MINNEAPOLIS – The Atons of Minneapolis posted this apology on their Facebook page today after an incident at their recent Minnesota Leather Pride weekend. The letter in it’s entirety.
To Minnesota’s Leather/Kink/BDSM Community:
On April 4th, during what should have been a celebratory time after the Minnesota Leather Pride contest, a devastating incident occurred which should not have happened in our community. One of the female judges from the contest was physically assaulted by an Associate of the Atons. Due to an unfortunate series of events, this incident was not brought to the full membership until a week later.
The club sent a letter of apology to the female judge (who is also an Associate of the Atons) the day after the full club learned of the incident.
An incident such as this is counter to all our discussions and beliefs about negotiation and consent. For a representative of our club to behave in such a manner to anyone – much less to a fellow Associate – is appalling and unacceptable.
At this time, the club feels that it also needs to offer an apology to the community. There were many missteps in the club’s handling of the response to this situation. Analysis of these missteps brought forth a number of items that need serious further discussion. To that end, we have reached out to NCSF (National Coalition for Sexual Freedom) for advisement.
Please accept our deepest apology for the club’s poorly handled response to this incident.
