Meet Aurora Gainsborough, North American Mama Bear 2024
North American Bear (NAB) Weekend 2025 is just around the corner. Taking place from February 20-23 the event’s theme this year is “Bears in the Barnyard”. As we get ready for this year’s festivities we catch up with the NAB 2024 title family as they prepare to step down, starting with Aurora Gainsborough, North American Mama Bear 2024.
BWM: Can you tell us a bit about your background? Including name, pronouns, where you are from and current city of residency?
My name is Aurora Gainsborough, I am a trans-woman whose pronouns are She/Her/Hers. I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and lived in Waukesha for a short while before moving to Chicago, Illinois where I currently reside. I am a born and bred Midwest gal with a big appetite, a bigger heart and an even bigger mouth to round it out! My bark is most definitely bigger than my bite, but at the end of the day, love is the driving emotion behind all my actions and words. I follow my late mother’s example very much so, to welcome everyone I meet with open arms and a heart filled with love and compassion.
BWM: What drew you to the bear community and how did you find it?
Aurora Gainsborough (AG): Growing up in a state as conservative as Wisconsin and living in a city as small as Waukesha I was at my most disconnected from the LGBTQIA+ community and so sexually repressed that I thought “Bear” was nothing more than a category on Pornhub or XVideos. In May of 2017 I had received one death threat too many at work for being visibly queer, so I moved to Chicago to be with my fiancé within the same week. From that point, he introduced me to the cruising bars he frequented, and I was introduced to the Leather and the Bear scene simultaneously. I suddenly found a home, a family, and a community where I was free to express myself and express my sexuality after years of actively suppressing it because my family and friends were/are not comfortable with it, nor were/are they comfortable talking about it now.
BWM: Can you share your experience as a Mama Bear within the community? How do you define what a mama bear is?
AG: My experience as a Mama Bear is something I find to be a bit more unique due to being a transgender woman. Prior to beginning my transition in November of 2020, I can most definitely say that my heart led itself with a woman’s spirit and the nurturing instinct has always been present, even from a very young age. After my transition began and I began more actively presenting female, people started referring to me as a Mama Bear or started calling me Mama (I actively refuse to accept Mommy) and I just rolled with it, not thinking too seriously about it. Now it’s at a point where that is how many of my friends and family know me, even at the local kink dungeon the staff have referred to me as Mama Bear. When I get asked to define what a Mama Bear is I think of my late mother Cherine. My mother despite her many…many flaws, ultimately loved all of her children and showed it greatly. She took me to my first pride, she accepted me for coming out as queer, told me that she herself was bisexual. At the age of 16 during my first PRIDE fest in Milwaukee I witnessed my mother (a woman of 5’4) getting entangled in an altercation with an evangelical protester (a man of 6’5), while the security just half-heartedly said “keep moving, nothing to see”. After the protester ran away, my mother made sure that myself and everyone around me were alright. That spirit, that backbone, that passion, and love are what defines a Mama Bear to me. Someone willing to throw down to protect her loved ones if that’s what it takes.
BWM: What have been your proudest achievements as North American Mama Bear over the last year.
AG: I think my proudest achievements during my year have been the small interactions I’ve had with people. I’ve encountered young folks in our community who desperately need a Mama to help them feel welcomed and loved, especially my queer babies who need someone to love them for who they are and are presenting themselves to be. I’ve had people cry on my shoulder thanking me for loving them the most when they feel like no one else does. After crying and wiping the tears away and telling them to wipe the boogie from their nose I’ve made sure they were ok. I’m usually the first to see when someone needs a Mama Bear, and sometimes people who didn’t know they needed one come to me. During my title year I met a man named Aaron who on the offset didn’t know I was a trans woman. We got to talking, and I explained my experience as openly as I possibly could with no judgement, a level head, and a willingness to share. Aaron shared with me that his adult child was beginning their transition, and the best advice I could give was to love their child. They haven’t lost their child; their child is just presenting in a way that feels right. The next day Aaron flagged me down and thanked me because he had called his child that night and offered his unconditional love and support. Bringing a father and child together and even closer I think is the crowning jewel to my year. One simple interaction helped a man gain understanding for his child, and they are very close now because of it.
