with Adam Schwenk, Charles Moser, Joe Gallagher, Cal Domingue, and Luke Adams
Never in our program director's memory have so many men so consistently requested a program on the same topic. The shock and sadness of a friend's or community figure's sudden suicide; the quiet shame of the heavy player nobody sees anymore, because he can't get out of bed; the retreat from the community of the guy who doesn't know how to explain, much less manage, what's going on with his husband, and who loyally doesn't want to embarrass him so he says nothing — it's all too familiar to all too many of us by now.
Friends, we need to talk about this, without feeling weak or unmanly because we weren't strong enough to slay the dragon alone. We need to let the depressed among us know that we won't turn a blind eye, we will help if we know how. We need to understand what the various faces of depression look like. We need to know what to say about it, even if it comes out all wrong the first time or two. We need to know what to do and what, realistically, can be done.
Please join us for this special extra LDG program, presented at the request and for the health of our growing men's leather/kink community.
LUKE ADAMS, MFTI, has been a longtime advocate for leather/fetish life, and for room for polyamorous families, from his first encounter with the Defenders in Washington, DC in 1982. Reared in community service by leathermen, Radical Faeries, progressive activists, and the circle of organizers around Harvey Milk, Luke holds masters-level degrees in spiritualist ministry and transpersonal psychology along with numerous certifications, and has published considerably in community media on: biomedical HIV prevention; sex that is hot, healthy and kinky; de-linking drugs and sex; and the ethics and character of kink and polyamory. A "Kink-Aware Professional," he is an addiction specialist, mental health counselor, Gnostic priest, and an accomplished hypnotherapist and psychic medium. He currently serves on the team at San Francisco City Clinic on their Mind-Body Program staff.
CAL DOMINGUE, LMFT, has served as a supervisor of psychology interns for California Pacific Medical Center and for multiple terms as president and webmaster for Gaylesta, an LGBT Therapist Association. He is a member of Kink-Aware Professionals as well as of Bay Area Open Minds, an organization of therapists who support all expressions of gender, sexuality, and sexual expression. Cal has a long history of working with clients in the LGBT community, including the leather, kink, and poly lifestyles, and in his private practice applies a non-pathologizing approach working with depression and anxiety, relationship issues, sexual growth, alcohol and drug use, parenting, work issues, and other life challenges. Cal has presented on numerous topics at software and therapy conferences. He is experienced in EMDR and is undergoing training in Hakomi, a somatically-based form of psychotherapy. Cal currently resides in San Francisco with his primary partner of 25 years and their 2 cats.
JOE GALLAGHER, a native of Philadelphia and a proud gay leatherman, had the honor in 1996 to represent New York as Mr Leather New York, winning the title of International Mr Leather that same year. He is an outspoken proponent of sexual freedom, using his year as IML to speak to BDSM and leather communities across the U.S. and Canada about the importance of being out about who we are and what turns us on. The first IML to come out as HIV-positive, Joe was on the board of Gay Male SM Activists from 1996 to 1998, the year he moved to San Francisco. He was founder and publisher of the legendary Leatherpage (.com) from 1997 to 2009, which served during those years as the website of record for the leather and BDSM communities. In 2004, he opened Joe’s Barbershop in the Castro, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Joe and his husband Mike married in Brooklyn in 2011.
CHARLES MOSER, Ph.D., M.D. received his Ph.D. in 1979 in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University in 1991 in Philadelphia. He is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California and maintained a private psychotherapy practice specializing in the treatment of sexual concerns prior to his medical career. He is board certified in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine (FECSM). Currently, Dr. Moser is a Professor of Sexology and Chair of the Department of Sexual Medicine at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. He is also affiliated with the Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation, where he practices Internal Medicine with a focus on the Sexual Medicine (the sexual aspects of medical concerns and the medical aspects of sexual concerns). He has authored or co-authored over 70 scientific papers or books. His complete CV can be accessed at http://docx2.com/
ADAM SCHWENK realized he was kinky from a very young age. When he finally came out in 1996, his first destination was the leather bars of Los Angeles. Adam has been involved in the leather community for over 15 years, having been an active volunteer with the Tom of Finland Foundation, the Black and Tans, and the L.A. boys of Leather. His volunteer service also includes International Mr Leather, the Chicago Hellfire Club, and working as San Francisco Leather Daddy's boy XXVIII to raise money for the AIDS Emergency Fund. He has made San Francisco his home for over four years and greatly enjoys the city and sense of community.