As the SgoL Board of Directors, we felt it was important to address the situation that occurred in the meeting last month and some of the negativity that is currently surrounding Seattle girls of Leather as a whole.

First and foremost, when one of our members is attacked we are all attacked. When we allow negativity and manipulation to spread we are directly undermining the integrity of the entire club.

It is unrealistic to think that you can get a group of this many people together and not have disagreements or personality conflicts, but we still share a common purpose that should always bond us together. We all stand behind the mission of this club: To provide camaraderie and a safe space to any individual who identifies as a Leathergirl. To provide community service within and outside of the Pacific Northwest Leather Community at large.

Second, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the community service Seattle girls of Leather have provided to the Salvation Army Women’s Shelter, also known as the Catherine Booth House, because of the National policies of the Salvation Army. It is important that we clarify that the Catherine Booth House has a zero discrimination policy and does not share the same policies as the parent organization. The local shelter provides service to and fully supports the LGBT community. We have never donated money or fundraised on behalf of the Catherine Booth House or Salvation Army. We donated toiletry items to the local shelter and we painted their kitchen. We are currently having a towel drive. We feel good about the service we have provided but in response to the strong feelings of the community at large we will not continue collecting donation items or providing service to the Catherine Booth House once our towel drive is over.

Thank you to everyone who has stood strong with the club, our President and the rest of the Steering Committee. You have remained a strong, positive, united front and we cannot wait to march alongside you at Pride. You girls rock!