Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Gay rodeo and the subversion of Western cliches
CULTURE
Gay rodeo and the subversion of Western clichés
A photo exhibit asks viewers to ponder whether, in reclaiming the idea of the cowboy, gay rodeos renounce violence or reinvest in it.
Emily Benson
PHOTOS ANALYSIS March 6, 2019 From the print edition
The black-and-white photographs, in simple black frames, adorn the walls of a corner nook at the University of Idaho library in Moscow, Idaho, flanked by open shelves of books. In one, a lasso spins in the air, framing the face of the cowboy doing the twirling as he looks over his shoulder, brow furrowed; in another, the wild white eye of a bull stares squarely at the viewer, dust rising from its hooves as it tries to buck off its rider. A woman in jeans, bent in concentration, grabs the bar of a white metal gate; a square-jawed man, his neck taut, leans toward his companion, in a matching button-down shirt, for a kiss.
Photographer Blake Little captured the images in the late 1980s and early 1990s as he traveled around the West on the gay rodeo circuit. They chronicle the sport and spectacle of the rodeo, but also the sense of community and inclusion it offers its participants. The photographs welcome the viewer into a world that subverts popular notions of what it means to be a cowboy, and a man.
Gay rodeo started in the mid-‘70s, and from the beginning welcomed both men and women to participate in every event, including bull- and bronc-riding, rough-stock events open only to men in mainstream rodeo. In addition to staples like calf roping and barrel racing, gay rodeos also include a few unique “camp” events, like wild drag racing, in which a contestant wearing a dress attempts to ride a steer across a finish line with the help of two on-the-ground partners; and goat dressing, in which participants try to get a goat into a pair of underwear. A sense of community pervades the sport — the parent organization, the International Gay Rodeo Association, is a nonprofit, and gay rodeos are typically fundraisers for causes like senior care centers or biomedical research; and everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender or race, is welcome to compete.
“I hope that people will go in and understand that masculinity is incredibly fluid, and that anyone can claim masculinity,” Dulce Kersting-Lark, the executive director of the Latah County Historical Society, which is co-hosting the exhibit, told me. “I hope that their perceptions are challenged.”
....
The exhibit, Blake Little: Photographs from the Gay Rodeo, is on display at the University of Idaho library in Moscow, Idaho, until April 30, 2019. It was coordinated by the library and the Latah County Historical Society, with support from PFLAG Moscow, the University of Idaho LGBTQ Office and others.
Emily Benson is an assistant editor at High Country News, covering the northwest, the northern Rockies and Alaska. Email her at emilyb@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Gay rodeo and the subversion of Western clichés
A photo exhibit asks viewers to ponder whether, in reclaiming the idea of the cowboy, gay rodeos renounce violence or reinvest in it.
Emily Benson
PHOTOS ANALYSIS March 6, 2019 From the print edition
The black-and-white photographs, in simple black frames, adorn the walls of a corner nook at the University of Idaho library in Moscow, Idaho, flanked by open shelves of books. In one, a lasso spins in the air, framing the face of the cowboy doing the twirling as he looks over his shoulder, brow furrowed; in another, the wild white eye of a bull stares squarely at the viewer, dust rising from its hooves as it tries to buck off its rider. A woman in jeans, bent in concentration, grabs the bar of a white metal gate; a square-jawed man, his neck taut, leans toward his companion, in a matching button-down shirt, for a kiss.
Photographer Blake Little captured the images in the late 1980s and early 1990s as he traveled around the West on the gay rodeo circuit. They chronicle the sport and spectacle of the rodeo, but also the sense of community and inclusion it offers its participants. The photographs welcome the viewer into a world that subverts popular notions of what it means to be a cowboy, and a man.
Gay rodeo started in the mid-‘70s, and from the beginning welcomed both men and women to participate in every event, including bull- and bronc-riding, rough-stock events open only to men in mainstream rodeo. In addition to staples like calf roping and barrel racing, gay rodeos also include a few unique “camp” events, like wild drag racing, in which a contestant wearing a dress attempts to ride a steer across a finish line with the help of two on-the-ground partners; and goat dressing, in which participants try to get a goat into a pair of underwear. A sense of community pervades the sport — the parent organization, the International Gay Rodeo Association, is a nonprofit, and gay rodeos are typically fundraisers for causes like senior care centers or biomedical research; and everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender or race, is welcome to compete.
“I hope that people will go in and understand that masculinity is incredibly fluid, and that anyone can claim masculinity,” Dulce Kersting-Lark, the executive director of the Latah County Historical Society, which is co-hosting the exhibit, told me. “I hope that their perceptions are challenged.”
....
The exhibit, Blake Little: Photographs from the Gay Rodeo, is on display at the University of Idaho library in Moscow, Idaho, until April 30, 2019. It was coordinated by the library and the Latah County Historical Society, with support from PFLAG Moscow, the University of Idaho LGBTQ Office and others.
Emily Benson is an assistant editor at High Country News, covering the northwest, the northern Rockies and Alaska. Email her at emilyb@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
