We had a chance to catch up with the creator of the bear flag – Craig Alan Byrnes
When did you first get involved with the Bear Community?
I first got involved with the bear community by going to a BEARS DESSERT and Ron and Norm’s house in Springfield, VA in the summer of 1993. I was asked to go by a big ole BEAR I met at the Follies (sshh. a sex club). It was my first visit there. The BIG BEAR was Mike. He was 6’7″ and a very big bear man. I brought sugar free cookies to the event. LOL
What was the Bear Community like then?
The Bear Community was so different then. It was just a bunch of guys getting together for a social gathering. It was a board game night, or a pool party, or a social gathering. You just brought who you are. There wasn’t the “branded” name of what is a bear. I liked it because I could bring who I am to the events.
What was it like to run for a Bear title?
I ran for Mr. Baltimore Bear Cub in October of 1993. The guys in the Chesapeake Bay Bears prompted me to run. I went to all the local thrift stores in Staunton, VA, where I lived and bought as many Teddy Bears as I could and put them in a big orange plastic trash bag that looked like a giant pumpkin. I dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt and threw the bears at the audience. I won!!! I was shocked. It was great for my ego. It meant, to me, that I was cute. I never thought of myself that way before.
What did winning the titles mean to you?
Winning the International Mr. Bear title in 1999 was a lot different. The scoring was based on fund raising, community service, and creativity. When I won this title, I realized it was because of who I am as a person, not what I looked like. I prepared for this contest all year. I sold t-shirts. I raised about $12,000 that I distributed to bear clubs all over the country on my way to the contest in San Francisco. Winning this contest was a very humbling experience to me. Some people laughed, but I cried when they called my name. This title had very little to do with what I looked like and more about my social involvement with the community.
How did you come up with the design of the Bear Flag?
Making the bear flag came about because I was doing a research project on the Bear Community and I needed a cover graphic for the project. My thesis statement was that the Bear Community was emulating the “women’s feminist movement” of the 70′s and I developed 4 different template flags. The history of this process is at www.bearmfg.com. I took the bear flag that was selected as the best design and I had a set made and took them to San Francisco to the IBR in Feburary of 1996. This design was “NOT” accepted by the bear community at first. It wasn’t until Bear Pride Chicago, when the local gay and lesbian store owner purchased a large quantity of flags from me and when I got to Chicago in 1997 the whole gay part of Chicago was covered in Bear Flags. I realized, then, that this was going to be the symbol for the bear community. I was very, very humbled by the whole creation of this symbol. I took a lot of political heat from it over the years, but I just kept bringing it to bear events until I stopped producing the product in March of 1002.
What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of creating the Bear Flag. Again, it was a very humbling experience.
Tell us about your company?
My cleaning business is called Ask Our Clients Cleaning Service. I have not operated Bear Manufacturing since 2002. I run a house cleaning service in the greater Washington, DC area. It’s a lot more politically accepted and it allows me to live quietly with my pugs.
If you could have a drink with anyone – living or dead – who would it be and why?
If I could have a drink with someone from the past it would be Henry David Thoreau. After reading Walden, I grew to understand a profound need to express my own visionary capabilities and my need to be connected to who I am as a human being. I found it interesting that he died exactly 100 years before I was born. Check that history if you want. I think that’s right. He died May 6th, 1857.
If I could have a drink with someone living it would be Oprah Winfrey. I feel connected to her as a human being. My very closest friends will tell you that I have a feminist black woman buried inside me. I relate to her struggle as a gay man and I respect her vision.
What are you working on these days?
I don’t know if I’ll ever get it together, but I’m working on pieces of a book that I call “A Fearless Morale Inventory of Ourselves”. It may not be a very “popular book” but it’s a book I feel driven to share with myself at this time. It takes a look at how the 12 steps (a spiritual program for addiction) spiritual program actually compliments the life of Christ. It takes a look at various parts of the United States social community and looks at an inventory of positive and negative aspects of our society. I believe that we, as a social order, spend so much time judging others in the world. The current “Christian Right” is far from Christian and the book looks at how it’s important for us as Americans to look at ourselves in the mirror, rather than showing others in the world how to improve their lives. I won’t bore you with some of the specifics.
I’ve been dabbling with these passages for a few years. I’m not sure I’ll ever make a book out of it.
Where can people learn more?
I brought “who I am” to the Bear Community in the early years and I can honestly say that many of our community would much rather that I just stay quiet and look pretty. I’ve found as either a romance or a sex object, I was much more valuable to others than opening up my mouth and expressing who I am. I’m not sure people want to know more about me. I don’t have a web site per se. I keep pretty quiet these days. I do love the bear community with all my heart. Expressing vision, even with a humble heart, is not always judged as such by others. If someone wants to know more about me, they can always ask me here.
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