By Anderson Colemon/tr news editor
Jonathan Gonzales is a brony — a term typically given to “bros” who have a love for My Little Pony.
He isn’t alone in his passion for the animated creatures. He and other members of the TR Bronies Club meet twice a week to discuss their fandom of the ponies and ways they can inform others of their interests.
Originally a show meant for younger viewers, the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic started in 2010 as the fourth generation of My Little Pony. Older males have incorporated its teachings of friendship and tolerance in everyday life.
The club began when vice president Anthony Cory, who originally started an anime club until his plans fell through, collaborated with a former club member to make a club for My Little Pony fans.
“A friend of mine suggested we do a Bronies Club on campus,” Cory said. “I put together this club with the idea of helping others to understand that this community of bronies is growing up around them to try bringing down the shell shock as well as get bronies involved in the community.”
Club member Briana Adams said she found the club through a high school friend.
“My friend saw me wearing a pony shirt and she was like, ‘Oh, you have to come [to our meetings]. We have a Bronies Club, and you can meet the other bronies here.’”
Adams said she was considered the “weird one” in high school when she ran a bronies club herself.
Being considered “weird” by their peers is something these club members have in common. Club president Gonzales describes the club members as being “stereotyped in the outside world” and wants to fix that problem.
“The club is based off a fan base of My Little Pony, and we want to bring together other fans and be able to help them enjoy themselves in college,” he said.
One club member did not want to be identified. He said he works at the police academy and doesn’t want his fellow cadets to know he is a brony.
He was bullied in high school and said he wants to keep his personal life to himself and away from his cadets.
“Back then, I used to be shy, quiet and didn’t have anyone,” the man said. “I watched that show for a few minutes, and it showed me how I could make friends.”
Dan Phan said the “outside world” as well as social media users shunned him for his love of My Little Pony.
“A few months ago when my friends found out I was a brony, they started attaching me to these brony-hating comments. They would say bronies are, in fact, weird people, but, in reality, we’re not,” Phan said. “I was watching this YouTube video that talked about what bronies are. They say bronies are mental-disabled, and it’s not true.”
Gonzalez said the club members wearing the pony shirts in school would get random stares.
“In public, they [club members] have said they’ve been shouted upon at the local bus stop,” he said.
However, the club members agree they have each other.
“In this club, we are acceptable to each other no matter what, and we don’t tend to judge someone on what they tend to do or how they act,” Gonzalez said.
