Gay cowboys 'grateful'
2006-01-19 11:23
Chandler - Many gay cowboys are grateful that award-winning Brokeback Mountain has broken a sexual taboo, though not all are hiding away in the American Wild West.
About 100 gay cowboys and lesbian cowgirls took part in the gay rodeo at Chandler in the Arizona desert at the weekend.
For years such rodeos were shunned and ran out of some towns. Now the unorthodox event was a welcomed part of the cowboy diary, though many participants had lived their own tales like Brokeback Mountain , which won three Golden Globes on Monday and was now in the frontline for the Oscars.
Kurt McGregor of the Road Runner gay rodeo said there were firefighters, doctors, construction workers and other professionals among the members.
Chandler gay rodeo
He said: "As in Brokeback Mountain , lots of us are actually married, some even have had children, before they understood they couldn't change."
Like other cowboys, the members of the Chandler gay rodeo like to ride horses, catch a calf with their bare hands or rope a bull.
But, the Road Runner Rodeo had its own special characteristics.
Competitors also had to put underwear on the back legs of a sheep or tie a ribbon on the tail of the calf they had just hauled over.
But, the biggest test was where a cowboy dressed in drag had to ride an angry bull without falling.
International Gay Rodeo Association
Protective headwear was compulsory, but one competitor joked: "Should we wear the helmet on the wig or the wig on the helmet."
Chandler was part of the International Gay Rodeo Association, which had existed for about two decades and now organised 20 events a year in the United States and Canada.
It had about 1 000 members across North America.
Alan Stark, 43, who worked for a railroad company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said: "We are people who like the Western style of life, but we don't want to suffer from prejudices because of our gayness."
Brokeback Mountain, the story of a secret love between two cowboys in the 1960s and 70s, had a strong impact on real gay cowboys as well as critics who had acclaimed the film and its Taiwanese director Ang Lee.
Film 'full of memories'
Stark said: "I grew up in Oklahoma, a redneck state. When I realised I was gay, I really had to hide and be very careful."
Jason, who acted as the Rodeo clown to entertain the Chandler crowds between the events, said: "I hope I can show this film to my parents. It's full of memories."
Jason, who declined to give his family name, said he had been victim of similar incidents of homophobia that the Brokeback Mountain characters experienced.
McGregor of the rodeo said he hoped the hit movie would further break down negative ideas about homosexuals.
Ed Morgan said: "I was so moved by the film I cried for one week, and I bought the original soundtrack and the book as well.
"I love to wear my cowboy outfit, but now kids on the streets look at me and they're like: Oh, Brokeback Mountain!