Queerguru is frequently drawn to Seattle as it is the home of such an extraordinarily wonderful and unique queer culture that is so unlike any other US city. With Dina Martina as its unofficial patron saint, there seems to be no end to the talent that emerges from there.  

We were back there again this week to talk with filmmaker Aaron Bear and when we asked if he thought it was all to do with ‘something in the water’ he immediately responded that it was actually ‘something in the rain.”  

We first came across Bear’s work in 2017 when we reviewed his debut film, Finding Kim.  It was a heart-touching compelling documentary about Kim Byford who at the age of 49 had decided that the time is finally right to complete her transition from female to male.   We wrote back then that it was an unmissable gem of a film.

Now on the eve of his latest documentary about to be screened as part of Miami’s OUTshine LGBTQ Film Festival this week so we talked with Bear about YES I AM: The Ric Weiland Story.  Queerguru is still reeling from the fact that we had never previously heard of Weiland who was one of the greatest queer activists and philanthropists EVER.

It’s a fascinating story that needs to reach the audience it so deserves, particularly within the LGBTQ community.   

P.S. It goes without saying, that Weiland spent a large part of his life in Seattle too.