GAY PEOPLE's ChronICLE FEBRUARY 23, 1996

EVENINGS OUT

Leather-fetish conference to be anything but boring

by Doreen Cudnik

For the second year in a row, Columbus will be the host city for a very unconventional convention. Anything for Love '96 is a gathering of leatherfolk from all over the country who come to network, to play, and to celebrate the leather/fetish lifestyle with other like-minded individuals.

This year promises to be an even bigger event than last year, according to organizer Holly Teague. Over 125 people are already registered, up from last year, and merchants and workshops have been scheduled. The event takes place on Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 350 North High Street in Columbus.

Teague, who for the last three years has made her home in Cincinnati, chose Columbus mainly because of its central location. Originally from Huntington Beach, California, Teague said jokingly, "That is the reason why I'm not normal like the people who are from the Midwest."

"Since everything usually goes on in Chicago or New York or L.A., I figured that the Midwest was probably an alternative lifestyle desert-and it is! So I decided that Columbus would really be a good idea as a place to hold the event. It had a big airport and it is really pretty central, so people from New York can come in if they want to, people from Chicago can come in. But it was really accessible to the people from right here— they didn't have to travel for once."

Teague also wanted to make this event different from the other better known, national events (such as Eulenspiegel, International Ms. and Mr. Leather, Dressing for Pleasure) by making it affordable. General admission for the entire weekend costs $100 per person, $170 per couple. Day and group rates are also available.

"I've been to a number of events and the ones that had a lot to offer were so pricey that they offered really limited access to regular people," Teague said. "After I looked around at what was being put on, I figured I could probably do something very comparable and for a lot less money, and that way it would be a lot more accessible to people who didn't have a lot of unneeded income."

Anything for Love '96 is a pansexual event, which means that everyone is welcome, regardless of gender expression, sexual orientation, or particular fetish. Anything goes at Anything for Love, and there is truly something for everyone's tastes. Issues like whether you are bisexual, straight or gay seem not to matter, and everyone leaves their labels at the door. This doesn't seem to surprise Teague, who commented that the leather lifestyle seems to attract very intelligent and open-minded people.

"I think that anything that really stimulates the imagnation attracts people who have an imagination—who can think beyond normal space in time to create worlds within worlds for themselves to explore, and to bring people in and they can explore them too. And not just every person off the street can think beyond their own four walls. Good sex takes a real imagination."

She went on to comment about the acceptance that one finds in the leather/fetish community. "People who are into any form of an alternative lifestyle have a tendency to be more accepting of other alternative lifestyles," Teague said. "My primary alternative lifestyle is pagan, and that gives me a totally different basis of thought and feeling about where we came from, where we're going, why we're here—a totally different theology. And that ties in with how I conduct myself in matters that are physical and sexual. I don't have any restrictions put on me as to how I should or

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should not act-I answer to myself. So the pansexuality and the leather and all that just seems totally natural. It is a perfectly valid expression of who people are and what they want from their life-and from their love. And that's got to be supported."

Some of the work shops lined up for this year include Tantric Sex, Cross Dressing, S & M 101, and Body Piercing, as well as seminars on Fetish Footwear, Tattooing and Scarification, PVC, Latex and Rubber, and Whipping Techniques.

Last year's conference attracted some very well-known people, including author Cecilia Tan, Mitch Kessler and Gerrie Blum of Sandmutopia Guardian (Kessler is also known as Sir Adam, and his whips are some of the finest made), and Heather Findlay, editor of Girlfriends magazine. Teague credits her ex-husband, Gypsey Teague, with convincing those and other dignitaries to attend the first-ever conference. "He is a very hard person to forget," Teague said of her ex, who has done his share of conferences as a merchant and workshop presenter. "He pulled every string, called every number and talked to every person he knew—and he got all these people to say yes," she said.

Leather/fetish photographer Efrain Gonzalez dances at last year's Anything for Love convention.

Teague said that she is glad to see the recent rise in visibility of the leather lifestyle. "I think the leather/fetish lifestyle is becoming more accepted. I believe that it's becoming more accepted when you see people walking around with leather skirts or leather jeans with whips on their hips and stuff like that, and that's so cool,” she said. “I'm really glad to see it more and more out there."

She hopes that at this year's conference,

individuals who may be curious will take the next step and come on in. “Last year we had people who were at the hotel for some other reason and after they found us, they ended up signing up for the conference right on the spot!" And there's no reason to be afraid. "The staff at the Hyatt Regency is aware of what they've gotten themselves into," she said with a laugh. For registration information, write Anything for Love '96, P.O. Box 19305, Cincinnati, OH 45219, or call 513542-2207.

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