Leading By Example: Mr. Bear South Australia 2025, Jace Reh
One of the best parts of being editor of Bear World Magazine is getting to interact with amazing bears the world over who not only talk the talk of advocacy for the bear community but walk that walk as well. That is most certainly the case with our January cover man Jace Reh, the recently elected Mr. Bear South Australia by the Bear Men of Adelaide.
You see, Jace isn’t your typical titleholder. His victory in the Mr. Bear SA competition represents a culmination of a life dedicated to service for the LGBTQ+ community. He is a person that has seen and endured a lot and has harnessed his hardships to help educate people in his professional and personal lives.
He is an advocate, a fundraiser, a counselor, a proud representative of our community and an author, who along with his partner Theo Brown and Alex Dunkin from Buon-Cattivi Press, recently published Oh How We Laughed* – an anthology of work by queer and disabled artists, poets and writers from South Australia.
Get to know this inspiring and admirable bear in our exclusive interview below.
John Hernandez (JH): Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Jace Reh (JR): My name is Jace Reh and I am a proud queer Gamilaroi Trans Man currently living in Kaurna Country. I use all pronouns, which I feel represents my identity as a Gender Queer person. I grew up on Narrunga Country (Yorke Peninsula), a rural town on the coast of South Australia until moving to the big smoke here in Adelaide!
JH: What drew you to the bear community?
JR: My introduction to the bear community was simple, there can often feel like a lot going on in Adelaide, and a friend invited me to the Mr. Bear SA competition. After a 10-year hiatus, the group had something to prove, and that night, I knew I had found my place. It is a welcoming space, of diverse ages, body types, and backgrounds, everyone joining with bright smiles celebrating the excellence of their community with pride in their eyes. My partner and I Theodore quickly became regular faces at the Bear events.
JH: Tell us about your local bear scene and the Bear Men of Adelaide.
JR: I like to consider the Bear Men of Adelaide very similar to my partner, small but mighty! Many people, both nationally and internationally, consider Adelaide merely a ‘big country town’ that time forgot. In times of Don Dunstan (an incredibly progressive SA premier), South Australia was considered the pinnacle of progressive politics, our push for Women’s Rights to Vote, and how quickly we called for the decriminalisation of Homosexuality in comparison to other Australian States. Now, we are considered to have stagnated, but our communities still flourish with diverse bodies and minds, beautiful even if forgotten. Our Bear community is no different. We have a membership base full of knowledge, keepers of history, with passion and vigor, and smiles that light up rooms. Like clockwork, the Bear Men of Adelaide meet at the Duke of Brunswick on the First, Third, and occasional Fifth Friday of every month, with very little variation. In true bear fashion, we drink and laugh together, and once a month we raffle off a meat tray! (A time-honored Australian tradition). Simply put, the Bear Men of Adelaide are a group of friendly and fabulous folk that you can enjoy any Friday night with!
JH: What has your experience been as a Gomerio and trans masculine bear within the community?
JR: In many ways, my identity has presented itself as an opportunity for education. People are often shocked when I talk about my life as an Aboriginal person, as a blakfulla as I say colloquially. Because of this I am then given the opportunity to speak openly about the complexity of First Nations history here and share the way our communities have continued our traditions and connections despite the ongoing results of colonisation. I am so thankful for the support I’ve seen from Rainbow Mob in showing our pride as Queer Aboriginal people.
Being trans has acted in the same way, an opportunity to educate and share my life and show that as Queer Men we are all connected. I think sometimes we allow our differences to mean more than our similarities, our connections and shared history as members of the LGBTQIA+ community should be ties that bind us.
JH: A Google search of your name yielded results about you being a survivor of conversion therapy. Can you tell us a bit about your experience and where Australia stands on this issue currently?
JR: I’m glad to see this mentioned. This was a very recent triumph here in the SA community. We often try to use the terms ‘Conversion Practices’ or ‘Change and Suppression Practices’ in the advocacy spaces. In part because we believe this is in no way a therapy, but an unethical practice. The use of change and suppression acknowledges both Queer people who are targeted to be ‘changed’ straight and trans people who are targeted to be ‘suppressed’ to cisgender lives. I was involved in a religious conversion program from the ages of 8 through 15, where I was told my leanings of both identity and sexuality were a sin, an outrage to god, and an affliction I merely needed to pray away. Shortly after I turned 15, I experienced a mental breakdown, where I told my parents who had been mostly unaware of what was happening, and they quickly removed me from these institutions to start fresh in whatever way I felt drawn, rather than a path laid out for me by the church. I was then lucky enough to sit on the board of the South Australian Rainbow Advocacy Alliance and share my story with the Attorney General of South Australia alongside other survivors of these practices. Because of this work, South Australia became the 5th State/Territory in Australia to ban the practices, bringing us closer to full criminalisation that says members of the LGBTQIA+ community cannot, and should not, be changed or suppressed to live as their true selves.
JH: What does it mean to you to win the title of Mr. Bear SA?
JR: Winning the title of Mr Bear SA was such an honor and a privilege. I have dedicated much of my life to supporting and uplifting the LGBTQIA+ community, and after building such a loving deep connection with the Bear Men of Adelaide it was such a pleasure to be named their representative. I have been on stage since I was 4 years old, so performing is a comfortable place for me to be, but to be chosen as a mouthpiece for my community in this period of growth and change, I felt truly grateful to call myself a member of Bears Adelaide.
JH: What work or advocacy have you done within the community and what do you plan to do now that you have this platform?
JR: My dad has always said I could talk with a mouthful of marbles underwater, and this is the approach I have taken with my advocacy. My first protest was in 2005 during the Prime Ministership of John Howard when he attempted to remove the power of workers’ Unions with his unpopular ‘Work Choices’ mode, mostly a story for another time! But since then I have been incredibly politically active on issues that impacted not only me but the lives of every human being. I currently work for the organisation formally known as the Victorian Aids Council, now Thorne Harbour Health, as a Mental Health Peer worker for LGBTQIA+ community members. This allows me the privilege to work 1 on 1 with community members as they go through the hard yards of living with mental illness and their roads to recovery.
Throughout my title year as Mr Bear SA, I will be focused on raising funds for an organisation I care deeply about, The Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service (STTARS), which has been working with this cohort on Kaurna Country since 1991, providing a range of free and confidential services for people who have experienced persecution, war, violence or human rights violations before coming to Australia and are having difficulties as a result. While the service is not LGBTQIA+ specific, they are Queer friendly with lived-experience peer workers and all staff having completed LGBTQIA+ inclusivity training.
JH: What advice would you give to other trans-bears out there, especially in this uncertain political time?
JR: My advice to other trans-bears out there is don’t second guess yourself. You know who you are, and what you’ve been through to get to this point. There will be people who will question you and try and tell you that you aren’t really a man, not really a bear, perhaps not even gay. At the end of the day what matters the most is the community that doesn’t. The community that accepts you with open arms. Find those people and no matter what you face you will never face it alone.
Be sure to follow Jace Reh, Mr. Bear South Australia on Instagram @heyitsjacee and on Facebook at Mr Bear SA. Buy Oh How We Laughed* HERE.