BWM: Tell us about your platform. What was the issue(s) you addressed during your campaign to win and as titleholder.
AG: I did not approach the NAB competition with a platform in mind contrary to what most might think. I had to think long and hard about what it was going to be. My personal platform is the preservation of History, so to that end before my year comes to a close, I will be making a donation to the LGBT Hall of Fame in Chicago. My title families much broader platform has been to promote trans inclusion and equity throughout the community. To that end our title vests were created by Wolfstryker Leathers in Trans Pride colors, and we’ve been vocal about our position on gender exclusive events through the community. I have also made it a point to show up where I’m not welcome as a trans-woman both when I’ve travelled and at home.
BWM: If you are comfortable doing so please tell us your view on misogyny in the gay and bear communities? What can we do to ensure mama bears and female identifying bears in general feel more welcomed.
AG: My views on misogyny are scathing at best. It is alive and well, in no short part due to conservative mindsets, politics, and LGB without the T queers who think it’s ok to ostracize entire demographics of our community. It pains me to say that most seem to forget that it’s because of black, trans, women of color that helped ignite the fight for our rights. Storme` Delarverie and Marsha P Johnson are names everyone should have in their head. Storme` a butch-lesbian drag-king of color threw the first punch. She fought and escaped police grasp multiple times that night at the Stonewall Inn, while Marsha P Johnson and her friends Zazu Nova, and Jackie Hormona helped push back against the police. Women are the backbone of our community, trans and cis. Just because we aren’t sexually appealing to everyone doesn’t mean men have the right to look down their nose at us or allow us to volunteer at conventions while preventing us from joining in on the fun. The best way for the bear community to help cis-women, trans-women, and female identifying peoples feel more comfortable is to make us feel welcome and included in the fun. Bring that same energy you save for the big daddy bears and show us that we belong. Paying us lip service does no good for anyone.
BWM: Tell us what you love about the bear community? Why are you proud to be a bear?
AG: I love the bear community for its body positivity, every single person I come across has the energy that I wish I could have when it comes to loving myself. I have always been plus size, and it’s lead to something resembling an eating disorder and a lot of self-hatred. Cliff Boyd the Illinois Bear of 2025 taught a class on body positivity during World Bear Weekend last year in August which collectively turned into group therapy for everyone, but afterwards I saw everyone running about renewed and doing things I’d never have the courage to do. I struggle daily with my size, and I love seeing everyone love themselves, even if I can’t do that for myself. Trying to find a reason to be proud of being a bear is difficult when I see so many people ostracizing and shunning people like me. If I had to think of a reason, it’s seeing the people I’ve helped by being a Mama Bear. At conventions I do encounter people who end up being bullied for not being “bear enough” IE they’re not hairy enough, not fat enough, or some other bullshit reason and it’s hard to be proud to be in a community where this is happening. But I think about the tears I’ve dried, the smiles I’ve put on people’s faces, the people I’ve made laugh and who’ve made me laugh in return. I’m proud to be a bear in that I can help the ones who need it most. I’m a Mama Bear, and a Mama Bear I shall always be.
BWM: What are your plans after stepping down?
AG: My plans after stepping down are well under way already! During my title year I became acquainted with a budding sect of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence here in Chicago. I’m very proud to say that I have joined the Second City Sisters: The Abbey of the Irreverent Bean and am actively involved in helping to lay groundwork for us to begin fundraising and bringing joy to the community at large. It’s hard work but we are all in it for the long haul. My Sister name will have to stay secret until my stepdown speech, but a hint would be “a style of knife cut for a classic salty snack”.
BWM: Where can we find you? Websites? Social Media?
AG: I can be found most easily on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky if you’re nasty. My Facebook is simply under my name, my Instagram handle is briarose28, and my Bluesky is @mamarory23.bsky.social! Give me a follow and say hello!
