Interview with Mr. Bear Hungary

In September, on the Budapest Bears Weekend, Laci (Player) has won the title of Mr. Bear Hungary 2012. We talked to him.

WOOFdate: Why did you apply for the Mr. Bear Hungary competition?

Laci: Greetings to everyone, I met the previous winners on the Halloween Party last year, later I read about the event, and I fell in love with the teddy on the picture. Of course, with getting closer to the competition, the honouring title and the prizes motivated me, as well.

WOOFdate: You easily may have been the only one who “campaigned” and collected the votes on WOOFdate and on several other sites. Why was it so important for you to win?

Laci: To be honest, I didn’t even know that the others don’t do it the same way as I was doing it. Of course I asked before starting the campaign. I wanted to do everything the way it was intended and not break the rules. Why was it so important? The past few months were a pretty rough period of my life, the encouraging words and all that energy of my friends and of all the bears have strengthened me to do everything to win the competition, if they also want me to win it. After all, you can only participate in a competition if you are aiming for the gold with all your strength.

WOOFdate: If we can recall correctly, we could see you as an activist in Budapest Pride. On the closing event of Mr. Bear Hungary, one of the organizer of Budapest Pride stated that GayBears is “not welcome” on the events of Budapest Pride (this is due to a criticizing article published previously). What are your thoughts about this and about Budapest Pride?

Laci: First of all, I would like to mention the organizers and the discrimination inside the groups. As much as I feel sorry for that, I had to realize that the prominent representatives of the gay scene – may they be from PRIDE, from the bear community or a completely different group – stand against each other, and I was surprised that there is no agreement and harmony even inside the groups. There were quite a few factors which led to the passivity of the PRIDE organizers and to the bad relationship. Everyone is sticking to his own side, but I still don’t understand why this gets to be the cause of the incompatibility. I also heard about the voting where weren’t exactly correct with WOOFdate at all... I think that we are are part of one community, so we should stick together and put our differences behind us like adults, even if they are small differences. I agree with the concept of PRIDE itself, we do need to show ourselves, but we shouldn’t do it only on one day. I like the flash-mobs organized by the current PRIDE-organizer Milán Rózsa, and the currently planned Coming-out days. However, I don’t agree with the other side of PRIDE, what they are representing. I know that the gay community is vivid with colours, noisy, sometimes astounding, but given the current political situation, I don’t think that the stick-it-up-the-nose-of-the-citizens function of the PRIDE is doing any good. The Budapest Pride March does not always gives reason to be proud, I would rather use the therm gay carnival... We need to step back a little bit, we do not need to get the attention at any cost. Until the society is not mature enough for us, the PRIDE should take another form, or at least I think so.

WOOFdate: Getting back to the title of Mr. Bear Hungary 2012, we heard that you received several invitations from abroad. What are these?

Laci: Yes. I was really surprised, because there was no precedent for that. The organizer of the bear parties in Vienna invited me as a guest of honour to their own competition. Moreover, a bear living in America also invited me to participate in one of their own bear parties. If I can realize it, I will try and do my best on the European competition as well, although that’s still a plan of the future.

WOOFdate: Seeing that you are living a very social life, what do you think you can achieve with this title? What will be of the Hungarian bear community, can we talk about such a community at all?

Laci: Social life has taken a different turn for me some weeks ago. Up until now I’ve only been a guest at such parties, but now I’m right in the middle of everything. Because of a very kind request I am now a bartender at Habroló Pub, so we can say that I am an important part of the community now (muhahha). The title itself doesn’t entitle me for anything that couldn’t have been achieved by anyone else previously. Of course, by winning this title I want to do and will do for the good of the community. And what are these? I’m planning to organize conversational programs with the help of WOOFdate, which I want to make regular, with different topics, on the chat of the site itself. I hope to be a central figure of the forthcoming bear parties, and if my good friend Holaca will teach me some sexy moves, I may get the courage to take the stage, too. I want to organize the bear meetings on a monthly basis, for good conversations and for some beer. And with my two friends Tomi and Csaba we are planning – not even in the distant future – to make a band that really rocks. We will take the place from Pete Statham and with my gorgeous voice we will save the world. But putting the joke aside, I’ve heard from several people that the bear community is starting to fall apart, I want to ask for the help of the organizers to make these plans of the programs come true. So that we don’t grow apart, and we can “pick raspberries” together again.

With regards,Laci (Mr. Bear Hungary 2012)

• 8 Oct, 2011
• No WOOFs
• 14386 views