It's hard to celebrate where you are, if you don't know where you've been. The Leather/Kink/BDSM community has a very rich history. It's a mixed bag of gay leather, transwomen, kinky het folk, and BDSM enthusiasts, all supporting each other. War, motorcycle clubs, Stonewall, our government, and popular media have all left their mark. A lot of our history was lost to AIDS. And that history is being made right now, today, as well.
I'm Meronym (https://linktr.ee/CEMeronym). I've been teaching classes in my local kink community since 2010. You can find more of my writings on FetLife at https://fetlife.com/users/120724/posts/806394. I love teaching kink classes, but not everyone can attend my classes. For some of my classes, I'm providing my slide sets here with some of the conversation that goes along with them (you'll have to supply your side). I suggest you start with Dungeon Essentials.