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Vice Blog

TORONTO - GTA BEAR HUNT

Fortunately—unless you've got a massive hate-on for Mother Nature and her ursine friends—this isn't an entry about the systematic extermination of the few black bears left foraging for half-eaten twinkies and rancid quarter pounders on the farthest edges of Toronto. Instead we're talking about taking stock of the flourishing downtown population of the fuzzy yet friendly, gay human variety that counts some of its most GRRR-worthy specimens among The Bears of Toronto.

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Mr. Bears 2006 John Casasanta sat down with VICE in the ultra-exclusive, we-were-totally-the-only-ones-there top floor lounge of Friday night bear bar O'Grady's on Church. It was fucking hot…

VICE: For the totally clueless, what exactly is a Bear?

John Casasanta: If you take a look at the New York Times definition, a bear is someone who enjoys his natural fur; facial fur, chest hair, body hair. It's natural. It's yours. Be proud of it.

Teach me some history.

It all started in San Francisco in the late 80s as an anti-establishment gay movement. If you take a look back at the 60s and 70s, there were some very strict norms for how people perceived gay men. They were either a nurse or wheeling a little cart down an airport runway or in food service. But the first bears didn't feel comfortable with that mould. They didn't always want to have perfectly coiffed hair.

Could you lay out some of the subcategories of bear?

There's the otter, traditionally more of a lean, furry guy. There's a cub, a younger, lighter weight type of bear. Then there's the BEAR, your full-figured, Reubensesque type of guy. Then there's the polar bears, older members of the community who are graying. Then you get muscle cubs and muscle bears. And those are the ones that are constantly working out.

Do bears only mate other bears?

Oh god, no! God, no! Oh! Mate other bears? You mean have sex with other bears. I've had somebody come up to me and say, "I really like you but I never wanted to approach you." I went, "Why?" And it's like, "Well, you're a bear." And I said, "Umm-hmm and your point being?" They're like, "Bears only go with other bears" And I'm like, "You know what? I'm not that type of bear."

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Most people think they know a bear by his distinctive look. But clear it up. What are some of the staples of bear-style?

If you're gonna go for a traditional thing. Usually, it's denim, a t-shirt or tank with facial hair and chest hair.

Footwear?

You'll see it portrayed as construction boots and so forth. Some bears wear them. Some are in runners or sneakers. Some are just in casual footwear, usually dark. Although, I'm wearing brown today.

How do you feel about the way bears are shown in movies, TV, magazines?

It really disturbs me. They're viewed as lazy. They're viewed as the dumb sidekick. All they're concerned about is finding their next meal. If there's one thing I want you to take away it's that we're more than just all about the buffet. And it just pisses me off that you don't have a bear character who's intelligent, solves the crime and actually gets things done.

So I guess you've got beef with mainstream gay stereotypes in general?

As long as you're aware of it, you can laugh at yourself. But when you look at the stereotypes, people will turn around and go, "You can't be gay." Umm, why not? "Well, you'll help build a deck." Yeah, I can get my hands dirty. But it's like, "Fags don't do that." I know plenty of fags who build their decks. Mind you, they use lesbian help! 'Cause they have all the power tools! My sister will kill me for that!