By Erin Rook, PQ Monthly

The board of directors for two international leather community events announced Sept. 22 that they will no longer permit trans men to enter the International Leather SIR/boy contest — contestants must be cisgender gay men.

The change comes after ownership of the contest changed hands from Mark Frazier to Jeffrey Payne about a year ago and as the organization expands opportunities for participation to a wider segment of the community be eliminating the requirement for contestants to advance through regional competitions.

According to Leatherati, Payne explained that the policy change harkens back to the old days of the contest, which only opened up to trans contestants five years ago in order to comply with California law. Payne says:

“For any person who wants to run for International Leather SIR, Leatherboy you must be a bio male in order to run. Even the Transgender Leather Community has an International title now. ILSb used to be bio male only and we will be returning it back to the Drummer days. We are not turning our back on any segment of the community. It is okay for an international title to belong to a gay man. But we welcome everyone to the party as far as the weekend events and so on. As far as the Leather Sir and Leatherboy, it will belong to the gay male community. ICBB will again have no change there because it is a community title that is open to anyone.”

In 2010, trans man Tyler McCormick won the International Mr. Leather title (that contest does not bar trans contestants) and the victory was heralded as a victory for trans and disability rights.

“When I first transitioned, I was told I would never be accepted and that I would never be able to take my shirt off in public,” McCormick said during the competition. “Standing here as a strong, confident leatherman is proof to the contrary.”

Many are saying that the policy change by ILSb flies in the face of that progress and reflects transphobia on the part of organizers.

“When Tyler won IML I thoughT that leatherfolk were finally, as a community starting to move forward, but these actions are taking us back to the ‘Bad Old Days,’” Danielle Moneer Macdonell writes in a comment on Leatherati. ”…I see there is still an effort to keep the men’s community an exclusive member’s club. I question it when I face the same attitude in the women’s leather community as a trans woman, and I’m questioning it when I hear it from my leather brothers. If we (as trans* folk) honour our identity as members of our communities and live it, are we not worthy of honour within the community we commit to? You don’t get to define anyone but yourself. There is more to a man than the size of his dick.”