HAPPY BIRTHDAY US!!! We ran our first event first week of August 2025, and now it is the first week of August 2026. That’s a whole year of leatherdykery. It’s been… a lot of things. But I assure you, one of those things is “wonderful”.

Anyway, enough self congratulation. The other main announcement is that we are OPENING ZINE SUBMISSIONS for GLEATHERZINE #2 (though once again, I have been told not to call it that). This is the first subsection of the newsletter to make sure y’all don’t miss it. Once #2 is out (aiming for late October), we’ll be putting #1 up online for free, but there’ll still be physical copies available for those (like myself) who need something analogue.

That’s kind of it for major announcements. We’re going to do the official Ms Bootblack Glasgow contest in person announcement then. If you’re interested in competing (two days of bootblacking and interviews from external judges, Friday 23rd to Saturday 24th October), hit us up with an email here so we can keep you up to date. There will be a final call though so don’t worry if you miss this early sign-up.

Leatherdyke Zine #2 Submission Guidelines

We're looking for submissions for issue 2 of the Glasgow Leatherdykes Zine! Whether you liked what we had to say in our first issue or totally disagreed with us, we want to read your writing. We're looking for both nonfiction and fiction submissions of around 1000 words (4 sides of A5) on the themes of leather culture, leathersex and dyke SM.

We're also looking for visual art (photography, drawings, whatever!) for print at the size of a single side of A5 in black and white.

This is an unpaid opportunity: we try to sell the zines for about as cheap as we can manage and the money we make goes back into running Glasgow Leatherdykes and making sure we can keep putting on events and making more zines.

Please email your submissions to [email protected] with the subject line "zine submission" by [Monday] 31st August. We'll let you know if your piece has been selected by September 9th and hope to wrap up the editorial process before October.

[ty Photographer Rowan for the submission copy]

Upcoming Events

If you are a leatherdyke or otherwise think that leatherdykes in & around Glasgow would benefit from your event, email us at [email protected] to get advertised here.

August Bar Night

Next bar night is on 5th of August at Game Over on Drury Street (G2 5AA) from 7pm till 11:30pm(ish). Same deal as usual! Remember to bring cash for bootblacking tips but I can also take card payments now! (£5 for the basic stuff; £10 for more involved care.) This will be our first birthday! We might have a card to give to the bar for hosting us this past year, so if we do then make sure to sign that at the front desk.

Trans Fem Rugby

Rugby is running again on Sunday 9th of August at Queens Park Recreation Ground (G42 8BS), starting at 2pm with a passing circle from 1:30pm. This session will focus on tackling! Bring water, boots, a gum guard, and durable clothing for contact sport. New insta here!

Queer Classics Club

As per the last email, Queer Classics Club is running Thursday 13th August, at Category Is on Allison Street (G42 8NN) from 7pm. Their first book is Goodbye to Berlin (1939) by Christopher Isherwood. Join their mailing list by emailing here.

Boundless

So tickets for this have sold out, but if anyone is going to be in Birmingham from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th of August, 5/6ths of the Glasgow Leatherdykes admin team will be there too for Boundless. And! 4/6 of us will be running workshops on the Saturday. So come say hi if you’re there!

Bootblack Social / Unusual Leather Types Workshop

Our next bootblack social is on Wednesday 19th August, at Adrian’s on Victoria Road (G42 8RW) from 7pm till late. The workshop is going to be on “Unusual Leather Types”, and I’m going to be real with you all, I do not really remember what my plan was for this when we established the curriculum. Genuinely we might spend ten minutes talking about patent and suede before just hanging out and having a few drinks. Likely going to be a chill one. At any rate, no prior bootblacking experience needed, and I can do a quick 101 afterwards for anyone who wants it.

Trans History Night: Show and Tell Edition

Trans History Night will be doing Show and Tell on Thursday 20th August, at Category Is on Allison Street (G42 8NN) from 7pm. The vibe is "to bring something related to the mission of trans history night to share with the group – an object, book, photograph, newspaper reading, story, people, whatever feels right or interests you” and the mission itself is “to use the past as a resource to build power and community in the present”. We’re not running this but a couple of us at least will be there! And you’ll have to come along to find out what we’re bringing (though you can safely guess Pat Califia will be involved).

