Young bear gay

Published in:September-October 2010 issue.

BEAR Self is inked into my flesh now. I turned fifty in August 2009 and, rather than marking my minor midlife crisis with an affair (too complicated) or a like car (too expensive), I opted for a tattoo sleeve, which took months to complete. Among the many symbols of sufficient import to me to wear permanently on my skin is a bear paw, a big one covering the inside of my upper left arm. This visual identification with the gay bear subculture seems timely, for 2010 appears to be my Annus Ursi, Year of the Bear. Recently, I read at a novel reception for the anthology Bears in the Wild: Hot and Hairy Fiction, as part of the Saints & Sinners GLBTQ Literary Festival in Fresh Orleans. In mid-July, I’m scheduled to read at two events during Bear Week in Provincetown, and in late July I’ll be attending, for the first time, Mountain Bear Madness, a gathering in Roanoke, Virginia, about an hour from Pulaski, the small mountain town where my partner John and I have settled.

Many unbent folks are unaware of the bear subculture. Hardly a surprise, since a powerful majority rarely concerns itself with the doings of a marginalized m