Scooby Rosman Steps Down with Heartwarming Speech, new Mr. CT Leather 2018 Announced
NEW HAVEN, CT.
The Mr. Connecticut Leather Contest was held in New Haven on September 9th at 168 York St. Cafe. Two contestants (Pup Data and George) vied for the sash. Pup Data was announced as the winner to a packed bar.
Adjudicating the contest was Scooby Rosman, Mr. Connecticut Leather 2017; Jim “Tug” Taylor, Mr Mid-Atlantic Leather 2005 and Mr. Connecticut Leather 2004; Matt Kenney, Mr. Connecticut Leather 2012; Rick Daley, Northeast Leather Sir 2007; Morgana de Luxe, 2013 Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut; Mama Connie Cox; and Tina Landi. Tim White, Mr. Ct. Leather 2011, served as Den Daddy. Michael Mayer was Tallymaster, and Robert “Scruffy” Vitale was assistant Tallymaster. Robert Chandler was the perfect MC for the evening. Lucia Virginty, current reigning Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut, provided rousing entertainment.
Joey Goodwin, owner of 168 York St. Cafe, was awarded the inaugural Jayson Scott Leather Sommunity Spirit Award for his service and dedication to our community. The award will be given annually at the Mr. CT Leather Contest.
One of the main highlights of the evening was a moving and heartwarming step-down speech by Scooby Rosman. Scooby spoke elegantly about the leather community as he passed around legos and as members of crowd held lego bricks up in the air. Scooby shared his speech with us at Leatherati for publication:
Thank you for coming out tonight. Not to celebrate me. But to celebrate yourselves. Im going to start my speech with some thank yous first. But while I am thanking people. I am going to pass around these baggies of legos. You might have noticed a lego theme as decoration tonight, and that I have had them at events throughout the year. Please take one and hold on to it.
[Thank you’s to individuals edited out.] And finally, thank you to each of you. Thank you for coming out to events like tonight’s contest, my S4, the bowling fundraiser. Or to play parties, shows, karaoke, beer bashes, dance parties and dinners. Thank you for coming out and being visible. Thank you for supporting events and showing that you care. By coming out to these events, you choose to make a connection with organizations, and support facilities we get to call home, and most importantly, you get to make connection with friends and chosen family.
My main goal while wearing this sash was to bring parts of our community together. In my speech last year, I specifically used the word “Ambassador”. That I wasn’t selected as a leader, a representative, or an all knowing wise man. I aimed to be an ambassador. To bring people together. If I was asked a question and I didn’t know the answer, I would get the questioner in contact with the person who did. I wanted to be an ambassador, to welcome new and inexperienced people into the BDSM community.
I never did this by being the person with the biggest mouth, the best body or the flattest abdominal muscles nor did I do this by being the funniest person in the room, or being the biggest party animal.
You don’t get to connect with people by being the proverbial “mean girl”, by throwing the heaviest flogger, or the best looking. You connect with people by getting to know them. You connect with people by talking with them. By finding out what motivates them. By finding out why they came into the community. By finding out what keeps them active. You bring more people into your community not by showing how extreme you are or how wild or how piggy you can be. Its great if you ARE extreme or wild or piggy. I know I am myself. But that’s not how you grow the community.
Of everything I did in the past year, there is one thing that stands out in my mind that I am most proud about. This year has not been about how many miles I traveled or how much money we raised for charity. It not about how many events we held, or how many times this sash cock blocked me from hooking up in a back room, not about how I placed at IML, or even about the personal growth I had this year.
The one thing I am most proud about, is that I get to say WE. WE had a food drive for the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen. WE raised hundreds of dollars for GLSEN. WE went bowling. WE sang duets with the Imperial Court. WE showed a newbie what kink was for the first time. WE came together to do things. And when I say WE, it was more then just leather people. Our events this year, had gay participants and hetero participants. Men and Women, Young and old. We had experienced kinksters and people new to the scene. We welcomed anyone with a positive attitude. WE MADE CONNECTIONS!
This is where the legos in your hand come into play. At IML, each person needs to have a speech ready in case he makes the top 20. While I didn’t make the top 20, I still had my speech ready. Since I didn’t get to say it there, all of you get to hear what I was going to say. On the IML stage I would get 90 seconds. But because I’m the one wearing this sash, at least for the next few minutes, I’m going to modify it a little since I have no time limit.
Legos are one of the best toys ever invented. Small little bricks snapped together in infinite combinations. The piece can be red, blue, green or yellow. It can have one hole, two holes, or six holes. They all manage to connect.
One brick alone though is not fun. They only work when you can connect multiple pieces together and build them into something larger.
The same magic we find in legos, we find in our own leather community. A lego building is not as much fun if it is all one color or one size. And neither are we if we do develop and nurture connections with others. It may be connections with our leather and fetish brothers and sisters. Or it may be moments we share with others from the drag, bear, trans, or pansexual communities.
Whether it’s over drinks or in dungeons, in bootblack chairs or in bedrooms, whether they last five minutes in the dark corner of a bar or they end at the wedding alter. These connections we make are the life force that sustain our alphabet community. Our connections demonstrate the passion, empathy and respect that the leather lifestyle brings to our daily lives. They are what allow us to add more lego bricks to our multi colored structure; strengthening and reinforcing our foundations; while simultaneously emboldening us to build structures that are higher and bigger, to build bridges, and not walls
There are many songs that use the word Connect in them. From the musical “RENT” they were trying to make “Connection. In an isolating age…..”
And of course, Kermit sang, “One day we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the dreamers, the lovers, and me…”
But there is a line from the musical Sondheim musical “Assassins” which I think could personify our leather and fetish community. Quote “If you think you can’t connect, connect with us.” Now get out there and be a lego.
Thank you for allowing me to be your ambassador for the past year. When you go home, look at the lego that is in your hand, and let it be a reminder to go out and connect with someone else. Thank you for connecting with me over the past year. Please connect with whoever the next person to wear this sash is. And most importantly, connect with each other. Connect with your community. There is a lot in our current world that tries to divide us. But there is much more out there that will connect us.
