A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Rodeos have long been a symbol of the rural American West - gendered, macho and heterosexual - but there's also a 50-year tradition of rodeos where all competitors can participate. Rachel Cohen with member station KUNC reports from the Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo, America's longest-running gay rodeo.
RACHEL COHEN, BYLINE: Like at most rodeos, there are a lot of blue jeans and cowboy hats in this big indoor arena in Denver. Country music is playing and contestants compete in roping and barrel racing, fighting for first-place buckles and prize money. But at this rodeo, there's also an event called Wild Drag.
ALIZAE ROZE JACKWELL: So we get the big cow, we get it across the first line, second line.
COHEN: Alizae Roze Jackwell - that's her drag name - is looking down on the arena, preparing to hop on a steer. She's sporting a pink Barbie dress with a blonde, curly wig. Wild Drag is a camp event, special to the International Gay Rodeo circuit.
JACKWELL: See an old man in a very, very ratty-looking red wig with a black bow and a sparkly bodycon dress.
COHEN: The first gay rodeo was thrown together in Reno, Nevada in 1976. LGBTQ+ people could participate without fear of homophobia, says Nick Villanueva, a University of Colorado sports studies professor.
NICK VILLANUEVA: And that's part of the gay liberation movement of the 1970s, which was, well, if you don't want us, we'll create our own.
COHEN: Reno's group eventually fizzled, but Colorado has held a gay rodeo every year since 1983. Others sprung up in Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City. Candy Pratt attended her first gay rodeo in Texas after seeing a poster in a bar.
CANDY PRATT: I hadn't quite come out to my family yet, but it was a place where you could go and be openly gay, and it was just a place of safety at the time.
COHEN: She grew up competing, riding horses. Plus, in the gay rodeo, women could participate in the rough stock events usually reserved for men. She remembers hundreds of contestants and 10,000 fans, and rodeos that would run until midnight.
PRATT: There were so many people in the stands, when you would turn the first barrel, they'd scream, it would scare your horse across the arena.
COHEN: But it wasn't always an easy ride. The groups faced more bigotry as the AIDS epidemic spread. In Pratt's first year on the circuit, rodeo finals in a county east of Reno were canceled by a district attorney. Organizers had trouble booking arenas and contractors.
PRATT: We used to have to have a vet on site, or you had to have a shoer on site or whatever, and you'd say, this is for a gay rodeo, and they're like, oh, no, I'm not coming.
COHEN: But they pulled together by raising money to address the AIDS crisis. Many found lifelong friends and belonging. Villanueva, the professor - who competes himself - says it's helped him feel in touch with his small-town upbringing while challenging the aspects of hypermasculinity.
VILLANUEVA: I roped a steer in Phoenix for the first time, and my husband was there, and he just gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek.
COHEN: Still, he worries about declining attendance, and whether the younger generation will get involved.
KADE HILLER: I'm excited. I'm a little bit nervous.
COHEN: Kade Hiller, who's 27, is about to race through a course of poles on a horse for the first time. He says there are more accepting spaces for queer people today, but gay rodeo is still important, especially with rising anti-LGBTQ+ hate.
HILLER: No matter what happens, we're going to find a space to bring the horses together and bring the contestants together, and we're going to have a rodeo no matter what.
COHEN: Next year, gay rodeo celebrates its 50th anniversary, back in Reno.
For NPR News, I'm Rachel Cohen.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
