{{Short description|American leatherman (1942–2000)}} {{Infobox person | name = Tony DeBlase | image = Tony DeBlase.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Anthony DeBlase | birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|04|03}} | birth_place = South Bend, Indiana, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|07|21|1942|04|03}} | death_place = Portland, Oregon, US | other_names = Fledermaus <br /> Richard W. Krousher | years_active = 1979–2000 | known_for = Designer of the leather pride flag <br /> Co-founder of the Leather Archives & Museum | notable_works = }}
'''Anthony DeBlase''' (April 3, 1942 – July 21, 2000) was an American author. A member of the BDSM and leather subcultures,<ref name="Wright2016">{{cite book|author=Les Wright|title=The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMTsCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR36|date=8 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-38320-5|pages=36–}}</ref> he was the designer of the leather pride flag.
==Leather and BDSM activities== [[File:Leather Archives & Museum 04.jpg|thumb|right|alt=red, blue, and black flag folded within a triangular storage case.|The prototype leather pride flag, created by Tony DeBlase in 1989, on display at the Leather Archives & Museum.]]
In 1979, he founded ''DungeonMaster'', a magazine about sadomasochistic technique. Running from 1979 until 1994,<ref name="Rejali2009">{{cite book|author=Darius Rejali|title=Torture and Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8GtJY_J00C&pg=PA244|date=8 June 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-3087-9|pages=244–}}</ref> he also wrote for it.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=2010 Leather Hall of Fame Inductee Tony DeBlase |url=https://leatherhalloffame.com/inductees-list/7-tony-deblase |website=Leather Hall of Fame}}</ref>
In 1982, under the pen name '''Fledermaus''', he published a collection of fictional sadomasochism stories, titled ''The Fledermaus Anthology''.<ref name="Rejali2009"/>
In 1986, the leather magazine ''Drummer'' was sold to DeBlase, who sold it in 1991 to Martijn Bakker, owner of RoB Amsterdam.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.augustnation.com/jack-fritscher|title=Jack Fritscher|last1=Bernadicou|first1=August|website=August Nation|publisher=The LGBTQ History Project|access-date=14 July 2019|archive-date=14 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714222227/https://www.augustnation.com/jack-fritscher|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Hell:0">[https://web.archive.org/web/20050419172555/http://www.leatherpage.com/columns/davolt/rd041203.htm ''A Hell Of A Run: Leather Publishing And San Francisco''] from leatherpage.com, archived at archive.org</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.ebar.com/bartab/leather-kink//284076|title='Drummer' redux: famed leather magazine gets a reboot|website=The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc.|language=en|access-date=2020-01-04}}</ref>
On May 28, 1989, DeBlase first presented the leather pride flag (which he had designed), at International Mister Leather.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline2.htm#1989|title=Leather History Timeline|access-date=2008-02-14|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803065539/http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline2.htm#1989|archive-date=2010-08-03}}</ref>
Initial reaction to the flag was mixed. According to DeBlase's article ''A Leather Pride Flag'', {{blockquote| "Some, particularly on the east coast, reacted positively to the concept, but were quite concerned, some even offended, that I had not involved the community in helping to create the design."<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/pride.htm|title = A Leather Pride Flag|publisher = leatherarchives.com|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080915142834/http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/pride.htm|archive-date = 2008-09-15}}</ref> }}
On September 18, 1990, Clive Platman (Mr. Australia ''Drummer'') presented DeBlase with an Australian version of the flag, incorporating the Southern Cross, which is from the Australian national flag, with the original design of the leather pride flag.<ref name="archive1989">{{cite web|url=http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline2.htm#1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803065539/http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline2.htm#1989 |archive-date=2010-08-03 |title=Timeline |access-date=2018-06-24}}</ref>
In 1991, the Leather Archives & Museum (the LA&M) was founded by DeBlase and Chuck Renslow,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shapiro|first=Gregg.|date=2011|title=Leatherman's man: an interview with Chuck Renslow's biographer Owen Keehmen|journal=Outlook: Columbus|publisher=LGBT Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost|volume=16|issue=1|page=48}}</ref> "as a community archives, library, and museum of Leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM history and culture."<ref name="about">{{cite web |url=https://leatherarchives.org/about/about-the-la-m |title=About the LA&M - Leather Archives & Museum |publisher=Leatherarchives.org |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-date=2023-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703144039/https://leatherarchives.org/about/about-the-la-m |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Ridinger|first=Robert|date=2005|title=Founding of the Leather Archives & Museum|journal=LGBT History, 1988-1992 [serial online]|publisher=LGBT Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost|pages=33–36}}</ref> DeBlase served as Vice President of the Board of Directors there from 1992 until 2000. He also began a Leather History Timeline, which was set up in the LA&M on the south wall of the main exhibit gallery.