British-born businessman and leather subculture community leader
Alan Selby (1929–2004), born Alan Henry Sniders,[1] was an English-born American gay businessman and leader in the San Franciscoleather community.[2] He was known by many as "the Mayor of Folsom Street".[1] He claimed to have created the first hanky code with his business partners at Leather 'n' Things in 1972, when their bandana supplier inadvertently doubled their order and the expanded code would help them sell the extra colors they had received.[3] However, other sources dispute this being the origin of the hanky code.[4]
Selby co-founded and fundraised for the San Francisco AIDS Emergency Fund, which was founded in 1982.[7][8] Following the death of his partner, Peter Jacklin, from AIDS in 1987, Selby became a prominent figure in the community response against the AIDS epidemic.[1]
Selby died from complications of emphysema at the age of 75 in May 2004 in San Francisco.[2] In 2019, an exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum celebrated Selby's life and legacy.[9]
^Jones, Jordy (2017). The Mayor of Folsom Street, The Auto/Biography of "Daddy Alan" Selby aka Mr. S. Fair Page Media LLC. pp. 61–62. ISBN978-0-9989098-0-6.
^Fischer, Hal (1977). Gay Semiotics ♂. San Francisco: NFS Press. ISBN0-917986-03-2. Archived from the original on 2019-10-18. Retrieved 2020-04-13. In San Francisco, the signs began appearing around 1971. The Trading Post, a department store specializing in erotic merchandise, began promoting handkerchiefs in the store and printing cards with their meanings. The red and blue handkerchiefs and their significance were already in existence, and meanings were assigned to other colors as well.