Leather Pride Flag: Meaning, History & Community
The short version
- The leather pride flag represents the LGBTQ+ leather community, a subculture with deep roots in post-WWII gay men's spaces that has since broadened to include lesbian, queer, kink-adjacent, and allied members.
- The flag was designed by Tony DeBlase in 1989 and first flown publicly at the Mr. Leather Contest in Chicago that same year.
- The flag has 9 horizontal stripes (alternating black and royal blue with one white stripe in the centre) and a red heart in the upper-left corner.
- DeBlase deliberately did not assign specific meanings to each colour, leaving interpretation to the community.
- The leather community pre-dates the rainbow flag by decades and has its own institutions, traditions, and historical archives, including the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago.
We're Delwin and Jimmy, co-founders of Proud Zebra, a queer-owned Canadian small business designing pride pins and accessories from the Lower Mainland, BC. The leather flag is one we get questions about regularly, especially from customers exploring their identity who notice the flag at pride events but don't know its history.
This post is an introduction to the leather pride flag and the LGBTQ+ leather community: what the flag looks like, who designed it, and what the leather subculture is (and isn't). It's part of our complete guide to LGBTQ+ pride flags.
A note up front: we don't currently carry leather pride merchandise. The community has its own well-established makers and traditions, and we'd rather direct you to them than over-extend.
What does the leather pride flag represent?
The leather pride flag represents the LGBTQ+ leather community, a subculture with origins in 1940s and 1950s gay men's motorcycle clubs and post-war queer spaces. Today the community is broader: lesbian leatherwomen, queer leather folks of all genders, kink-adjacent communities, and allies are all part of the modern leather scene.
The community is built around its own ethics, traditions, and chosen-family structures. Leather "houses," mentorship between elders and newcomers, and formal title contests (Mr. Leather, Ms. Leather, International Mr. Leather) are all part of how the community organizes itself. The flag is one of the few visible symbols that ties all of this together at pride events and community gatherings.
Who designed the leather pride flag?
"I will leave it to the viewer to interpret the colors and symbols."
Tony DeBlase, designer of the Leather Pride Flag, 1989
Tony DeBlase designed the leather pride flag in 1989. DeBlase was an editor and writer in the leather community, known for his work with Drummer magazine and other leather-community publications. He unveiled the flag in DungeonMaster magazine issue #28 (1989) and first flew it publicly on May 28, 1989 at International Mr. Leather (IML) in Chicago.
DeBlase tied the flag's creation directly to a milestone moment in queer history: the 20th anniversary of Stonewall. In his words, "the time was right for the leather men and women who have been participating in these same parades and events more and more visibly in recent years to have a similar simple, elegant banner that would serve as a symbol of their own identity and interests."
He also made a notable choice when he created the flag: he intentionally did not assign specific meanings to each stripe or symbol. He left interpretation to the community, framing the flag as an open emblem rather than a coded message. That openness has let the flag travel across decades and across leather subcommunities (gay, lesbian, queer, kink) without being tied to any single faction's interpretation.
DeBlase passed away in 2000. His original flag and design papers are preserved at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, the leather community's official historical institution.
What do the stripes and heart on the leather flag mean?
The leather pride flag has 9 horizontal stripes of equal width and a red heart in the upper-left corner. From top to bottom, the stripes alternate:
| Stripe | Colour |
|---|---|
| 1 (top) | Black |
| 2 | Royal blue |
| 3 | Black |
| 4 | Royal blue |
| 5 (centre) | White |
| 6 | Royal blue |
| 7 | Black |
| 8 | Royal blue |
| 9 (bottom) | Black |
Because DeBlase didn't assign official meanings, you'll see different community readings of the colours. Common interpretations: black for the leather itself; blue for denim, blues, and the working-class roots of biker subculture; white for the purity of intentions or for community connection across boundaries; red (the heart) for love. None of these are official, and some leather folks reject the impulse to assign meanings at all, preferring to keep the flag as an open symbol the way DeBlase intended.
The heart in the upper-left is one of the most consistent features across all renderings of the flag. Whatever else the flag means or doesn't mean, the heart is generally understood as an explicit declaration that this is a community of love and care, rather than only transgression or aesthetic.
For the broader pride flag context, the leather flag pre-dates the Progress Pride Flag by nearly three decades and emerged alongside the spread of Gilbert Baker's rainbow flag through the 1980s queer community.
What is the LGBTQ+ leather community?
The leather community is one of the older organized queer subcultures in North America. Its origins are usually traced to post-WWII gay men's motorcycle clubs in the late 1940s and 1950s. Returning veterans, many of whom had found queer community for the first time in the military, formed clubs like the Satyrs MC (Los Angeles, 1954) that combined biker culture with gay social space.
