Renewed ReNude Pride!

Author’s Note: Handshaking – an often used gesture of goodwill where two or more individuals acknowledge one another – may soon disappear from our accepted custom of “good manners.” Too many pathogens are transmitted by this futile direct contact that in no way assures anyone of a guarantee of health, safety, support and/or respect.

As same gender loving (bisexual or gay) men, both Aaron, my spouse, – in encouragement and support – and I remain firmly committed and dedicated to maintaining ReNude Pride as a celebration of not only same gender love but also our lives as bare practitioners (naturists or nudists). For health and safety reasons during this current coronavirus crisis, we endorse the wearing of facemasks to reduce the risks of COVID-19 (an airborne infection) transmission. However, facemasks are the only body coverings that we recommend!

Bare practitioners are, for the most part, advocates and enthusiasts to the philosophy of clothes-freedom and covering-freedom. We strongly adhere to the practical ideal of living our lives, as much as possible, with no concealment of any part of our body. In other words, we enjoy life as naturally as we are able, especially in these days of social distancing.

My spouse and I are both “huggers.” We gladly embrace new acquaintances as well as lifelong family and friends. This tradition may be based as much by our same gender loving nature as well as our bare practitioner nature. Neither one of us were raised by our parents to be shy or uncomfortable in giving a brotherly embrace (hug) as a gesture of affection, respect and support.

As a biracial (mixed races) married couple, we are occasionally asked which aspect of our lives do we consider the most dominant – our being gay or our being nudist. Up until we met one another, my reply was always predictable, “both aspects are equally important.” I distinctly remember the very first time that question was posed to both Aaron and myself. It was the night that we initially met one another. We’d been engaged in a lengthy conversation together for most of the evening using American Sign Language (ASL).

Without a moment’s pause, my future (now current) husband, Aaron, shared his own opinion: “We are a very unique pair. He’s Deaf, Greek, same gender loving and a nudist. I’m hearing, an Afro-Canadian descendent of American slavery, same gender loving and a nudist. For us, together, being gay and a nudist is a single unifying factor as opposed to being separate competing factors.”

Thank you, Aaron, for your eloquence and your honesty!

In previous postings here on ReNude Pride, I’ve often written and expressed my preference for the utilization of same gender loving (SGL) rather than the labels “bisexual” or “gay.” I also prefer the designation bare practitioner instead of the labels “naturist” or “nudist.” Frequently, the “bisexual,” “gay,” “naturist” and “nudist” labels themselves invoke negative or stereotypical connotations that we can all do without.

For this reason, I use bare practitioner to denote all SGL and clothes-freedom advocates, believers and participants combined.

There is simply no need to be consistently redundant and repetative when one label or term can encompass us all.

The less-than-positive attitudes that these labels create is by no means restricted to the heterosexual and/or textile (clothes wearing) communities. Similar reactions to those labels occur within our own cultures as well.

The term, bare practitioner, is a remarkably sexually-neutral and nonjudgmental expression that fortunately causes little or no reaction whatsoever when defining our cultural identity or in describing who we are essentially as a person. Bare practitioner sums it up nicely and as an added bonus – it can be used virtually “baggage-free” (no burdens to bear)!

Posted above is the image that Aaron and I use to symbolize us as an interracial married couple. It clearly depicts two men embracing together with our differing ethnic/racial reality shown. The background features the rainbow flag. It is truly a visual testament of our proud and shared bare practitioner nature!

In the process of determining a gravatar (symbol) for ReNude Pride, the above image was our “second choice” favorite. That process compelled us to implement this graphic as our joint emblem.

Now is the good opportunity to remind all readers here of the gravatar (symbol) representing ReNude Pride. The gravatar visually serves as a signature substitute indicating endorsement. It consists of a pair of bare buttocks in honor of the value of nakedness/nudity in our lives. The image is enclosed inside the outline of a triangle adorned in the colors of the rainbow flag signifying the value of same gender love in our lives. Thus the gravatar is emblematic of the essence of being a confident and proud bare practitioner!

Have a wonderful bare practitioner day!

Naked hugs!

Roger/ReNude Pride

Author’s Note: The next posting here is planned for Monday, January 18, 2012, and the proposed topic is USA: Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Day.