MAL Weekend: A Bold Celebration of Leather Pride
Neither snow nor rain could keep the geared-up crowds from celebrating Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend was at full capacity when I arrived midday Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, the hotel that hosts the festivities. Travelers had braved storms of fire and ice battering each coast to join locals here in the DMV for the 40th-anniversary of the three-day celebration of LGBTQ leather, fetish, and kink, presented by the Centaur Motorcycle Club.
The hotel lobby, as usual, an open-air bar and town square, teemed with leathermen of every fashion meeting up and catching up. Take away the fetish gear and buns-out self-expression, in boots and heels, and it might resemble a class or family reunion.
For all the lust coursing around the lobby, and the exhibition floor stuffed with vendors one level down, the vibe at MAL feels practically wholesome — as long as we’re not peering into private rooms. Inside an event room off the lobby, ONYX Mid-Atlantic, D.C.’s leather, kink, and BDSM organization for gay and bisexual men of color, kept the day party joyfully naughty (and inclusive) at their annual MAL Cocktail Party and Gear Show/Auction.
While the DJ worked the room with remixed hits, host Dominion ONYX warmed up the crowd, introducing the cast of models who showed off the harnesses, jocks, play toys, and socks up for auction. “And if you like Mr. Orange,” he warned, as one model drew particular interest, “lemme tell you he does have a husband, and he can fight.”
The auction’s sexy spin was that the winning bidder could head onstage and take their purchased item off the model. That striptease paid off especially kindly with a latex bodysuit and, in one burlesque-worthy case, a tall pair of socks.
Amid the risqué fun, ONYX also found time to welcome a new chapter, ONYX High Desert in New Mexico. And Dominion made a call for everyone gathered to come back and represent at World Pride in D.C., never forgetting that Pride is a protest.
So is Leather Weekend, in its way, highlighted by this year’s 50th Leather Cocktails on Saturday night, and centerpiece event, the Mr. MAL Contest on Sunday. A macho pageant steeped in tradition and transgression, the contest is always a highlight for me, if only for the parade of leather title holders from around the globe.
Entering the Hyatt ballroom, I gladly took a seat surrounded by such leather royalty, between the handsome Mr. Firedancer 2024 and charming Mr. Chicago Leather, Vince Jay, who educated me on the Leather Archives in Chi-town. I was just as interested in hearing about his private fetish club the Loading Zone, but we ran out of time.
Onstage, the contest’s veteran emcee Frank Nowicki soft-launched co-host-in-training David Spivey, Mr. MAL 2020/21, who handled his duties gracefully for what turned out to be a fierce competition between eight compelling contenders.
A ninth competitor had taken ill before being able to present his package in the categories of Bar Wear, Physique, and Formal Leather. So eight was enough for the audience and the judges, which included the outgoing Mr. MAL, Fire Daddy Ken, and reigning Miss Glamorous, Sassy Devine, who had them stampeding down the aisle to tip her jazzy bump-and-grind to “Locomotion.”
Aside from the Devine entertainment, we were well-served by contestants Mr. Loves A Lot (Mr. Connecticut Leather), Sassquatch (Mr. Pittsburgh Leather Bear), Boy Luis (MidSouth Kink and Leather Boy), and Doctor Nick (Mr. Leather Sir Tom Productions). Contestant Tank wasn’t repping a title, but he represented the spirit of Leather Weekend, revealing he’s single and in a long-distance poly relationship with two daddies.
Hopefully, Tank’s two daddies were in the ballroom rooting for him, because contestant #7, Jason Elliott (Mr. Virginia Leather) seemingly brought an army of bandana-waving fans to loudly cheer him on. Who knows if all that support swayed the judges in favor of the leather cowboy from Charlottesville? Again, the competition looked tight from the second row.
Mr. Loves A Lot, catwalking in platform heels, won fans with his confidence. Doctor Nick, also touting a husband, a sir, and three daddies(!), might have won fans with his unexpectedly serious but dead-on interview response about how the cancer of MAGA-style anti-LGBTQ hate is spreading across his home of Canada, but his epic speech rambled on too long.
Mr. Rehoboth Leather, Mr. North Carolina Triangle Leather, and, my pick, Sassquatch, all put up a good fight. In the end, though, it was Elliott, the leather cowboy with the angelic smile, who won over the judges, earning the title of Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2025.
He will represent the title at the competition for International Mister Leather this spring in Chicago. Until then, he’ll surely be busy upholding the charitable responsibilities that accompany the sash.
As Elliott wrote on his Instagram, “MAL was my introduction to living the leather life I had always admired but never quite believed I deserved. When I first walked through those MAL doors and saw a sea of Leathermen, I knew I was home, had found my family, and was stepping into a lifetime of purpose. As Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2025, I hope to give others that same sense of belonging!”
Leather Weekend 2026 is from January 16 to 18. For updates on registration, follow @midatlanticleatherweekend on Instagram.
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