Derek Cohen
For over 25 years Derek Cohen has been a leading light and inspiration in the UK BDSM community. He’s been a tireless volunteer on many social and political groups during times when the community has been under heavy attack from the state.
In 1981 he set up the social and educational organization SM Gays, which he led for over 15 years. SM Gays pioneered the provision of education on BDSM for the gay community covering not just safe, sane & consensual SM techniques but increasingly important topics such as HIV and health, and SM and the law.
Derek helped organize the Dungeon in the Sky events, which brought together for the first time in an open environment SM individuals, political organizations and businesses at day schools attracting thousands of men and women of all sexualities.
In 1991, Derek was one of a group who helped establish the Countdown on Spanner political campaign, which lobbied against the criminalization of SM activities in light of the Spanner judgments. He later became a trustee and is now Chair of its successor, the Spanner Trust. The Spanner Trust is currently opposing proposed UK legislation which would criminalize possession of many BDSM images and is taking the UK government to court to again try to make consent a valid defense to charges of assault in SM cases.
Supported by UK human rights organization Liberty, Derek was one of the eight people who took a class action against the UK government to the European Court of Human Rights in 1996.
Derek's energy and commitment has lit up a range of associated activities run by his friends and lovers. He provided invaluable support to the success of Sadie Maisie, London's ground-breaking SM dance club; Gummi, still London's premier rubber venue; and Bulk, London's biggest ever club for bears and big men. Tyger Tyger, a much-missed club for tattooed and pierced men, was his own baby.
The UK chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence canonized him at an SM Gays event in the early 1990s. He took the name "St Derek of Human Bondage".
In 2007 Derek received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the UK’s Erotic Awards.
