History and Philosophy of American Brotherhood Weekend
American Brotherhood Weekend (ABW) is a celebration of the bond of Leather families. It is a weekend filled with great energy and camaraderie which surround the four contests that comprise ABW and the American Leatherfamily: American Leatherman, American Leatherwoman, American Leatherboy and now American Leathergirl.

In addition to the "regular" duties of these titleholders (fundraising, attending leather events and contests, judging, representing the community and ABW), these titleholders are ambassadors for American Brotherhood Weekend, Inc. and the American Brotherhood Weekend. ABW is the only national gay & lesbian leather title contest in the US. The contest is open to permanent US residents and citizens.

Where does the American Leatherfamily fit into the larger scheme of leather titles?
Leather titleholders are very public figures, they generally choose take a public stance on issues ranging from legislation to harassment to bare backing and everything in between, they are considered representatives of the community.

There several large scale leather contests, including International LeatherSIR and Leatherboy (ILSb), International Mr. Leather (IML), International Ms. Leather (IMsL) and Ms. World Leather (MsWL).

International Mr. Drummer (IMD), the predecessor to ILSb began in 1979 as a public figure for Drummer Magazine, and was considered to be more of an erotic title, thus the fantasy section of those contests.

International Mr. Leather also began 1979 and started out with a bit more of a political agenda and the winner was considered to be a leader and spokesman for the Leather and Fetish communities.

The first International Ms. Leather was in 1987 and included aspects of both IML and IMD. The title had similar expectations and roles as IML; however the contest format of IMsL was closer to that of International Drummer.

Ms. World Leather was founded in 2001 to provide a venue for female Leather activists and leaders. The contest has no fantasy portion however the event attendees are allowed to witness the interview process.

The American Brotherhood titles encompass aspects from all of the aforementioned titles in that we recognize that a leather title represents not only our erotic expression, community involvement and leather knowledge, but also our ability to speak out on issues affecting our community.

The primary difference is that the ABW contestants are citizens of the United States of America--thus the "American" in our titles. Only U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to compete. Whenever possible, we work with and support the International titleholders, but also recognize that our primary constituents and responsibilities are within the American Leather community.

What about the boys?
Many people are interested in the ever popular “boy” title and are familiar with the International Leatherboy (formerly Drummerboy) title. There are similarities and differences between the International Leatherboy and the American Leatherboy titles. The International Leatherboys are chosen through a series of competitions (local, regional and International). Their selection is based on a combination of stage presence and interview as well as servitude to their title Sirs, though it is not comprised of the same aspects of competition that the LeatherSIRs go through.

The American Leatherboy goes through the exact same type of competition that the Leatherman and Leatherwoman contestants go through (speech, barwear, hot wear, fantasy, formal leather and question & answer.) The expectations for the boy titleholder are the same as for the man and woman. The unique part of the American Leatherboy title is that it is not gender specific. The boy contestants can be biologically male or female. There have been biologically female American Leatherboys who have exhibited outstanding "boy" presence, qualities and behaviors.

Why girls now?
The producers of ABW decided unanimously in 2003 to add the American Leathergirl title to our Leatherfamily. We thought it was time to give the girls in our community a voice, just as we did for boys. We encourage all the girls of America to stand up and be heard.

We don't think anyone could have defined a leathergirl better than our own American Leatherwoman 2003, sheryl dee who said, "A girl is a man or a woman, slave, bottom or submissive with a feminine heart."

The American Leathergirl will go through the exact same type of competition that the Leatherman, Leatherwoman and Leatherboy contestants go through (speech, barwear, hot wear, fantasy, formal leather and question & answer.) The expectations for the girl titleholder are the same as for the man, woman and boy. Many folks have asked if the girl title will be "non-gender specific" like the boy title. We have a simple answer for that, yes...all of our titles do not specify gender. If you were born a biological male, but live your life and identify as a woman and a lesbian, then you would qualify for the girl or woman titles. The reverse is also true.

