Bears in the City

BRISBANE: BrisBears secretary Peter Stapleton talks to us about the group, and what makes bears a unique subculture.

Brisbears began in October 1993 and is one of the longest surviving bear clubs around. We currently have over three hundred members from all over Queensland, Australia and Worldwide. Our members come from all walks of life, and our friendliness, relaxed and non judgemental attitudes toward each other are the true hallmarks of the bear community.

Brisbears is a social club promoting the brotherhood of gay men who openly challenge the stereotypical image of the male ideal: men who are defiantly and aggressively uninterested in society's perception of gay men as hyper-thin, hairless, fashion victims. Instead they celebrate the fact that they are sometimes large, less than perfect and almost never shave their body hair – though some do clipper! You do not need to be a bear to attend.

Twice a month we gather together for friendly times, and to celebrate our common interests in our 'Den' at the Mineshaft Bar at the Sportsman Hotel, Spring Hill. As well as our Den nights we also hold a Teddy Bear’s Picnic in July, a Christmas Picnic and BBQ, as well as other events.

The club is co-ordinated by a member-elected committee. The committee donate their time freely to bring members opportunities to socialise and connect with other like-minded men. We strive to bring a varied program of events throughout the year. This is a huge task but without a committee there is no club.

In 2011, thanks to the hard work of the committee and the support of our members throughout the year and especially due to the financial success of Northern Exposure 2011, Brisbears was in a position to make donations to charitable organisations. At the AGM it was announced that we had donated $1000 to Beyond Blue, $1000 to Open Doors Youth Group, and $600 to GLWA. This is something we hope to be in a position to do again in the future.

2012 is going to be a great year for Brisbears, we have some new fresh faces on our committee and we have some great events planned, so come along and say hi, we won’t bite, well not if you don’t want us to…

BrisBears is on each month on the 3rd and 5th Saturday. More information on Brisbears can be found on the net at www.brisbears.org.au, or in their Facebook group.