Slapping Leather

Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo

Elyssa Ford, Rebecca Scofield

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9780295752143
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Unapologetically brings gay rodeo out of the closet Campy and competitive, gay rodeo offers a community of refuge that straddles the urban and rural. Since the mid-1970s, gay rodeos have provided space to both embrace and challenge the idealized masculinity associated with the iconic cowboy of the US West. Slapping Leather traces the history and growth of gay rodeo over the decades, demonstrating how queer cowfolx have fought to build a community where LGBTQ+ people can escape discrimination in both mainstream rodeos and broader society. Yet not all LGBTQ+ groups have found full acceptance in gay rodeo. Originally formed by gay men for gay men, the rodeo has at times perpetuated historically problematic ideas about the US West, the iconic cowboy, and the meaning of masculinity. Despite the gay rodeo's credo of acceptance, its history reveals complicated relationships with straight rodeo, gender stereotypes, and women competitors. Drawing from multiple archives and over seventy oral history interviews, historians Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield demonstrate how amid these tensions, participants, volunteers, and spectators continue to redefine the performance of the cowboy and national belonging.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction: Framing Gay Rodeo
• Oral History Vignette: Roger Bergmann, Rodeo Judge and IGRA Past President
• Chapter 1. Origins: The History of the Gay Western Ideal and the Gay Rodeo
• Oral History Vignette: Bruce Roby, Rodeo Judge
• Chapter 2. “Hookin’ Up” at the Gay Rodeo: Normative Masculinity, Queer Sexuality, and the Authentic Cowboy
• Oral History Vignette: Brian Helander, IGRA Past President
• Chapter 3. “A Euphemism for an Orgy”: Sex, Sexuality, and the AIDS Crisis
• Oral History Vignette: Marie Antoinette Du Barry, NMGRA Royalty
• Chapter 4. “Dollared to Death”: Gay Rodeo Queens, Camp Events, and the Labor of Inclusion
• Oral History Vignette: Candy Pratt, IGRA Past President
• Chapter 5. “It’s Miller Time”: Negotiating Gay Political and Consumer Identity at the Rodeo
• Oral History Vignette: Laura, Champion Cowgirl
• Chapter 6. “For All Gay People”: Outreach, Acceptance, and the Boundaries of Inclusion
• Conclusion: The Future of Gay Rodeo
• Glossary
• Notes
• Index