's first masthead listing Robert Payne as Publisher, Jeannie Barney as Editor in Chief, and V. C. Kuemmel as Art Director. And it includes the Magazine's first centerfold, a collage of Target photos from "The Pit" series shot in the so-named lower floor of Chicago's leather bar, the Gold Coast. |
| 1975, Oct. 1: | The Story of Q by Robert Payne is first published. |
| 1975, Oct. 31: | Val Martin is selected "Mr. Leather" in Los Angeles at the Hawk's annual Leather Sabat. |
| 1975, Oct. 31: | The Cycle Sluts are born in Los Angeles at a "Gay Girls Riding Club" Halloween Costume ball, a significant step in leather gender bending. |
| 1975, Oct.-Dec.: | The date on the first issue of the magazine Leather Bound. |
1976
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1976: | Publication of
| The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction, by Michel Foucault. |
| RFM's second Collection of SM short fiction by himself and other authors. |
| Two Bulls in a Male Harem by Robert Fraum. This is the first in a
trilogy of very heavy SM erotic novels. |
| Mannespielen, a portfolio of art by Rex, followed by Icons in 1977 and the Rex calendars, published by The Trading Post, then the Mineshaft, in later years. |
| Gay American History, Lesbians and Gay Men in the USA by Jonathan Ned Katz, Revised edition 1992. |
|
| 1976: | The Gage Brother's film Kansas City Trucking Co. starring Fred Halsted and Richard Locke, is released. |
| 1976: | Michael Zen's film Falconhead is released. |
| 1976: | Nick O'Demus, owner of A Taste Of Leather shop upstairs at FeBe's, opens The Trading Post at 960 Folsom in San Francisco |
| 1976: | Formation of Adventurers/Suncoast Florida; American Leathermen MC of Houston; Companion MC, Philadelphia; The Connecticut Copperheads; The Corn Haulers, Des Moines; Dallas MC; East Anglia Bikers, UK; Falcons MC, Rhode Island; FFA-CAC, DC; Glass City Champions (originally International Roadmasters of Toledo); Griffin Motor Club, Canberra, Australia; Jackaroos, Victoria, Australia; Knights of Omaha; MSC Finland; MSC Groningen, Netherlands; New York Coordinating Committee, Peregrine MC, Atlanta; 76ers, San Bernadino, CA; South Pacific Rangers, SF; Silver Barons MC, Reno; The Spirits of St. Louis; SLC Stuttgart; SLM Norway; The Tarnsmen, Baltimore; Trojans MSC, Toronto; and Valley Knights MC, Sacramento. |
| 1976: | Bar openings include: Badlands, NYC; and The Boston Eagle. |
| 1976: | The NY Eagle begins Sunday brunch and Tea Dance. |
| 1976: | The Slot, a very leather "hotel" sex club, opens on Folsom near 6th in San Francisco. And a sex club called "The Hotel" opens in San Francisco, in 1979 it changes it's name to the Handball Express. |
| 1976, Jan 1: | At a New Year's Eve party at the Second City MC clubhouse in Chicago, Andrew Charles and Tony DeBlase, who had sighted each other in the last few seconds of 1975, and who had been lip locked through the transition, meet and begin what is, as of this writing, a 23+ year partnership. |
| 1976, Jan.: | Full Moon Night at Larry's, Los Angeles' popular leather bar, becomes so crowded it is changed to admission by invitation (and reservation) only. |
| 1976, Feb.: | In Detroit, a jury awards $200,000 to a man who claimed that an auto accident, in which his car was rear ended, turned him into a homosexual. |
| 1976, March: | Drummer #5 includes the first cartoon strip by British artist Bill Ward. The strip is titled "King". |
| 1976, March: | Drummer #5 includes the first installment of "Babysitter" by Phil Andros, with art by Chuck Arnette. |
| 1976, March: | Latrec in Leather, a collection of drawings by Chuck Arnette, is advertised in Drummer #5. |
| 1976, March: | Eons Gallery, Los Angeles' erotic art gallery has its first show: photographs by Robert Opel. |
| 1976, March 4: | Man Friday, a Broadway musical in which Friday offers his body to Robinson Caruso, flops. |
| 1976, March 8: | After long court battles in Seattle the Washington State Police drop bars against hiring homosexuals. |
| 1976, April 10: | Los Angeles Police Department raids a Slave Auction being held at the Mark IV baths as a fundraiser sponsored by Drummer magazine. A major case of police overkill as the resulting legal actions show. |
| 1976, April 13: | San Francisco Police Chief Charles Gain urges homosexuals on his force to come out of the closet and show that gays can be good cops. |
| 1976, June: | SM Dungeon Devices, an illustrated catalog of SM toys is published by The Trading Post in San Francisco. |