From those clubs, the broader leather scene developed: bars (the Old Reliable, Mineshaft, and Eagle bars in various cities), publications (Drummer, Honcho), title contests, and a system of mentorship and formal chosen-family that's still in place today. Leather "houses" function similarly to ballroom houses in the drag/voguing scene: organized chosen-family structures with elders, mentees, and shared identity.
The community has expanded well past its gay-men origins. Lesbian leather (sometimes called "Old Guard lesbian leather") developed in parallel from the 1970s onward. Kink-adjacent communities, queer leather folks of all genders, and trans community members are all part of the modern leather scene.
Leather culture has its own ethics and language around consent, mentorship, and presentation that go beyond surface aesthetics. The community is not the same thing as BDSM, though there's significant overlap. Leather is a specific subcultural identity with its own history; BDSM is a broader category of practices. Many leather folks practice BDSM. Many BDSM practitioners are not part of leather culture.
Where can I learn more about leather community history?
For deeper history and ongoing community resources:
- Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, the leather community's official historical institution, preserving documents, photos, and artifacts including DeBlase's original flag designs.
- International Mr. Leather (IML), the long-running annual leather title contest and gathering, hosted in Chicago since 1979.
- The Leather Hall of Fame, recognizes contributions to leather community history. Documents are accessible through the Leather Archives & Museum.
For related queer subculture context, see our bear pride flag guide. For the foundational pride flag this leather flag's rainbow stripes draw from, see our rainbow pride flag history. For the broader pride accessory range, see our complete guide to pride accessories, or browse the full pride pins collection.
Most major pride events have a leather contingent or an associated leather pride event. If you're interested in connecting with the local leather community, those are usually the easiest entry points.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the leather pride flag?
Tony DeBlase, an editor and writer in the leather community, designed the leather pride flag in 1989. He unveiled it in DungeonMaster magazine issue #28 and it was first flown publicly at the Mr. Leather Contest in Chicago that same year. DeBlase passed away in 2000; his original flag and design papers are preserved at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago.
What do the colours of the leather pride flag mean?
Tony DeBlase deliberately did not assign official meanings to the colours. Common community interpretations include black for leather itself, blue for denim and working-class biker roots, white for purity of intentions or community connection, and red (the heart) for love. Some leather folks reject the impulse to assign fixed meanings, preferring to keep the flag as an open symbol the way DeBlase intended.
Is the leather community the same as BDSM?
No, but they overlap. Leather is a specific subcultural identity with its own history (rooted in post-WWII gay men's motorcycle clubs, leather houses, mentorship traditions, and formal title contests). BDSM is a broader category of practices. Many leather folks practice BDSM, and many BDSM practitioners aren't part of leather culture. The two are distinct but interrelated.
Is the leather community only gay men?
No. While the community originated in 1940s and 1950s gay men's motorcycle clubs, today's leather community includes lesbian leatherwomen (sometimes called "Old Guard lesbian leather"), queer leather folks of all genders, trans community members, and allied participants. Modern leather culture is broader than its origins.
When and where was the leather pride flag first flown?
The leather pride flag was first flown publicly at the Mr. Leather Contest in Chicago in May 1989, the same year Tony DeBlase introduced it in DungeonMaster magazine. The flag has since been adopted globally and is flown at pride events, leather gatherings, and community spaces worldwide.
Carrying the flag forward
The leather pride flag is one of the older subcultural pride flags still in regular circulation, and the community behind it pre-dates a lot of mainstream LGBTQ+ visibility work. Leather culture's traditions of chosen family, mentorship, and self-organized community structure have shaped how a lot of other queer subcultures function today.
If you want to dig into the leather community's history, the Leather Archives & Museum is the best single resource. If you want flag-specific merch from makers within the leather community, leather-community vendors at major pride events (and at IML) are the right place to look. We're not the right shop for that, and that's the right answer.
For the rest of the pride flag landscape, our complete pride flags guide covers all 32 of the major identity flags in one place.
We've donated $10,219.58 CAD (lifetime, as of 2026-05-13) to LGBTQ+ organizations, including Rainbow Refugee, QMUNITY, Covenant House Vancouver, BC pride societies, and our charity-pin partners (GLSEN, Out on Screen, CBRC, UNYA). See our donations page for the full list. Every order helps that number grow.
Written by Delwin Tan, Co-Founder of Proud Zebra
Published 2026-05-06. Last updated 2026-05-18.
Delwin co-founded Proud Zebra with his partner Jimmy Cheang in late 2020. We're a queer-owned Canadian small business, designing pride pins, patches, stickers, and accessories from the Lower Mainland, BC. We've donated $10,219.58 CAD to LGBTQ+ organizations to date (as of 2026-05-13).
