Mr. SF Bear Contest

[dhbearguy]

John Caldera, the owner of Mr. Bay Area Cub, and Mr. San Francisco Bear approached me at the Lone Star yesterday. He said he wanted me to help him produce this years Mr. San Francisco Bear contest. He said though that he would like to make it a benefit for Breast Cancer. I guess the BCEF since that is the organization that Momma promotes.

While of course I am up for the task, I am wondering if people would get turned off by the idea of the beneficiary. Your thoughts??

Oh and bigreddee, You really need to enter this year, and sweep IBR too!!!

Comments

[genoendicott.livejournal.com]

I think it's a great idea. Breast Cancer doesn't only strike women.

[bigreddee.livejournal.com]

I don't know about entering the contest (we'll have to talk about that), but I think the beneficiary is a good one, and the kinds of people that would get turned off by helping others aren't worth much.

[daltxfurry.livejournal.com]

I think it is a great charity also. Some may poo-poo the idea but I don't see why not. Anyway you could possibly do joint charities? Like BCEF and maybe and AIDS charity?

[castrowoof.livejournal.com]

Breast Cancer affects everybody. As someone who lost both his mother and aunt to breast cancer, I would say it is a very worthy cause!

[squalidbear.livejournal.com]

I think breast cancer is a great cause and of course having Momma (ask glovercom how I say that) behind it gives it added credibility.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

I have to add myself to your list of Yes votes on benefiting a breast... many reasons, it affects us all as others have said, it's also about time we give something back to the many women (and especially Momma) who have put their heart and souls into HIV work the last 20+ years, even back when it was a "gay man's" disease. I suppose joint charities is also a good way to go if you really fear some sort of problem with this.

[handlebear.livejournal.com]

I think Breast cancer is a great cause.

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

A resounding YES to supporting Breast Cancer as the beneficiary.

Ok. I'll bite..

[realaustinman.livejournal.com]

I'll be a dissenter here, though I think I'm taking this in a direction that maybe is unspoken and probably highly unpopular. Despite this, I think I'm in good company.

On one hand, I think gay-centric organizations face the challenge of having a much smaller 'target audience' from which to gather cash/capital compared to breast cancer.

And on the other, I can see where its becoming less and less interesting to support AIDS organizations. Is the change in beneficiary being provoked by something that the AIDS help organizations have done specifically, or is it a subliminal snub for the behaviors and actions of some of their clients? I can completely understand the emotional weight of the latter case, but it might be a bit self-loathing to base the decision on that.

I'd rather see gay fundraisers help gay causes; the baptist car wash Saturdays on Braker Lane doesn't give its money to the Dell jewish community center. If, for political or personal reasons the AIDS charities are out, I'd rather see funds raised for a lesbian or gay choir, a research organization, a youth foundation, or don't you guys have a library there? Surely there's some needy well-meaning gay or lesbian organizations that could use a boost.

The pink ribbon brigade has access to far more far deeper pockets than the rainbow crowd.

Re: Ok. I'll bite..

[orange-groves.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately many lesbians get breast cancer, and honestly HIV shouldn't be considered only a gay disease, or the only gay disease. I would support giving to Breast Cancer for those reasons alone. And contrary to what some believe, many lesbians were very supporting in the early years of HIV.

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with the charity, but I hope the judges for the contest don't turn out to be another Mama's Family Reunion. I admire what Mama does, but she's mostly leather-centric. I know there's crossover, but I'd prefer judges of bear/cub contests to identify mostly with bears than to be leather queens who dabble with bear stuff.

[dhbearguy.livejournal.com]

Good concern. I liked that last years judges were all previous bear/cub title holders.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I think supporting Breast Cancer research is a great cause. I don't know if SF is like other areas of the country in this respect, but many of my Lesbian friends were caretakers/caregivers for many of my acquaintances who suffered and died from AIDS. Lesbians are at much higher risk for breast cancer than their straight counterparts. I think any opportunity to help this particular community and support breast cancer research is a good one. Time to take blinders off. HUGS!

[heypyro.livejournal.com]

Neil has pretty much hit the nail on the head. I have talked to John previously about him wanting to benefit breast cancer and it is in a large part due to all the wonderful work that the lesbian community has done over the years with HIV and AIDS.