Edinburgh Arts Festival: “Glasgow Leatherdykes: From History to Today”

A few of us (not me!) will be running a workshop on bootblacking and the history of leatherdyke spaces at the Edinburgh Arts Festival. It’s going to be held on Friday 21st August, at Custom Lane on Customs Wharf, Leith (EH6 6AL) from 12–3pm. It is ticketed and costs between £5–25, just so y’all know! Tickets, accessibility info, and general page for the event here.

September Bar Night

The one after this one will be on Wednesday, 2nd September. We will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Bound (1996, dir. Wachowskis) with a butch-fem theme. This will be our first themed event and will probably be the only theme we ever do in the case that we want more. So, get some new mascara, find your old suspenders, and let’s make Corky & Violet proud.

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Display

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is being displayed for the first time in Scotland from Saturday 12th September to Sunday 4th October, at Tramway, Albert Drive (G41 2PE), open 12–5pm Wednesday–Friday and Sundays as well as 12–6pm on Saturdays. More information here and if you want to volunteer there’s a form here.

Leatherdykes Recommend…

Bootblack Badges Book by Pine and Parker, Vulpine Leather (Morwen)

“This is a really great resource for starting out or improving as a bootblack. Comprehensive and accessible info about types of leather, basic bar shines, repairs, and the history of bootblacking more broadly. You can order the full version with stickers to mark off progress and all the art on them is so cute.”

Lesbian Avengers Handbook (Yvette)

WE NEED TO DO IT LIKE THE ‘90s DYKES I AM BEGGING YOU WE NEED TO DO IT LIKE SARAH SCHULMAN I AM BEGGING YOU DOG READ THIS AND LET’S DO SOME ACTIVISM THAT DOESN’T SACRIFICE OUR MORALE FOR NO REAL GAINS I AM BEGGING YOU PLEEEEEASE

Blog

Goodness gracious this is a long one. Well, first off, Solidarity Pride went well. Thank you to everyone who came, everyone who helped out, and everyone who spread the word. I always find it moving to see communities come together and build bridges, as well as individuals figuring out how where they can become part of everything that’s going on in Glasgow. On a personal note, I moved here three years ago, literally nothing I came here for worked out how I wanted, and still I love this city more than I have ever loved a city before. Glasgow is worth defending, and building a strong network of queer orgs, grassroots communities, mutual aid groups, everything, is how we’re going to keep living – actually fucking living – through the next however many years of hell.

Back to leatherdyke stuff, please do contribute to the zine. The funds we’ve made from the first zine are what’s enabled us to run a competition this year. But also, like, it’s myself and Photographer Rowan going through the submissions and we’re both excited to see what y’all have to say. And really do feel free to disagree with us. Rowan and I disagree with each other on basically everything except how to organise a leatherdyke event and the value of productive disagreement. Obviously we’re not going to include something that we think is totally heinous but like, if you think we just suck then go make your own zine about it and sneak it into the bar nights. I’d take that over vagueposts on Twitter any day.

Finally, the Ms Bootblack Glasgow contest should be really fun. It will be ticketed, but afterwards we will have our own Ms Bootblack Glasgow 2026 here to represent us all nationally. If you want to shape up a bit before the comp, come get some stand time at a bar night or come along to one of the bootblack socials. Honestly, the most important thing as far as I am aware (and I am co-organising the contest fwiw) is that you have a platform for your title year. Being good at bootblacking is good, obviously, but a title-holder has to spend their title year doing stuff, and that’s what the judges are going to care about more than technical skill. Though, still, you should be at least able to black a pair of boots.

At any rate, it’s like 6pm and I meant to have this done at midday.

I love you.

With all the verve of someone wearing a shirt that has endured 72 discontinuous hours worth of sweat,
yr girl, yvette, for Glasgow Leatherdykes