It’s the end of August and already plans are being made for the San Diego Leather Pride 2009. For the next few months committee members will be contacting businesses, organizations and individuals to take part in what is becoming one of the nation’s premier leather events. This means the time to get involved is now!

The San Diego Leather Pride celebration usually begins with “All Club Night” on Wednesday during the second week in March (March 11, 2009 for those of you who can’t look it up on your new calendar plastered with pictures of naked men). All Club Night is a great way to get your club, group or organization involved in Leather Pride. You don’t have to be leather people to participate, just leather friendly. Your group can have an information table or take part in the games. Any five-person team can get in on the fun, so start forming your team now!

There will be some major changes for the 2009 celebration, but the most substantial change will be the producers. Working closely with Adam Latham as co-producer will be the man who kept us on target the past few years: Micheal David. When I began working with Tom Dickerson as co-producer of San Diego Leather Pride I set a term limit of five years so the contest could keep growing with fresh ideas. The biggest challenge in leaving a post is finding a qualified and willing successor. Not only is Micheal David the person who kept us all on track, he’s also the person who knows the intricacies of producing a leather contest (minor details are his forte). There is no doubt that Micheal David and Adam Latham will take Mr. San Diego Leather and Leather Pride to the next level. They are already working on one major significant change. Now would be a great time to get involved!

Ms. San Diego Leather takes place the first weekend after All Club Night. We added the Ms. contest a couple of years ago to unite the men’s and women’s leather communities. Unfortunately, the ratio of men to women has always been higher when it comes to participation and it would show true spirit if more women were involved. We’ve all got issues with at least one person in the community but the only way to show pride is to put those issues aside and get the job done. No one cares about the drama of the past or who did what eight years ago. If you can’t put aside your differences for a few weeks so San Diego can showcase our leather community, then maybe you should seek out another community to take part in. This is a San Diego event. The women’s leather community needs participation, donors, volunteers and contestants for 2009 and it needs them now.

The following weekend, March 20, will be the Mr. San Diego Leather contest. Like the women they will also need community participation. Many of the bars in San Diego are having theme nights to get you into the leather mood. Every other month Bourbon Street hosts Backroom Reloaded. The next one will be on Aug. 30. I’ll be out of town judging another contest, but if you’re in San Diego be sure to check it out. It’s fun, dirty and dark – all the things we love in a night out. There will also be some surprises you won’t want to miss. The San Diego Eagle will also have its Blackout Party on the Aug. 30. Two sexy parties to end the month of August – trust me, I’d rather be there with you in San Diego that weekend.

See ya’ In the Pit.