This past weekend I had the honor of sitting on a judging
panel for International Mr. Leather (IML) 35.
I first got the call offering me a seat on the panel in November of last
year, and I was grateful and honored to get that phone call. At the time I didn’t even know who else I
would be sitting on the 9 person panel with.
I didn’t know the rest of the panel until the official press release
came out in January, and that’s when I was completely humbled. I was going to be sitting on this panel with
some people in the community that I have looked up to and respected for
years. I knew that the weekend was going
to be a tremendous amount of work, but I knew that this was going to be a once
in a lifetime opportunity. One thing
that I didn’t have quite a full grasp on was how this experience would make
some of my friendships even stronger than they have ever been.
The weekend was a very emotional experience for a couple of
reasons. Firstly I got to share the
weekend with two close friends, who both got even closer throughout the
weekend. Rik “Hooker” Newton-Treadway I
first met in January 2007 at Mid-Atlantic Leather shortly after SIR Alan and I
first got together. SIR Alan got to share
the other side of the IML contest experience in 2009 when they became members
of the brotherhood of contestants together.
This time I got to share the experience with Hooker from the other side
of the judges table. We have shared a
lot together since we met back in 2007, but this was the most intense for
sure. Sitting on the other side of me
was the outgoing IML, Woody Woodruff. We
first met one another about a year and a half ago when he was visiting Atlanta
with his partner. Over the past year and
a half Woody and I have gotten to be closer and closer friends. We now talk almost every single day, and
refer to one another as Brothers. We
never realized until this intense weekend that we were both cut from the same
cloth (I’m thinking I may have been the twin he tried to absorb in the
womb). I was honored to be able to share
this weekend with him as he prepared to step-aside and took part in finding the
next member of the Fraternity that is the IML Lineage.
The judges handler team even told us that they were blown
away by how quickly all of us gelled together during the weekend. I look forward to working with all of these
individuals again in the very near future.
The complete list of judges for IML 35 is:
Hardy Haberman
Bryson “Pup Nitro” Hankinson
Uew Langer
Murray Lavigne
Patrick Mulcahey
Brent Seeley
Rik “Hooker” Newton-Treadway
Lolita Wolf
Woody Woodruff
The complete list of judges for IML 35 is:
Hardy Haberman
Bryson “Pup Nitro” Hankinson
Uew Langer
Murray Lavigne
Patrick Mulcahey
Brent Seeley
Rik “Hooker” Newton-Treadway
Lolita Wolf
Woody Woodruff
A huge thanks also goes to the Tally Masters:
George Brown
Danny Tamez
George Brown
Danny Tamez
I can’t even put into words how much to thank the Judges
Coordinator and handlers:
Billy Lane
John Brook
Peter Fiske
Michael Hernandez
Richard Hubley
Billy Lane
John Brook
Peter Fiske
Michael Hernandez
Richard Hubley
There is one thing that I really want to talk about as
well. I want to thank all 51 of the
brave men who stepped up and put their personal lives on display for everyone
to see as they tried to become IML 35.
Even though only one man can go home with the Title, I can honestly say
that all of these men are winners in their own rite. Each of these men will be going down in
history as party of the legacy that is IML, and I hope that each and every one
of them is proud. Even though I only got
to spend a few short days with these men, there were many whom I saw great
growth in just in that short period of time.
I am proud to have been a part of their experience, and I look forward
to being involved in their development in the future as well.
I know that there are plenty of people out there who do not
understand the need for contests, but I can honestly say THIS is the true
reason for them, personal growth. Yes
sometimes titleholders become leaders within our community. Yes sometimes titleholders make great changes
that impact us all. Yes titleholders get
to travel and represent different facets of our community and our culture. However, not all of these are guaranteed. One thing that is guaranteed is that everyone
I have ever known that has entered into a major contest has been a different
person by the end of the experience.
That is what contests do, they push us outside of our comfort zone so
that we can hone in our personal development and challenge us to grow and break
down all barriers that are restricting us from moving forward.
Thank you again to the board of IML to trust me to be one of
the 9 judges that picked this year’s winner, Andy Cross from San
Francisco. Thank you to everyone who
contributed to this amazing weekend for me, and thank you to my family that
supported me through this emotional experience.