President’s Message: Happy Pride!

I hope you all had as much fun at Pride as I did! It has been quite some time since the last President’s Message, and there is a lot to catch up on! This is my first President’s Message, and as I look around I see lots on the horizon, but first let’s take a look at where we are. Can you believe that we had our first meeting just two years ago? I am so very proud of all that we have accomplished in that time.

We have had a change in club leadership. Leland stepped down in April and I would like to take a moment to recognize her for her service to the club, and all her hard work in setting up those first meetings, getting the club on its feet. Thank you Leland!

I would like to welcome our new Vice President, Zabet, and thank her for stepping into the role. I feel very confident in the future of our club to have her in this position. Additionally, please welcome Sailor as she rejoins the Steering Committee. She has been with us since the beginning, and has worked hard to bring the club where it is today.

We have done quite a bit since the last President’s Message! We helped out at the SunDayz beer bust at the Beat Box in January, benefitting the Leather Alliance. Thank you ava for coordinating.

During Leather Alliance Weekend in early March, we won the Most Visible Organization for 2011! Congratulations everyone! And Leland Carina was awarded the Woman of the Year and the Frank Benoit award, well deserved for all her hard work on behalf of the Leather Alliance in 2011. Our Secretary ava also won the Next Generation Award. I have heard so many wonderful things about the positive impact of our girls at Leather Alliance events, and I hope we can continue to be a presence there in years to come. I want to thank ava for stepping up during those last couple of weeks to lend a hand with the programs and organizing the girl presence.

Then in late March, we had another fabulous IMsL, where the packet stuffing just seemed to fly by, so many girls were there helping. And on Saturday at IMsL we hosted the hospitality suite breakfast with LLW, serving pancakes to a lot of people who showed up at 9am to get breakfast from the girls! People loved our temporary tattoos, and it was a chance to catch up with girls from other cities. Thank you Zed and Kate for working with IMsL to get everything together! I also want to thank Lucia for donating the use of her wrestling mats to IMsL.

In other news, we finally have patches and they are gorgeous! Patches are for girls who have been Full Members in good standing for at least one year. Please see our secretary ava for pricing if you think you are eligible for a patch. Speaking of patches, we sent a patch and a whole bunch of other goodies to Anita in Norway, one of our first girls who really helped this club get off the ground. We love you and miss you Anita! Thank you ava for taking all these projects on.

In May was Northwest Leather Celebration, and with it the Northwest Master Slave Contest. Our very own Pink stepped down as Northwest Slave, and we were proud to sponsor the event, hosting the Meet & Greet on Friday night. Thank you angel for putting this together. We can always use more events where we only need to show up and be ourselves! Contact programs@sfgol.org if you have an idea for a project!

In both May and June, girls took over the Leathermen’s Discussion Group (LDG), showing up to support our Leather Brothers and learn about SF gay men’s Leather history from Gayle Rubin and a panel discussion about TransMen in Leather. Thank you to Leland and angel for organizing. Be sure to come out next month on July 25th for Leathersex and Spirit with Master Skip Chasey.

We are not quite finished yet because we just finished up Pride and Leather Alley, a weekend in which it seems everyone is pulled in all sorts of directions. We had a table at Leather Alley again this year, with girls helping the many many people stopping by with questions and just to chat. Thank you angel for your work organizing.

Right around the corner is the Alameda County Leather Contest on June 30th! There will be a strong girl presence there, so come out and enjoy the contest with the girls and support Kate as she steps down from her title year! And the following week, join ACLC and SFgoL on June 7th for the Leather County Fair in San Leandro.

Not long after that, we will be having a good time at Debauchery. Come out to the White Horse in Oakland on August 19th for a super hot time. As a reminder, we still need raffle prizes, which can be anything, sex toys, coupons or gift certificates, or girl swag. For info on volunteering, or if you have items to donate, please contact Lola or just post a message to the list.

As your President, I am looking forward to hearing your ideas. I want to know what you want to accomplish, what do you think we should be doing, what we could be doing better. Please talk to myself or any of your other Officers or Steering Committee members, Zabet, ava, angel, Pink, Zed, or Sailor.