'Out West' at the Autry examines the history of homosexuals and transgender people in the Old West

[ccharles000]

Say the words "gay cowboy" and chances are the conversation will turn to "Brokeback Mountain," the 2005 film starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, and based on the Annie Proulx short story.

The Oscar-winning drama, which is set in the 1960s to '80s, highlighted a long-submerged facet of frontier culture. But as a new series at the Autry National Center shows, the presence of homosexuals and transgender individuals in the American West is much older than the movie might lead you to think. It is, in fact, almost as old as the West itself.

Take for instance the tale of One-Eyed Charlie.

A stagecoach driver known for his hard drinking and itchy trigger finger, Charlie worked for the California Stage Co., where he earned his reputation as one of the best drivers in the wild West. He traveled between Oregon and California and, the story goes, got his nickname when he lost an eye while attempting to shoe a horse.

But Charlie kept a secret that was revealed only after his death in 1879. When his body was being prepared, a coroner discovered that One-Eyed Charlie was actually a woman.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-out-west15-2009dec15,0,2323794.story

[Ken Burch]

1. Is that the Autry as in...Gene Autry?

Somehere out there on the Great Range In The Sky, Gene is spinnin' in the saddle!

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Thanks. Much of the people's history has been kept hidden when

it does not fit the storyline the powers-that-be wish to propagate.