{{Short description|British-born businessman and leather subculture community leader}}{{Infobox person | image = Alan Selby.jpg | caption = Selby at the Mr. S Leather store on 7th Street in San Francisco (circa 1980). | birth_name = Alan Henry Sniders | birth_date = 1929 | birth_place = Yorkshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|1929}} | death_place = San Francisco, California }}
'''Alan Selby''' (1929–2004), born '''Alan Henry Sniders''',<ref name=":0" /> was an English-born American gay businessman and leader in the San Francisco leather community.<ref name=sfgate>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Alan-Selby-beloved-leader-in-leather-community-2780553.php|title=Alan Selby -- beloved leader in leather community / 'Daddy Alan' is remembered for gregarious, generous spirit|last=Guthrie|first=Julian|date=2004-05-11|website=SFGate|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref> He was known by many as "the Mayor of Folsom Street".<ref name=":0">{{cite web |others=Curated by Jordy Jones, Jeremy Prince and Gayle Rubin |title=The Mayor of Folsom Street: The Life and Legacy of Alan Selby |url=https://www.glbthistory.org/mayor-of-folsom-street |access-date=2019-05-17 |website=GLBT Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> He claimed to have created the first hanky code with his business partners at Leather 'n' Things in 1972, when their bandana supplier inadvertently doubled their order and the expanded code would help them sell the extra colors they had received.<ref name="selby">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Jordy|date=2017|title=The Mayor of Folsom Street, The Auto/Biography of "Daddy Alan" Selby aka Mr. S|publisher=Fair Page Media LLC|isbn=978-0-9989098-0-6|pages=61–62}}</ref> However, other sources dispute this being the origin of the hanky code.<ref name="gay-semiotics">{{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Hal |date=1977 |title=Gay Semiotics ♂ |url=http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/HalPages/GaySempg2.html |location=San Francisco |publisher=NFS Press |isbn=0-917986-03-2 |quote=In San Francisco, the signs began appearing around 1971. The Trading Post, a department store specializing in erotic merchandise, began promoting handkerchiefs in the store and printing cards with their meanings. The red and blue handkerchiefs and their significance were already in existence, and meanings were assigned to other colors as well. |access-date=2020-04-13 |archive-date=2019-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018053832/http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/HalPages/GaySempg2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Biography == Alan Selby was born as Alan Henry Sniders in Yorkshire, England.<ref name=":0" /> He was a member of the Royal Navy.<ref name=":0" />
In 1979, Selby and his partner Peter Jacklin moved to San Francisco and founded the fetish clothing manufacturer Mr. S Leather.<ref name=":0"/> At one point, the company was operated by Judy Tallwing McCarthey.<ref name="auto6">{{Cite web |url=https://www.creatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/CC20_Program.pdf |title=Program from the Creating Change Conference, National LGBTQ Task Force, January 15–19 2020 |access-date=2020-12-27 |archive-date=2020-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601135808/https://www.creatingchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/CC20_Program.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/mrsleather?lang=en Mr. S. Leather Twitter bio]</ref>
Selby co-founded and fundraised for the San Francisco AIDS Emergency Fund, which was founded in 1982.<ref name="Leather">{{cite web |url=https://www.nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |title=List of winners |publisher=NLA International |date=2019-03-14 |accessdate=2020-04-17 |archive-date=2020-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103035305/http://nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bolerium.com/pages/books/234419/the-new-heart-to-heart-the-newsletter-of-the-aids-emergency-fund-summer-1997-awards-dinner |title=The New Heart to Heart: the newsletter of the AIDS Emergency Fund; Summer 1997; Awards Dinner |publisher=Bolerium.com |date=2001-09-11 |accessdate=2020-04-17}}</ref> Following the death of his partner, Peter Jacklin, from AIDS in 1987, Selby became a prominent figure in the community response against the AIDS epidemic.<ref name=":0" />
Selby died from complications of emphysema at the age of 75 in May 2004 in San Francisco.<ref name=sfgate/> In 2019, an exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum celebrated Selby's life and legacy.<ref>{{cite web |last=Laird |first=Cynthia |date=May 10, 2019 |title=News Brief: Exhibit to highlight leather daddy Selby |url=https://www.ebar.com/news/news//276080 |access-date=2019-05-17 |website=The Bay Area Reporter |language=en}}</ref>
== Awards and legacy == * In 1988, Selby was awarded the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work by the National Leather Association International.<ref name="Leather"/> * In 1989, he received the Man of the Year Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.<ref name="theleatherjournal.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients|title=Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal|website=www.theleatherjournal.com|access-date=2020-09-22|archive-date=2020-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228055005/https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients|url-status=dead}}</ref> * In 1999, he and Leonard Dworkin received the Forebear Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.<ref name="theleatherjournal.com"/> * In 2004, Selby received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.<ref name="theleatherjournal.com"/> * In 2013, Selby was posthumously inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/news/international-news/item/550-monique-von-cleef-alan-selby-and-dom-orejudos-etienne-inducted-into-leather-hall-of-fame|title=Monique Von Cleef, Alan Selby and Dom Orejudos (Etienne) inducted into Leather Hall of Fame|date=14 May 2013|website=The Leather Journal|access-date=2019-05-20}}</ref> * In 2017, Selby was honored along with other notables, named on bronze bootprints, as part of San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/ringold-alleys-leather-memoir.html |title=Ringold Alley's ''Leather Memoir'' |publisher=Public Art and Architecture |date=2017-07-17 |accessdate=2019-11-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Paull |first=Laura |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2018/06/21/honoring-gay-leather-culture-with-art-installation-in-soma-alleyway/ |title=Honoring gay leather culture with art installation in SoMa alleyway |newspaper=J |publisher=JWeekly.com |date=2018-06-21 |accessdate=2019-11-23}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Selby, Alan}} Category:1929 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Leather subculture Category:American LGBTQ businesspeople Category:American HIV/AIDS activists Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people
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