Gay rodeo returns to Santa Fe, NM
The Zia Regional Rodeo, New Mexico’s only gay rodeo, is an associate member of the International Gay Rodeo Association. The first gay rodeo was held in Nevada in 1976. Today, there are gay rodeos held around the country, and many of the contestants at the Zia rodeo said they take part in them.
While it is still an event of pride, it’s also a place where straight participants can compete and where gender lines evaporate as contestants try to win. It’s a place where contestants feel supported and mentored, even from competing cowboys or cowgirls. It’s a place where they can be themselves, contestants said.
Though it has events common to professional rodeos, like calf roping and bull riding, the gay rodeo also has more unusual competitions
like goat dressing, wild cow milking and the wild drag race.
Others have been competing for decades, like 62-year-old Andy Pittman of Texas. Pittman first entered the gay rodeo circuit in 1999 and then, after taking a break, returned three years ago. While sexual identity “still plays into” gay rodeos, he’s seeing that fade away as more people accept the notion of gay rodeos and people of all gender identities and expressions.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/bucking-stereotypes-gay-rodeo-returns-to-santa-fe/article_5d17a280-0750-11ec-ab31-e37a32c00964.html
Kurt Kielmann gets a little bit trampled as Kade Jackwell tries to redirect the bucking steer
in the wild drag race Saturday during the Zia Regional Rodeo.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
Nando Cole passes the finish line but holds on for dear life to an agitated steer Sunday while competing
in the wild drag race at the annual Zia Regional Rodeo, New Mexico’s only gay rodeo, at the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds.
Jim Weber/The New Mexican
