Goodbye VicBears

As some of you may already know, and others may not, I made the choice to resign my position as Secretary of VicBears recently. It wasn’t a decision that I made lightly, but one that I decided to do for a number of reasons.

Given that there’s been a bit of controversy around VicBears, and the bears in general recently, I wanted to clarify that the reason has nothing to do with any member of the current committee. In fact, I really believe the current committee has done a great job running the club and has some fantastic ideas. More importantly, the committee doesn’t seem to have any big egos in it. Something that has been a problem at various stages of the club.

VicBears has held a special place in my heart since I first joined. It was the first place in Victoria that I felt truly accepted and a place that I made a huge number of friends. It was a club that I wanted to give back some time to and make an effort in.

Unfortunately, for the majority of the time I was on the committee, COVID was also there to ruin all the fun. I made a decision to move back to Western Australia for the interim because of it so it has always been hard to feel like you’re doing anything when I’ve either been stuck at home, or several thousand kilometers away.

I received a lot of support and a lot of “please don’ts” when I decided to leave. This is something I appreciate a lot from the committee. They will be a group of people I will always be close to and a group that I hold a lot of respect for.

But, my decision to leave was primarily based on the fact that I’ve moved to WA for the moment. Right now, I don’t know when I’m likely to be back permanently. I honestly think that given the distance and my non-commitment to returning to Victoria, that I’m not the best person to be on the committee and that someone with more time and commitment should be taking up the position of Secretary.

I felt that I was there in name, but not in spirit, and because of that, I felt that this wasn’t fair on the rest of the committee who are doing so much to move the club forward and put on events that the community wants and expects.

Aaron, the president, is highly knowledgeable and deeply intelligent with an attitude that’s both positive and takes no shit. Cam, the VP, has been around longer than the furniture at The Laird, knows everyone and is someone respected with a lot of the club members. They provide a good balance to each other and seem to hold a lot of respect for each other. Neither are big egos and I do believe have the best interests of the bears at heart.

Mick, the treasurer, is highly knowledgeable about the gritty details of the club, and is always friendly, always looking to help. Adam, the new secretary, is outgoing, fun and tries his absolute best to make members feel included in the club.

Christian is a pain in the butt. I mean… look at his curly hair. Love you Christian ♥🥰

As for Johnny, Damien, Cheyne and Oliver. I’ve not had the opportunity to get to know them as well as I’d have liked to, but in all the times I’ve had the opportunity to interact with them, they’ve been wonderful positive people and also have the clubs interests in their hearts. I have no doubt they will do the club proud.

Lastly, I wanted to mention Mr VicBears himself. Josh. I’m glad that he’s taking on the role heading up the Inclusion Subcommittee as he is passionate about the club being inclusive and being a safe place for anyone that wants to be there, and he is highly driven. I respect him a lot and wish him the absolute best in this.

Lastly, I did want to touch on one of the other reasons I chose to leave. Though it didn’t play as much of a role in my decision, it was a small part of it.

There are a few loud people who choose to make a lot of noise about issues within the club, but choose to not be involved in the change. Whilst nobody is under any obligation to do anything, change doesn’t happen through ‘awareness’. It happens through action.

Though I choose not to mention names, it has also been disappointing to see certain members throw stones at others, even though they’d previously defended them whilst in power. It is petty and is disappointing to see in people I once held respect for.

In closing, I hold a lot of respect for the club, the committee and what they are doing to move forward. They’re not perfect, but nobody is perfect. I trust this committee to do what they believe is best for the club and to listen and take feedback from the members to ensure the club moves in a direction that is both positive to the community it serves, and the LGBTI+ community as a whole.

Thank you to those VicBears members that supported me through my time on the committee, and to the committee members I worked beside.