This on is best answered by someone else’s words. I’m not Gay and I don’t know Gay history very well to answer this one. I do know that I love wearing leather.

It is true that “Leather” has its roots in Gay history. The Leather Scene evolved out of the post WW2 “veterans” organizations (for an in depth look at this subject see “The Old Guard” by Guy Baldwin). Many of the trappings involved with what we now refer to as the “scene” come from these organizations, such as referring to yourself as “old guard”. Some of these Leather organizations have almost nothing to do with BDSM while others are almost totally about BDSM. The myth is that Leather is a “Gay only thing”. When Tony DeBlase created the Leather Pride Flag he created it for everyone and it has been slowly adopted by the pansexual community. You can be into BDSM without wearing leather. In many ways “Leather” is an euphemism for many aspects of the scene, not just BDSM, or even wearing leather, but by everyone using the term Leather we all become part of a larger community. — BDSM Myths