They say to win the future you must understand the past, and that is the goal of Jesse Nicholson, Mr. Ramrod 2026.
“Everybody has a story,” he said, and told OutSFL he wants to preserve those stories. Nicholson is spending his title year developing the Leather Heritage Project (LHP).
“I was talking to people who were older and they have these amazing stories of the LGBT movement. I realized we were going to lose these personal stories.”
When he won the title he says he knew he wanted to preserve our history and welcome people in. He plans a podcast and a YouTube channel and make LHP non-profit. Nicholson hopes to have the first season of the podcast out by May.
Many will be people who experienced the loss and stigma of the AIDS pandemic of the eighties and nineties.
“It’s their experience. They’re talking about losing their friends, the trials and difficulties they had to go through to get where we’re at. It’s important to know where you come from to better be able to tell where you want to go.”
Nicholson will be educating himself along the way, as he is new to the leather community. He visited Wilton Manors several times when he lived in Pittsburgh and had never been to a leather bar until about five years ago.
“I was always interested and attracted to the leather community. I went to a couple of the cigar socials and people were so friendly. I’d never smoked a cigar before. I didn’t look like those guys.”
Like so many outside the leather scene looking in, he was a bit intimidated. But he was welcomed in and soon became a part of the community.
“Ramrod very quickly became my home in Fort Lauderdale.”
Now he works day shift/happy hour at Ramrod. He is starting a movie night and will organize other community events during his reign.
Nicholson will compete at IML (International Mister Leather) in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend. He says only half of his fundraising will go towards his travel fund while the other half will generally go towards developing his LHP.
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