| 1976, July: | Robert Opel covers a Leather Wedding at Griff's, a popular Los Angeles leather bar, in Drummer #7. |
| 1976, July: | "Famous Sadists in History" series starts in Drummer #7. |
| 1976, July: | Publication of the first issue of Package, Fred Halsted's "Journal of Men Fact & Opinion." Lasts 6 issues, through Jan 1977. |
| 1976, July: | Three gay men in Des Moines restaurant are charged with disturbing the peace after they winked at two heterosexual men who claimed the wink made them nauseated. |
| 1976, Sept.: | A California court of Appeals orders two men who had been arrested on lewd conduct charges for kissing in public to register with the state as sex offenders. |
| 1976, Sept.: | Chicago Hellfire Club celebrates its 5th anniversary by holding a weekend long event featuring a Saturday night SM party at a remote campground. Called Inferno 5, this is first of what are to become the most infamous and exclusive male SM play events. |
| 1976, Sept.: | The Gold Coast, Chicago's premier leather bar, celebrates it's 15th anniversary with a week long party detailed in Drummer #9. |
| 1976, Sept.: | Drummer #8 features a photo spread of the gay leather world's best known tattoo artist, Cliff Raven, painting tattoos on Val Martin. |
| 1976, Sept.: | Alan Eagles takes over the "Movie Mayhem" series in Drummer #8 and the series takes flight. |
| 1976, Sept.: | "Many Happy Returns" by Phil Andros, illustrated by Chuck Arnette, is published in Drummer #8. |
| 1976, Sept.: | Blueboy magazine, a Miami based gay nude glossy, publishes an SM issue -- it is a fiasco. |
| 1976, Oct.: | The Cycle Sluts are featured in Drummer #9, including a cover photo of one of the leather gender benders. Publisher John Embry, many years later, blames this photo being responsible for one of the worst selling issues in the magazine's history. |
| 1976, Oct.: | Drummer #9 includes the first "Erotic Dots", in which the reader connects the numbered dots to reveal an, often otherwise unprintable, drawing. This, as most but not all of the "Erotic Dots", is by the artist Sean. |
| 1976, Oct.: | Drummer #9 includes the first part of the serial "The Great SM Murder Mystery" by John Rowberry & Rue Dyllon. The series stops, uncompleted, in Drummer #11. This is the first time Rowberry's name appears in Drummer, the magazine he will serve and influence over many coming years. |
| 1976, Oct. 26: | The Mineshaft in New York City opens. This after-hours club allowed and encouraged virtually all forms of sexual activity among its hot male patrons. It was a Mecca for leather/SM types in the Eastern US and Canada. Closed in Nov. 1985. |
| 1976, Nov.?: | The cover of Drummer #10 spotlights a new artist, REX, using a drawing he did for the Trading Post poster. But the masthead does not yet include his name. | | 1976, Nov.?: | Drummer #10 features the artist Etienne, with a centerfold and several
additional pages of his artwork. |
| 1976, Dec.?: | Drummer #11 spotlights the first Bill Ward cartoon strip under the title "DRUM". |
| 1976, Dec. 1: | Willard Eugene Allen is released from a Florida mental hospital after being incarcerated for 26 years for having sex with another man. Although the statute under which he had been arrested had been repealed almost 20 years earlier, state authorities had ignored doctor's suggestions that he be released. |
1977
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 1977: | Formation of Ambassadors of Goodwill MC, Boston; Avengers MC West, Claremont, CA; Black Angels Koln; The Black Guard, Minneapolis; Boomer MC, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Force-5, Palo Alto; Friends of Leather and Denim Club of Montreal; Guardians MC, New Haven; II MC Berlin; Lancers MC, New Orleans; Leatheriders Bike Club, Victoria, Australia; The London Blues, UK, MC Faucon, Montreal; Meisters der Manner, Orlando; Missouri Association of Clubs,; Mobile Man Van Club, Detroit; MSC Rotterdam; Nimbus Cycle Club, Grand Rapids; Nutcrackers MC, Indianapolis; Pennsmen, Harrisburg, Phoenix Uniform Club, SF; SLM Goteborg; SMBB International, Northampton, UK; South Orange Bikers, Santa Ana, CA; Texas Cadre, Austin; and Tsarus/Memphis. Colts MC of Ft Lauderdale disbands. |
| 1977: | Founding of American Uniform Association (AUA) in New York City. |
| 1977: | Run premiers include First Links MC Leather Cocktails in NYC; Lone Star in Texas; The Philadelphians Tri Cen; and Prairie Fire, at Chicago. |
| 1977: | |