How it all began…
The American Brotherhood Weekend started in 1989 with MCL Productions helmed by Mike Miller in Boston. It started out solely as the American Leatherman contest. Eventually Mike added American Leatherwoman, then American Cowboy, and later American Leatherboy. He tried American Cowgirl, but there was little interest and support for the title, so it never really took off.

American Brotherhood weekend was kept aloft by the hard work and dedication of the American Leatherman 1991 and 1992, Jose Alberto Ucles. He held this title for two years, continuing his committment to seeing ABW return and prosper.

In 1996, Jim Cobb bought the rights to all of the titles, and immediately leased them to ABLE Productions, Inc. the company that Jim started with Roger Fleming, Howard Fleming, and Vern Stewart. Jim sold the American Cowboy and Cowgirl rights to Dan Noel, American Cowboy 1995 (the last person to hold the title) and it has not seen any action since then.

Since 1997, the American Leatherfamily has been gaining more and more prominence and notoriety around the country. In 2002, Jim sold the American Brotherhood Weekend and the American Leatherfamily titles to American Brotherhood Weekend, Inc., a company owned at that time by Frank Nowicki. Scott Reikofski, Max Steiner and Schelli Dittmann. Ryan Goldner joined as a producer in 2003, announced along with the American Leathergirl title.  The organization changed ownership to Frank Nowicki and Schelli Dittmann with the addition of Sheryl Dee as a producer of the event in 2006.  Following the event in 2006, ABW went dark in 2007 for reorganization and funding.  Like a phoenix from the ashes, the event returns in 2008 and is moving from its long-time tenure in Washington DC to New Orleans, another phoenix on its way back to its former glory.

The American Leather Family travels year round as ambassadors of American Brotherhood Weekend and of the Leather Community. They make appearances from coast to coast to judge contests, hold fundraisers and attend leather events both large and small. At all of these functions the titleholders’ job is to promote ABW, spread brotherhood and encourage all of our community to reach out to those who are interested or curious about the Leather/Fetish community as well as the Gay/Lesbian community.

Who are these folks that make ABW happen?
The corporation American Brotherhood Weekend, Inc. operates under the auspices of Frank Nowicki and ABW 2008 is being produced by a grassroots group of ABW Family members and hardworking volunteers led by Dean Ogren (American Leatherman 2000) and Paula Smith (American Leatherwoman 2000).  Other key volunteers in this effort are Max Steiner (American Leatherboy 1997), Leslie Anderson (American Leatherwoman 1997), Phyllis Darcy (American Leatherwoman 2001), Robert Napolitano (American Leatherman 2004), Jazz Thomas (First Runner-up, American Leatherman 2002), and George Hester. Each of these individuals plays a unique and necessary part of putting together an event the size of ABW. They take care of the day to day operations of producing the event including the planning, legal and financial matters.

Our Staff is comprised of our American Leather Family members. At ABW, we believe that once you join the family, you should stay involved. We are proud to say that an overwhelming number of our former ABW titleholders are still coming back year after year and helping out!  Each of these individuals wears a different hat and works closely with the Executive Producers to ensure that ABW will always be a first class leather event that the community can be proud of. Our staff continues to grow each year, we are proud to welcome back our nearly 50 volunteers and staff each year.

Let me share something about the lifecycle of an ABW titleholder: first you spend your year traveling as a family as ambassadors for brotherhood. You will return to pass your title on and to fold into future volunteer positions and functions within ABW, such as helping with the planning, organizing and production of the event!

We do have volunteers who are not former ABW titleholders, some are first runners-up, others have not competed for any contest, but yet they return year after year to help out! Just to brag a little...that says a lot about the event. We feel we are the luckiest group of people to have such a great volunteer staff! It really is a family affair!

Remember, this is an all volunteer organization, everyone involved is here helping out for free. Each person is very valuable to the organization from the Executive producers to the volunteer taking tickets at the door!