Guy Baldwin, Sam Steward and Irving Klaw Selected for Leather Hall of Fame
I am posting this on behalf of the Leather Hall of Fame Board of Governors of which I am honored to be a member. Congratulations to the three 2012 inductees.
The Board of Governors of the Leather Hall of Fame (LHOF) is pleased to announce the 2012 inductees: Guy Baldwin, Sam Steward and Irving Klaw.
Guy Baldwin is a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist, author, activist and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM and leather communities, and more generally in issues relating to non-hetero-normative practices. He won International Mr. Leather in 1989. He is co-founder of an internet-based professional referral resource, the KAP list, now administered by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. He continues to teach at various lifestyle events across the U.S. and Canada.
Sam Steward (1909–1993) was an academic, novelist, historian and tattoo artist born in July of 1909. Steward maintained a card index he called his “Stud File” which documented a detailed account of his sexual experiences in vivid and often very funny detail. In the 1940’s and 50’s, he worked extensively with famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey as an unofficial collaborator. As tattoo artist Phil Sparrow he mentored both Cliff Raven and Don Ed Hardy. He wrote several books of BDSM fiction under the name Phil Andros.
Irving Klaw (1911-1966) was one of the principal publishers of heterosexual BDSM erotica from the late 1940s to 1964. Klaw produced photographs, cartoons, films, and digest-sized booklets with bondage, fetish, and female domination themes. He drew from the expertise of members of the early heterosexual kink subculture to create materials that he sold, primarily through mail-order, and also purchased work from a variety of talented artists such as John Coutts, Gene Bilbrew and Eric Stanton. He was subject to periodic harassment from law enforcement agencies and congressional inquiries dating from 1950, and in 1964 was convicted on 65 obscenity counts which, although the conviction was later reversed on appeal in 1965, led Klaw to cease publication of kink materials. The family business that he founded continues today (moviestarnews.com).
LHOF was formed to honor and preserve the legacy of the extraordinary men and women who have significantly impacted and shaped the history of the Leather/BDSM communities worldwide since 1950. Nominations can be made by anyone in the community, and the three inductees are selected by LHOF Board of Governors. The previous inductees are Tom of Finland, Chuck Renslow, John Coutts, Tony DeBlase, The Satyrs MC, Frank Olson/Don Morrison, The Eulenspiegel Society, Leonard Burtman and Bob Milne. Learn more about all the inductees at the Leather Archives & Museum or at www.leatherhalloffame.com.
The Leather Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Brunch will be held at CLAW 11 at the Carnegie Ballroom at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, April 29 2012 at 12 pm. We invite all leather people to join us to celebrate and honor the lives and accomplishments of these great inductees. Find out more and order your tickets now at www.clawinfo.org.