Master/Slave

Int'l Master and Slave 1999	Master/slave Conf 2004	Master/slave Conf 2005	Master/slave Conf 2006

How it all Got Started

Luke was born in Hillsboro, Oregon in 1957. He joined the Navy in 1975, serving three years before receiving a "gay" discharge, i.e., administrative discharge under honorable conditions.

After going to college at a journalism major, Luke worked for Update, at the time a San Diego bar rag that is now one of Southern California's largest gay and lesbian weekly papers.  He helped found the Cascade Voice in Portland, Oregon, and worked as a correspondent for the Impact News of Salem. He returned to Update in 1987 and proceeded to give the leather community of San Diego the first journalistic voice they had had in several years, winning an award from San Diego LeatherMen in the process.

He founded the Southern California Masters and Slaves Contest in 1989 at the request of a local bar owner.  The date of the first contest was, coincidentally, Valentine's Day weekend of 1990, which turned out to be appropriate, as Luke's idea was a contest for those in a committed relationship as master and slave.  The first contest was won by Mark Bowers and Bob Farrell of Los Angeles.

Luke moved to Los Angeles in January 1991 and held the next contest there.  That contest was won by Race Bannon and Mile Pierce.  Luke began working for the Leather Journal in May 1991 as assistant editor and his contest, now internationalized, was added to the Pantheon of Leather Awards Weekend.

Luke's qualifications for putting on a contest for masters and slaves are good; he served as a slave for ten years. "That was the happiest time of my life," he recalled recently.  His motives are even better:  "I want to let the larger community know that we're here and we're not going away.  Even the gay and lesbian community, there are those who'd rather that leatherfolk in general, and masters and slaves in particular, would simply disappear.  We're not politically correct nor socially acceptable.

He also has firm opinions about the name of his contest. "Many people have tried to change my mind about calling it 'masters and slaves', : he noted, "but in fact, the word 'master' is much more nonsexist that separating male masters and female mistresses by words. "Master" literally means "one who has control over another," while "mistress" means "one who has a lesser amount of control." I don't feel that way.  By my standards, "mistress is sexist and "master" is not."

Luke's goals for the future are to continue putting on the contest, help improve The Leather Journal into the magazine the leather community wants, and to find "a master of my own."

Luke is currently looking into forming an association of masters and slaves, but does not want to compete with MAST. (source:  Pantheon of Leather and the International Master and slave Contest program 1992)