Leather (Leather Pride)

Leather culture is a community built around leather, kink and BDSM, with deep roots in post-war queer and gay men's spaces, and values of trust, consent and honest negotiation.

Definition

Leather, or the leather community, is a subculture organised around leather clothing, kink, BDSM, and the values of trust, consent and clear, honest negotiation between partners. Historically centred in gay men's spaces, it now spans many genders and orientations.

It describes a community and a set of consensual practices, not an orientation or gender identity. Consent and safety are central community values.

Flag

Leather Pride flag · Designer: Tony DeBlase · 1989

Nine horizontal stripes alternating black and royal blue with a white central stripe, plus a red heart in the upper-left canton. Black = leather, blue = denim, white = purity in open and honest relationships, red = love.

Stripe	HEX	RGB	CMYK	Pantone	Meaning
Royal blue	`#252580`	37,37,128	C:71 M:71 Y:0 K:50	n/a	Denim
Black	`#000000`	0,0,0	C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100	n/a	Leather
White	`#FFFFFF`	255,255,255	C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0	n/a	Purity; open, honest relationships
Red heart	`#E80035`	232,0,53	C:0 M:100 Y:77 K:9	n/a	Love

Full flag history →

History

Leather culture grew out of post-World War II motorcycle and veterans' clubs in the 1940s and 1950s and became a visible part of gay men's communities in the decades that followed. Tony DeBlase designed the Leather Pride flag in 1989, first shown at International Mr. Leather; its black, blue, white and red stand for leather, denim, purity in open relationships, and love.