‘Bears have always been the ones that don’t easily fit into the gay community’: Harbour City Bears
Image: Image: Ann-Marie Calilhanna.
Each month we’ll take a trip into the woods to catch up with our community’s bears and their admirers. This month President of Harbour City Bears Daniel Marshall explains why there’s no single way to define a bear.
***
What defines a bear?
You may hear this asked many times, but never really have a proper answer.
The reason for this is that there really isn’t an answer. Even if you were to come up with one today, it will swiftly change due to the ever evolving nature of our community.
The bear community exists on an entire spectrum of types and there is no way to directly pigeonhole anyone; you can have bears that are big or small, hairy or smooth, bearded or shaved, muscular or chubby. There really isn’t a predefined script.
The only thing that doesn’t change is the fact that everyone is welcome. There is no need or reason to think that you may not ‘fit in’ because no matter what your physical attributes might be, you will.
Being a bear is a mindset rather than a look. We have always been the ones that don’t easily fit into other parts of the gay community, and we celebrate that.
We stick together and have our own (sometimes dysfunctional, but always loving) family.
At Harbour City Bears there are a multitude of ways that you can come out and enjoy time with your friends and family in the bear community.
We have our regular Friday evening event at Kinselas Hotel and Sunday catch ups at The Bank. On the fourth Tuesday of each month we have Press Paws upstairs at Middle Bar in Kinselas, and on the second Wednesday of each month we have a movie night at Dendy Cinemas.
All of this information and ways to join the Harbour City Bears can be found on our website at hcbears.com.au, which stays up to date with regular news articles and notifications around all of our events.
On a parting note, we would like to wish our Mr Harbour City Bear, Dale Apple, good luck at the Mr Australasia Bear competition at Southern Hibearnation in June. See vicbears.org.au for more details.
