Hey! I'm Shade.

Our community is amazing, and it's been my privilege to explore it and meet all sorts of luminaries, lounge lizards, and lovely people-- people full of kindness and grace in the face of societal indifference or outright resistance to our continued existence and culture.

For years now, I've connected with Leathermen from throughout the state to build stronger communities and promote and preserve our current culture and our shared inheritance of queer art, cinema, and history. I created a queer lending library at the beautiful and inclusive camp Nackte outside of San Antonio, with books ranging from queer history to manga and entertainment. I create informative interviews, book reviews, and event reports on my YouTube channel Sure as Shade. I believe that all of our experiences are important, past and present-- and so I've volunteered and participated in events in the past 2 years to bring people together, through allying with organizations from the San Antonio Leathermen to the RGV Bears and beyond.

In October 2024, I won the competitive title Mr. Third Coast Leather at the Houston Misfits' GLUE Weekend. I'm working to make the best of this platform by traveling to promote our culture and help create safe and welcoming events that bring people from across the spectrum of sexuality and gender together to collaborate, grow, and have a good time together!

This includes the upcoming International Mr. Leather 2025, the biggest Leather contest in the world, where I will compete for the opportunity to find a larger platform and spread my message of inclusion, exploration, fun, and historical preservation to the world!

All of this is super expensive, and I've exhausted my resources to keep traveling and doing the work of creating deeper ties in our community in a time where we're under threat from repressive social forces.

So I'm here on my knees (not an innuendo, honest) to ask for your help with funding for our travel fund-- first to IML, then to keep traveling through Texas and hopefully the other 4 states of the Third Coast and beyond!

Our primary need right now is help with renting a car and gas to drive to Chicago for IML May 21-25th, along with food and the final few items of my outfits for the show.

I promise I'll represent my title well and tell an exciting story with my looks-- I see these contests as part of my responsibility to represent my community and show the world how cool, weird, and kind a queer Leatherman can be.

Thank you so much for reading, and if you're able, please donate-- any amount helps, and I appreciate you!!

Some events I've helped with so far:

-competed in Mr. Alamo City Leather 2024

-created Rollerskate Invasion nights for the San Antonio Leathermen

-created monthly Movie Nights for the San Antonio Leathermen

-demo model at Kinks and Links 2024 at camp Nackte

-starred in Nackte Christmas 2024 movie

-Historian for the San Antonio Leathermen

-Education Committee member for the San Antonio Leathermen, delivering historical lectures

-volunteered at Wet Oso Weekend 2024 for the RGV Bears

-won Mr. Third Coast Leather Contest at GLUE Weekend 2024

-ambassador for RGV Leather Weekend 2025

-helped create events and promotions for Kinks and Links Weekend 2025

-Den Parent for Mx, Ms, and Mr Texas Leather Contests at Austin Kink Weekend 2025

-Judge for Alamo City Leather Contest 2025 with the Alamo City Leather Association