Leaning Into Legacy
I’m writing this exactly one month after arriving in Chicago for the IMLBB weekend experience. I have previously written about how I was feeling and what I was wearing, but I wanted to take this moment to write about what I said, and what I didn’t get to say.
When I was planning this experience, I heard advice given to another contestant: write your speech first and let everything else branch off from that. It seemed like sound advice and gave me the direction I needed. I set out to figure out what I wanted to talk about for ninety seconds, should I be given the opportunity. I had plenty of thoughts, but none of them felt like me until I decided to lean into the one constant in my life: my love of soap operas. Once I connected that, everything else fell into place.
What are soaps, if not stories passed down through generations? What is leather, if not traditions passed down through generations? Connection made.
The one time I knew I would have a moment at the microphone was during the Stage Presence & Physique portion on Friday night.
I’m Paul Gosselin, Mr. CMEN Leather 2025 and in the long-running soap opera that is the leather community, I’m not just following the script, I am producing the afternoon delight.
I had an additional line about always being down to take on more “CMEN” for the plot, but I got in my head about how they specifically wanted contestants to introduce themselves and decided to edit myself.
Missing the Top 20 at IMLBB means you don’t get to deliver your speech to the full audience or advance to the podium, but it doesn’t take away your voice. One of my favorite moments of the entire weekend happened Monday morning, when those of us who didn’t get to speak on the main stage were given an informal setting to share our stories. After I spoke, I received unexpected praise from fellow contestants. As a humble brag, one peer even dubbed my speech the winner of the “she done already done had herses” portion of the contest. For those unfamiliar with RuPaul’s Drag Race, this is the moment in which the eliminated queens get a second chance to shine. I didn’t win a $50,000 prize like an eliminated RuGirl, but those kind words from my new family were just as rewarding.
Leather: Our Long Running Serial
They say the days of our lives are like sand through an hourglass. Over the years, I have come to see this leather community like a high-stakes soap opera. We have got legendary drama, signature looks, and plenty of afternoon trysts.
Growing up I was mesmerized by these soaps. They are a lineage of love and cliffhangers passed down through generations. Leather is our long running serial. We didn’t just join a program already in progress, we inherited a script written by those who didn’t know if they would live to see the next season.
That history, that is our guiding light.
For a long time, I didn’t know if I was allowed to take up this much space in the cast. But I have come to see that we are more than just characters. We are the producers of our own legacy. We are the ones to make sure that the flame stays lit for whomever is standing next to us, because in this community, the plot only works one way. We move forward together, or our screen fades to black. But as long as we move together, our story continues, and our world keeps turning.
The thing about soap operas and their cliffhangers is that you never quite know what will happen next. I feel that’s exactly how I am walking forward in this community. Who knows what’s next? Stay tuned.
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