Original run Drummer was founded in
Los Angeles by John H. Embry and Jeanne Barney, but because of police harassment Today, the magazine states a zero-tolerance policy for writers, artists, or organizations associated with hate of any kind, including racism,
transphobia, and misogyny. In his book
Gay Pioneers: How Drummer Shaped Gay Popular Culture 1965-1999, Fritscher stated that Embry "allowed publication of advice, names, and addresses of magazines featuring minors, including younger children", as well as advertisements for purchasing pictures of minors. This included an advertisement labeled "Photos of Male High School Students", which allowed people to purchase photographs of high school boys playing during gym class that were taken with a "hidden camera", as well as "semi-nude" photos of high school boys swimming. There was also a half page advertisement for the Danish
pederasty magazine
Boy. Fritscher was against allowing anything endorsing or implying sexual activity with underage boys, and convinced Embry to drop the ads. In 1982, Luke Daniel won both International Mr. Drummer and
International Mr. Leather. On September 18, 1990, Clive Platman (Mr. Australia Drummer) presented
Tony DeBlase with an Australian version of DeBlase's creation of the
leather pride flag; this version incorporated the
Southern Cross, which is from the Australian national flag, with the original design of the leather pride flag. Fritscher's short-story collection ''Corporal in Charge of Taking Care of Captain O'Malley
(Gay Sunshine Press, 1984) was the first collection of leather fiction, and the first collection of fiction from Drummer
. The title entry Corporal in Charge
was the only play published by editor Winston Leyland in the Lambda Literary Award winner Gay Roots: Twenty Years of Gay Sunshine - An Anthology of Gay History, Sex, Politics & Culture'' (1991). The magazine was sold in 1986 to Tony DeBlase, who sold it in 1991 to Martijn Bakker, owner of RoB Amsterdam.
During publishing hiatus Jack Fritscher's eyewitness recollections and interviews of
Drummer history were published in 2007 as
Gay Pioneers: How Drummer Magazine Shaped Gay Popular Culture 1965-1999. In 2008
Drummer cofounder Jeanne Barney received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the
Pantheon of Leather Awards. A selection of Jack Fritscher's writing in
Drummer was published in 2008 as
Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer. This won the
National Leather Association International’s Geoff Mains Nonfiction Book Award in 2009. In 2014 and 2015 respectively
Drummer cofounders John H. Embry and Jeanne Barney were inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.
Relaunch Jack MacCullum, a titleholder in the D.N.A. ("Drummer North America") competitions, purchased the magazine and its associated events from Martijn Bakker in 2018, Jack Fritscher was a consulting editor on the first relaunch issue. The current editor in chief, Darkqwolf, was appointed 1 August 2023. == References ==