Afterwards
Nearly two weeks later, and I am still mentally and emotionally processing the International Mr. Leather contest weekend. First of all, congratulations to James Lee, IML 40. I will never know firsthand the experience of being IML so I’m counting on him to share his experiences with the rest of us.
I will admit upfront that my reflections here are less than 100% candid. I want future contestants to be encouraged to compete in this classic event. I respect the institution that IML has become. And more importantly, I appreciate the effort by so many people I respect to put this contest on. For many it is a labor of love and I was awash in it. I am grateful for their efforts, hugs and encouragement.
It takes a lot of guts to go on the Auditorium Stage in Chicago. Part of the courage comes from the juggernaut many of us have been riding since obtaining the title that brought us to IML. All of us represented someone back home who cared about who we are and the sash we wear. I couldn’t go on stage without knowing I wanted to do my best to represent Palm Springs.
The other part of being on stage is your willingness and ability to perform. With 71 contestants each of us had a very limited time to show who we are to the judges. My application had three questions, each limited to 400 characters (including spaces). So any pretense of being a good writer was thrown away in favor of brevity. “Commas are your friend” was the advice I received from IML. The judges’ interview largely consisted of very broad questions drawn from the application. Not all the judges asked questions. In eight minutes the questioning was over. The question asked of me onstage during ‘Pecs and Personality” made sense upon later reflection, because I could understand how it was derived from my application answers.
I didn’t get to see how most of the contestants performed—my interview was done with only the judges in the room and only 10 of us were on stage during any portion of “Pecs and Personality.” The winner, James Lee, told me backstage about his cartwheel as part of his answer to his stage question. That, and his 90 seconds speech about his experiences in the leather community likely sealed his appearance in the top 20 and his win. He was in the moment—entertaining and self-revelatory.
I can’t say I was equally on point given I didn’t make the top 20. In my group of ten, I was always the last. The last interview and the last with a “Pecs and Personality” question. By the time I got my moments to shine, we had already been standing for hours in rehearsal or standing for hours for presentations by past IML winners. For this desert rat who puts on a jacket at 70 degrees, standing backstage for a very long time in just a jock and harness was chilling. I found myself wishing the stage klieg lights were more blinding, if only to warm me up.
Don’t hate me Palm Springs, but I was somewhat grateful not to make top 20. I had my speech memorized and ready to go, mind you. But I felt both the joy of the top 20 and the disappointment when 17 didn’t place. All of that happened in the two hours I was licking my own wounds.
I told the judges during my interview the one thing I enjoy that I didn’t put on my application was riding rollercoasters. IML took me for the ride of my life and it was well worth it.
Mr. Palm Springs Leather 2018, Jax Kelly