“Historically, gay men have stigmatized other gay men for being ugly, being old, having a small cock, or being fat. The shame of such stigma often forced some gay men to keep a low profile or remain out of sight in the gay community. Who wants to be called an “old queen” or a “fat pig,” especially to their face?
Girth and Mirth predates the rise of the new sex-positive gay bears by a decade. However, bears did not originate in the Girth and Mirth scene, as some academics have alleged. In a 1999 interview with Ron Suresha, Reed Wilgoren recounts how his friend Charlie Brown had placed an ad in the Berkeley Barb (a beacon for gay voices in the 1970s) in 1976 called “Chubbies and Chasers, Unite!” The very positive response was overwhelming. This incentivized Charlie to found the first Girth and Mirth Club in San Francisco in 1976. This became a sex-positive, body-affirming, mutually supportive organized social group. The next year a Girth and Mirth chapter was stared in Boston, and then another chapter in New York City in 1978…”
