History
Our History
The Washington DC Chapter of MAsT was chartered by MAsT International in February 1999, and its first meeting was held on Tuesday, April 13th of that year. Since then, the chapter has been meeting on the second Tuesday of every month. The Chapter was founded by Master Taíno and had 14 individuals in its first meeting. Among those founders were Master Kurt and slave john who became pillars of the chapter for years to come.
MAsT Washington became the sixth chapter at that time.
The story began on September 1998 during Master Taíno’s annual visit to San Francisco for Folsom Street Fair. Master Rick, then director of the first MAsT Chapter – MAsT San Francisco – invited Master Taíno to a meeting at the Lone Star Bar. At the time, Master Taíno was in search for his journey and the invitation was just what the doctor ordered. He was extremely impressed to see a bunch of Leather folks discussing protocols during that MAsT meeting in the Bay Area. There was no play party, there was no sex, there were people talking on how to improve their relationships.
Immediately, Master Taíno started searching for more information about MAsT and came across with its national director, Master Roger Curtman from Atlanta, who was, at the time, the current International Master. During his time with Master Roger Curtman, Master Taíno not only applied to create a MAsT Chapter in the Nation’s Capital, but learned about the 7th annual International Master/slave Weekend and Contest taking place on March 19th through the 21st, 1999, in Atlanta, at an event known as MAsT 99, one of the first major educational events on Master/slave relationships in the country. The event was held under the leadership of Master Roger Curtman, Master Doug Harris and Guy Baldwin among others.
Master Taíno received the charter for MAsT Washington in February, but he decided to wait until he returned from MAsT 99 to start its meetings. After his empowering experience in Atlanta, Master Taíno was ready to launch the DC chapter.
At the time, the first three chapters were gay chapters: San Francisco, Chicago, and Atlanta. Cincinnati and Houston were founded in 1998. New York City started at the same time as DC. Still, Master Taino decided to describe the new chapter as male only, leaving the door open to straight or bisexual men to join, something that effectively happened years later.
Besides their monthly meetings, on November 1999, MAsT Washington hold its first bar night and slave auction at the DC Eagle to raise funds to host the first annual reception for Masters and slaves during Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend (MAL) held on January 2000. The slave auction continued being held every year at the DC Eagle and then at the Green lantern, before becoming part of the Master/slave Conference in 2004. The reception was held every year until 2009 in either the Playbill Cafe or the Titan’s Bar.
Another activity that MAsT Washington developed for several years was the Boot Black Training for slaves led by the late Bob Ehrlich, International Boot Black 1999 and a close friend of Master Taíno. Another International Boot Black, Tim Cousins, also participated in this training when Bob could not do it.
For several years, MAsT Washington also sponsored an annual MAsT Retreat for its members.
MAsT Washington was instrumental in the start of the Master/slave Conference 2004 (MsC) produced by Master Taíno. Many members of the chapter were involved in the preparations of that event, which has grown to become the largest gathering of Masters and slaves and the only event solely dedicated to the education of Masters and slaves.
When MTTA, Inc. was founded to produce MsC and take over Master Taíno’s Training Academy, MAsT Washington became part of MTTA.
Previous to MsC 2004, MAsT Washington and MAsT DC Pan (the pansexual chapter founded by Master J) hold its first joint meeting as a symbol of unity in our local Master/slave community. Since then, the chapters have been holding three joint meetings each year. Through the years, as more chapters were founded in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia), the joint meetings grew. Currently seven chapters are part of this meetings: Washington (Men), DC Pan, Baltimore, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Frederick and Laurel (Women).
Throughout the years, the chapters have met in different locations: DC Eagle, Tool Shed (Green Lantern), 1409 Playbill Cafe, the DC Center,The Crucible, and Master Taíno’s home. Since April 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the chapter began to meet virtually using the Zoom platform.
Master Taíno is the longest serving chapter director of MAsT, having served as such since 1999 until September 2022, over 23 years. On September 13, 2022, the leadership was transferred to slave charles.