<ref name="Levin2010">{{cite book|author=Amy K. Levin|title=Gender, Sexuality and Museums: A Routledge Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXrFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT334|date=13 September 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-94363-8|pages=334–}}</ref> His papers (among other things) are held in the LA&M.<ref name="sfldg1">{{cite web|url=https://www.sfldg.org/all-programs/2014/10/22/on-the-road-with-the-leather-archives-museum-rick-storer |title=KANE, "DRUMMER," AND DEBLASE — Rick Storer, Leather Archives & Museum — San Francisco Leathermen's Discussion Group |publisher=Sfldg.org |date=2014-10-22 |access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref>
At International Mr. Leather 1999 DeBlase presented one of three original leather pride flags which he assembled as a prototype to the Leather Archives & Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://leatherarchives.org/the-leather-pride-flag|title=The Leather Pride Flag|first=Annie|last=Romano|website=leatherarchives.org|access-date=2020-10-02|archive-date=2023-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128224442/https://leatherarchives.org/the-leather-pride-flag|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Awards==
* 1987: NLA's Man of the Year award * 1990: Business Person of the Year Award during the Pantheon of Leather Awards<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients - The Leather Journal |url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228055005/https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients |archive-date=2020-12-28 |access-date=2020-10-02 |website=www.theleatherjournal.com}}</ref> * 1997: Forebear Award during the Pantheon of Leather Awards<ref name=":2" /> * 2001: Community Choice (Man) Award during the Pantheon of Leather Awards<ref name=":2" /> * 2010: Induction into the Leather Hall of Fame<ref name="auto1" /> * 2014: Lifetime Achievement Award during the Pantheon of Leather Awards<ref name=":2" /> * 2017: Induction in the 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 |access-date=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 |access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> * Knight as a Chevalier at the Leather Coronation in San Francisco * Caligula Award from the Chicago Hellfire Club, of which he was a member<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.ambushmag.com/is1800/sherwood.htm|title=Sherwood's Forest - AMBUSH Mag 2000 - Gay New Orleans|website=archive.ambushmag.com}}</ref>
In 2021, the Leather Archives & Museum gave out the Chuck Renslow & Tony DeBlase Founders’ Award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=30 30 Anniversary Campaign – Leather Archives & Museum |url=https://leatherarchives.org/support/30-30-anniversary-campaign/}}</ref>
==Career== DeBlase was a mammologist who specialized in bat biology. He co-wrote ''A Manual of Mammalogy: With Keys to Families of the World'' (1974) with Robert Eugene Martin.<ref name="DeBlaseMartin1974">{{cite book|author1=Anthony F. DeBlase|author2=Robert Eugene Martin|title=A Manual of Mammalogy: With Keys to Families of the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1a7wAAAAMAAJ|year=1974|publisher=W. C. Brown|isbn=978-0-697-04586-7}}</ref> He also wrote "The bats of Iran: systematics, distribution, ecology",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeBlase |first=Anthony F. |last2=DeBlase |first2=Anthony F. |date=1980-05-29 |title=The bats of Iran: systematics, distribution, ecology |url=https://www..org/part/92551 |journal=Fieldiana |volume=4 |pages=1––424}}</ref> "New distributional records of bats from Iran", and "Notes on bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) new to the faunal lists of Afghanistan and Iran".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeBlase |first=Anthony F. |date=1974 |title=Notes on Bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) New to the Faunal Lists of Afghanistan and Iran |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2824099 |journal=Fieldiana Zoology |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=85-96 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> He had experience collecting bats in Indiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1968 |title=Destination: Turkey |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/374693 |journal=Bulletin |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=13––14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1974 |title=A Manual of Mammalogy with Keys to Families of the World |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41259952. |journal=Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=16 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>
==Personal life== DeBlase died of liver failure in 2000.<ref name="auto"/> He was survived by his partner Andrew Charles.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deblase, Tony}} Category:1942 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century American zoologists Category:BDSM writers Category:Leather subculture Category:Flag designers