Defenders Leather/Levi Club president E.  Martinez (left) gets help from Tim Holtz and  Stephan Wales (right) with preparing the space  at Titan Bar for the club’s leather flea market  fund-raiser on Aug. 23. (Photo by Luis Gomez)

OUT IN DC

Leather flea market aims to raise funds

A coalition of leather groups plans to raise funds for charitable organizations at a special type of flea market in Washington.

By Brian Moylan

 Cowhide is expensive. Just ask anyone in the market  for an authentic leather jacket, a good leather belt, or a nice pair of boots.

For members of the gay leather community, who often suit themselves up from head to toe in this sturdy skin, just imagine how much money they spend.

Finally, there’s somewhere in D.C. to buy leather and fetish gear without putting a huge strain on everyone’s favorite leather accessory: the wallet. The Defenders Leather/Levi Club is holding its first flea market and fund-raiser next Saturday, Aug. 23, at Titan, the bar above Hamburger Mary’s, on 14th Street, near downtown D.C.

“The idea comes from similar events that were held for several years at the Baltimore Eagle,” says E. Martinez, president of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Defenders Leather/Levi Club.

For this particular flea market, Martinez has arranged for various local gay leather clubs to gather in one space and sell used gear — from boots, vests, rubber clothes and harnesses to arm bands, S&M toys, videos, magazines, military uniforms, and fetish and bondage items — at a substantially lower price than if they were brand new.

“I thought this would be a great event to raise funds, and an event in which many of the clubs could participate,” says Martinez, who’s been active in the leather community for years. “It will give us an opportunity to mingle and spend some time together, and fraternize like the old days.”

Another good thing is that all the funds raised at the flea market will be donated to charitable organizations. The group Martinez heads selects the charities in January.

In the past, the Defenders, a Catholic-based leather organization whose D.C. chapter celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, donated all the money they raised in a year to organizations such as Whitman-Walker Clinic, the Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, and Food & Friends.

The Defenders have rounded up a number of gay leather organizations, including the Spartans MC, the Centaurs MC, the Highwaymen TNT, and the D.C. Boys of Leather, to donate goods for the flea market and sell them at the event.

“We’re trying to develop activities to bring club members together, instead of going to the bars because they’re not going out to such a degree anymore,” says Mel Jacobs, chair of the Capital Area Board, a discussion group and coordinating body for different leather groups in the city.

“The leather flee market, while not a Capital Area Board event, is as an activity that has the potential to bring members out to buy and sell and socialize,” he says.

To add to the fun, the Defenders also have organized a pool tournament that day and will offer beer specials at the bar. Those interested in participating should arrive by noon, organizers said.

They also described the flea market as a place for those curious about the leather community to visit and explore.

“It’s geared primarily toward people who are interested in getting into leather but don’t have the resources to go out and buy new stuff,” says Boy Gene, president of the D.C. Boys of Leather, a group for men and women who identify as submissive.

But Boy Gene says he won’t be shopping at the market for any leather goods.

“I have way too much leather as it is. I need to get rid of some of it,” he says. “My closet is bulging at the seams.”

Jacobs, of the Capital Area Board, is looking to get rid of his old gear for another reason.

“We have some leather we can probably get rid of,” he says, “because we’re not as svelte as we once were.”

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