In gay culture, bear is a term for men who are large, hairy, or both.
Bears at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City
Mr. DC Bear Cub 2006 and Mr. DC Bear 2006
John Joseph "Jack" Fritscher is an American author, university professor, historian, and social activist known internationally for his fiction, erotica, and nonfiction analyses of pop culture and gay male culture. An activist prior to the Stonewall riots, he was an out and founding member of the Journal of Popular Culture. Fritscher became highly influential as editor of Drummer magazine.
Fritscher in 1972