This is both late in the day and a day late! I hope you can forgive me on this, but I did get back to Glasgow at 2am last night so I’m not too sorry. Shout out to everyone we got to see at Boundless, especially the other UK leatherdykes groups! Got some good networking done and have some exciting things in the works.

Also, firm reminder that we are still accepting submissions for the zine! Full details in the early August email.

ALSO ALSO! Send us an email to sign up early for Ms Bootblack Glasgow. We’ll put the actual info out in September but if you think you’re interested then it would really help us gauge numbers to get you down as a competitor now. It’s two days of bootblacking, interviews, and other fun things on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th of October. Let’s do it.

Upcoming Events

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

Next bar night is on 2nd of September at Game Over on Drury Street (G2 5AA) from 7pm till 11:30pm(ish). 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…

Doing it for Daddy, ed. Patric Califia (Morwen)

“A hot erotic anthology full of leathersex, gender fuckery, and as you would expect, Daddies. Daddies of all genders and walks of life, Daddies who top and Daddies who bottom, there's pretty much something for everyone in here. Unless you have no interest in Daddies or being a Daddy. But you still might surprise yourself. I have been greatly enjoying this, particularly ‘The Leather Daddy and the Femme’ and the aptly and simply titled ‘Daddy’.”

Blog

Boundless was great! I already said this but we had great fun in Walsall with other leatherfolk. Great to chat to some of the other leatherdyke clubs around the country, and I know some of us are planning on making it down to their events to strengthen our bonds of affection, as well as sharing our thoughts & material on Leather. If anyone else from another leatherdyke org makes the effort of coming to Glasgow, do send us an email, insta, whatever in advance cause we’ll wanna say hi and chat.

The Temporary Cruising Zone was also great! Honestly it was the perfect finish to the weekend (followed by a six hour drive with all five of us in the Astra starting at 8pm). Had a lot of conversation with the other dykes afterwards about how good it was and how much Glasgow needs something like that. So, probably a long term plan but we’re going to do our best to figure something out. If you’ve got any leads on or ins with venues that aren’t CJ’s then do hit us up.

Do send us some zine submissions by the way. If you’ve got ideas but aren’t sure they’d work, just hit us up and I’ll give you some feedback before you start writing. If we want to encourage anything as an org, it’s conversation. On that front, shout out to Chelsea for interviewing us, which you can read here if you haven’t seen it already. We love talking about what we do, and for those of you who want to talk to us about starting organising, making your own leather orgs, or even just interviewing us for whatever reason, get in contact and we can usually sort something out.

At any rate, I have been feeling the ache of our time apart for the last day and a half, and I am so glad to be sending this to you all now, finally able to let you know I love you.

With the amount of back and joint pain you would expect from a six hour car ride the night before,
yr girl, yvette, for Glasgow Leatherdykes