Colorado gay rodeo

Elyssa Ford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The Colorado Gay Rodeo Association has held a gay rodeo every year sincemaking it the longest-running event of its kind in history.

Their flagship event, the Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo in Denver, is part of a circuit of rodeos that, at times, has stretched across the United States and into Canada. Despite gay cultural pushback these rodeos have faced, the legacy of the Denver rodeo continues as it celebrates its 41st anniversary on July Businessman Phil Ragsdale held the first gay rodeo in in Reno, Nevada, as a fundraiser for local community organizations.

Ragsdale faced some difficulties renting space and animals when arena owners and stock contractors learned the event was for queer people. Soon known as the National Reno Gay Rodeo, the event expanded from the couple hundred colorado and participants who attended that first year to an annual event that sometimes attracted more than 10, people.

The venue provided a space for cowfolx — or queer ranchers, rodeoers and country western enthusiasts across the gender and sexuality spectrum — to gather and form a community. Friends who met at the bar traveled en masse to the Reno rodeo. The Denver rodeo was the first gay rodeo to take place outside of Nevada, but it was soon joined by others, with four additional rodeos taking place in Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Dallas by the end of Jakino was particularly interested in bringing a sense of professionalism to gay rodeo, though that emphasis was always balanced rodeo fun, campiness and sexual freedom.

Even as the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association fought to remain visible and present, its members were literally fighting for their lives. Funded by national conservative groups like Eagle Forum colorado Focus on the Family, conservatives successfully passed the amendment in late This prompted a nationwide rodeo called Boycott Colorado.

Boycott organizers hoped to deter other states from passing similar legislation, but the boycott also threatened queer-owed businesses in the state, including the rodeo. While Amendment 2 was overturned by the Supreme Court in and never went into effect, Jakino and others were placed in the awkward position of having to ask their gay to break boycotts to ensure their own economic survival.

For Jakino and many other gay rodeoers, their continued presence in the world of rodeo was a poignant act of resistance. Having survived AIDS, homophobic legislation and national boycotts, the future of gay rodeo — even such long-standing events like the Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo — is far from assured.

While the AIDS epidemic decimated gay rodeo in some ways, it also attracted people to its ranks who wanted to fundraise for their queer community. Similarly, homophobic attacks united gay rodeo against outside opposition.

Rainbows, horses and boots on display at Colorado’s 42nd Gay Rodeo

Bythere were more defunct associations than active ones for the first time in International Gay Rodeo Association history, and in the organization held just 10 rodeos versus 22 in its prime. Yet there is hope for the future, as more recent years have seen 12 rodeos back on the circuit. The Colorado Gay Rodeo Association packed stands at its 40th anniversary rodeo inbut it may have a bumpy ride ahead.

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