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The Leather Pride Flag is a symbol for the BDSM subculture.

The flag was designed by Tony DeBlase , and he first presented the design at the International Mr. Leather contest in Chicago, Illinois , USA on May 28 1989 . The original prototype flag is now on display at the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago.

Although the flag is often common in the Gay community, it is not a "gay-only" symbol and represents the entire leather community.

According to Mr DeBlase in a contemporaneous editorial from Drummer magazine :

"The flag is composed of nine horizontal stripes of equal width. From the top and from the bottom, the stripes alternate black and royal blue. The central stripe is white. In the upper left quadrant of the flag is a large red heart. I will leave it to the viewer to interpret the colors and symbols."


This editorial also notes:

Desmodus Inc. company, at the time, publisher of Drummer has a copyright on the design and anyone wishing to use it for purely commercial purposes must receive our written approval. However, we welcome members of the Leather/SM community to use the design for flags, banners, pins, printed material, etc. to be distributed free or sold at cost, or to be used for fund raising for not-for-profit causes that benefit Leather men and women. No permission is required for these uses, but we do ask that you inform us of the use and, where possible, send us samples.


However, this restriction seems to not be enforced. There have certainly been thousands of instances of the LPF produced purely on a For-Profit basis. It has, perhaps, been released in to the Public Domain .

The Triskelion is another symbol which has been adopted as an emblem by some BDSM groups.

Another name that is used to describe the leather flag is "Black and Blue with Love".


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