Larry Townsend: Author

Read works on and by Larry Townsend

The Life and Times of the Legendary Larry Townsend by Jack Fritscher
The Man Behind the Leatherman’s Handbook (Bay Area Reporter-PDF)
Leading Questions about the Legendary Larry Townsend (Physique Pictorial Interview)
Introduction to the Leatherman’s Handbook – Silver Anniversary Edition by Jack Fritscher
Introduction to Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer by Larry Townsend
The Prime of Mr. Larry Townsend: Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer by Jack Fritscher
Short Obituary of Larry Townsend written by Jack Fritscher
“The Official Obituary of Larry Townsend,”
written by Jack Fritscher, The Leather Archives and Museum, The Leather Times, No. 2, 2008

Larry Townsend — Short Biography

Larry Townsend (1930–2008) was an American author, editor, and activist whose groundbreaking writings helped define modern gay leather culture. Best known for his 1972 novel The Leatherman’s Handbook, Townsend provided both an erotic blueprint and a cultural manifesto for the emerging S&M and leather communities of post-Stonewall America.

Born in Los Angeles as Lawrence Townsend, he served in the U.S. Air Force before earning degrees in psychology and political science. In the 1960s, Townsend became active in gay publishing and early homophile organizing. His firsthand experience in the underground leather scene informed his writing, which combined explicit sexuality with practical guides to safety, consent, and community ethics.

The publication of The Leatherman’s Handbook was a watershed moment: unapologetically erotic, candid about gay male desires, and instructive about practices often demonized by the mainstream. The book’s popularity — and controversy — secured Townsend’s place as a central figure in the codification of leather identity. He followed with numerous novels and short stories, published through Greenleaf Classics and later through his own LT Publications, producing a body of work that was both pulp and philosophy.

Beyond literature, Townsend was an outspoken activist. He served as president of the Homophile Effort for Legal Protection (HELP), one of the earliest gay legal aid groups, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in an era of police harassment and legal persecution.

By the time of his death in 2008, Larry Townsend was recognized as a pioneer: a writer who gave voice to a community’s desires, struggles, and codes of honor, ensuring that leather history would be preserved as both erotic art and cultural legacy.