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What we are looking for and how you can help.

1. Information on laws where you live that may impact the leather community - E.g., wearing uniforms, what kinds of knives are legal, are any "toys" considered illegal (Seattle outlaws numchuks,Boston outlaws handcuffs), sodomy, etc. Give a short description of the law,or better yet, copy off the page in the local municipal or county code or state statute that covers it. This type of information should be really easy to find in your local law library. Ask the librarian for the books which cover local ordinances and state statutes. Then start digging.It can be time consuming (esp. since local ordinances are often not indexed very well) but you'll learn a lot about how your local gov't operates.
2. Information on administrative codes where you live that may impact us. e.g., liquor control laws that relate to lewd or obscene behavior in bars, whether your nipples or buttocks have to be covered in bars, etc... Finding the info and reporting it are the same as for #1 above.
3. Court cases in your area that have involved SM as part of the case. This can be family law cases (divorces, child custody) or criminal cases or even civil cases. Most trial court cases don't go in to researchable materials that lawyers can access - without knowing about the specific case. So this is one of those areas where if you have heard that someone got busted and convicted for doing SM - try to find out what the names of the parties were, what court this case took place in, what dates we're talking about, a case number if you can get it, etc..That way, once we allocate funds for it, we can get copies of the actual ruling from the judge and/or copies of the case file and have those available for research in future cases. It really doesn't help to just give anecdotal stories - we need the actual information, things that can be verified.

Call your local prosecutors office and ask them to come out to your local SM organization and give a presentation on:

1. what is and isn't legal where you live
2. what chance is there that they would seek conviction in cases involving SM
3. anything else you can think of and
4. ask them to bring copies of the laws or case law they are referring to (then send a copy to NLA:I LIP).

Volunteer efforts will not be wasted.

1. You'll learn more about the community in which you live and
2. the information you uncover will be exceedingly valuable to others in your community because you'll have cold, hard facts not just rumor and
3. you'll be helping others by providing information that can be introduced in other jurisdictions and that information might just sway a judge, jury or city council - to ruling on behalf of leatherfolk.

Send to:

Spencer Bergstedt NLA:I LIP

3439 NE Sandy Blvd. #155
Portland Oregon 97232

Masterspencer@aol.com