The
Gentle Giants of Oregon
PO
Box 1844
Portland,
OR 97207
The "giants"
maintain "The Chub Line." For 24-hour updates and voicemail,
call 241-4535 or visit their website at www.chubnet.net/gentlegiants.
Feed QW: Send
savory bits of information to Byron Beck at bbeck@wweek.com
at least 10 days prior to publication.
It's happened.
I'm old.
All the signs are there: gray hair, passive-aggressive
responses to teenage baristas, and--quelle horreur!--a
face-first plunge into the ultimate gay offense: chubbiness!
No, I didn't start out that way. Sure, I had my share of
baby fat, but it's only been in the last few years that
I have come to realize I am looking less like myself and
more like a caftan-wearing Merv Griffin.
But, before you ship me off to fat camp, let's all take
a little look-see in the mirror, shall we?
Until recently, being fat placed you at the bottom of the
gay pecking order, right below fetid breath, stanky body
odor and Beaverton taste in clothing.
No more.
While body image haunts every gym rat in Portland, us fatties
are starting to skip through the town square as free as
could be.
In my peer group, gaining weight seems to be a sign of
personal acceptance. Being fat means you have finally found
that special someone (along with the obligatory Jack Russell
Terrier and his-and-his Land Rovers) and you don't need
to buy into all that scene stuff.
Mind you, for the glam set, skinny is still considered
the gay norm. Sean Hayes, a.k.a. "Just Jack" from the swishfest
sitcom Will & Grace, often talks about the difference
between "skinny" and "gay skinny," the never-ending attempt
to become a walking pogo stick with freedom nipple rings.
But I digress.
The challenge that Speedo season (or any time of year)
presents to me is whether to shed the unsightly pounds I've
gained from sheer bliss or go ahead and buy a posing thong
for the upcoming "Men of the Northwest" spread in the gay
chubby-chasers skin magazine Bulk Male. Or I could
really go for it and become a member of the Gentle
Giants of Oregon.
As its website indicates, TGGO is "dedicated to bringing
together heavyset men and the men who like them that way."
A permanent fixture at the Pride Festival, these big guys
have no trouble letting it all hang out. Their website
is a hotbed of event listings, newsletters and big-guy
links and even offers a few pictures of some of the more
prominent members.
Whether or not I embrace my inner huskiness and step away
from the bathroom scale is yet to be seen. But it's nice
to know that we have finally made some room in our disco-fueled
culture for fatties. Besides, as everybody knows, fat people
are the best dancers in the world.
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