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'We Are America's True Colors': Meet the Stars of the Queer Rodeo Circuit
‘We Are America’s True Colors’: Meet the Stars of the Queer Rodeo Circuit https://buff.ly/3qAwm4O
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ARTS & EVENTS
‘We Are America’s True Colors’: Meet the Stars of the Queer Rodeo Circuit
From Canada to Palm Springs, the International Gay Rodeo Association’s bull riders and steer ropers are bucking notions about what it means to be a ”cowboy”
By Sophia Kercher - March 10, 2021
As a kid in Malibu, Lee Knight sat on a bed, rapt as a bull rider bucked and swayed in a cloud of dust on TV. “I thought, man, I could do that,” Knight says. “I could be this cowboy and I could ride bulls.” ... It wasn’t until a move from California to Colorado during Knight’s final year of college that the L.A. native stumbled upon the opportunity to get on a bull at at an event organized by the International Gay Rodeo Association.
“I like being in the gay rodeo,” says Knight, who identifies as trans and Black, and uses the pronouns they, them, and their. “I don’t have to worry about severely negative consequences because of my identity. I can just focus on my task at hand—and that’s where you want your head to be when you’re getting on the back of a Brahman bull.”
When Knight isn’t riding bulls, they’re a step parent who works in tech and plays the trombone at church. At the IGRA, they discovered an inclusive community of people who also have kids and work regular day jobs and play cowboy on the weekends—and most of them identify as queer. ... “Being gay is nothing new, being a person of color is nothing new,” Knight says. “And we have the IGRA, which has existed to create a place for people like us to do what we love in a safe space.”
The IGRA’s beginnings can be traced back to 1976, when the first gay rodeo kicked off at the Washoe County Fairgrounds in Nevada. Now, the amateur rodeo circuit has events throughout the U.S. and Canada. ... “It speaks to the fact that we are America, we are all of America’s true colors—and if America has situated itself as this land of opportunity, we are that promise,” Knight adds. ... Photographer and filmmaker Luke Gilford captures that promise in his celebrated debut monograph National Anthem, published in late 2020 by Domani.
{snip}
The International Gay Rodeo hosts multiple events throughout the year in California, including May’s Hot Rodeo in Palm Springs and September’s Best Buck in the Bay in San Francisco. This year Hot Rodeo is on hold due to COVID-19. Check the IGRA calendar for updates on future events.
Stay up to date with everything you need to know about L.A. by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
‘We Are America’s True Colors’: Meet the Stars of the Queer Rodeo Circuit
From Canada to Palm Springs, the International Gay Rodeo Association’s bull riders and steer ropers are bucking notions about what it means to be a ”cowboy”
By Sophia Kercher - March 10, 2021
As a kid in Malibu, Lee Knight sat on a bed, rapt as a bull rider bucked and swayed in a cloud of dust on TV. “I thought, man, I could do that,” Knight says. “I could be this cowboy and I could ride bulls.” ... It wasn’t until a move from California to Colorado during Knight’s final year of college that the L.A. native stumbled upon the opportunity to get on a bull at at an event organized by the International Gay Rodeo Association.
“I like being in the gay rodeo,” says Knight, who identifies as trans and Black, and uses the pronouns they, them, and their. “I don’t have to worry about severely negative consequences because of my identity. I can just focus on my task at hand—and that’s where you want your head to be when you’re getting on the back of a Brahman bull.”
When Knight isn’t riding bulls, they’re a step parent who works in tech and plays the trombone at church. At the IGRA, they discovered an inclusive community of people who also have kids and work regular day jobs and play cowboy on the weekends—and most of them identify as queer. ... “Being gay is nothing new, being a person of color is nothing new,” Knight says. “And we have the IGRA, which has existed to create a place for people like us to do what we love in a safe space.”
The IGRA’s beginnings can be traced back to 1976, when the first gay rodeo kicked off at the Washoe County Fairgrounds in Nevada. Now, the amateur rodeo circuit has events throughout the U.S. and Canada. ... “It speaks to the fact that we are America, we are all of America’s true colors—and if America has situated itself as this land of opportunity, we are that promise,” Knight adds. ... Photographer and filmmaker Luke Gilford captures that promise in his celebrated debut monograph National Anthem, published in late 2020 by Domani.
{snip}
The International Gay Rodeo hosts multiple events throughout the year in California, including May’s Hot Rodeo in Palm Springs and September’s Best Buck in the Bay in San Francisco. This year Hot Rodeo is on hold due to COVID-19. Check the IGRA calendar for updates on future events.
Stay up to date with everything you need to know about L.A. by following us on Facebook and Instagram.