Collection MS-15-10 - Don Murchy collection

Don Murchy is a community activist, volunteer, and a prominent member of Nova Scotia’s leather community. Murchy was born in Dartmouth on August 18, 1950. He graduated from Dartmouth High in 1968 and moved to Truro, where he attained his associate’s degree in Education from the Nova Scotia Teachers College. Following this, Murchy moved to Fort Kent, Maine, where he was awarded both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Education.

Upon moving back to Halifax in 1976, Murchy worked various jobs, including teaching computer classes and working in local health clubs. From 1988 to his retirement in 2015, he worked at Saint Mary’s University in the Registrar’s and Admissions Offices and taught computer classes through their Continuing Education program. Murchy has been a member of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union [NSGEU], holding several positions on the local and regional boards. He met his current partner in 1986.

Murchy’s participation in the LGBT Community began upon his return to Nova Scotia through his attendance at The Turret, an LGBT bar operated by the Gay Alliance for Equality (later the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Nova Scotia) located in the Kyber building. Upon The Turret’s closure in 1982, Murchy attended events at its successor, Rumours. Murchy joined the TightRope Leather Brotherhood at its inception in the early 1990s and would go on to hold every executive position prior to the Brotherhood going defunct in 2007. He was the first winner of the Mr. Atlantic Canada Leather [M.A.C. Leather] contest in 1999. From 1993 until 2006, Murchy ran the Over Thirties Club for gay men, which held potlucks in private homes across the Maritimes, maintaining a mailing list of approximately 150 people. Murchy produced the Fetish Ball from 2004-2014 as a fundraiser for local LGBT causes, and also developed the Fetish Evening, which held events from 2007-2009. He has worked for the Halifax Pride Committee as a Waterfront Supervisor and has previously held Toys for Boys talks at Venus Envy during Pride week. Murchy has also been a member of the Society of Bastet, a BDSM and kink play club in Halifax, and was an associate member of Chicago Hellfire and Delta International men’s BDSM clubs in the United States.