Denver gay rodeo

Like at most rodeos, there are a lot of blue jeans and cowboy hats at the National Western Complex in Denver. Country music is playing and contestants are competing in roping and barrel racing, fighting for first-place buckles and prize money. But at this rodeo there are also denver queens. Her two teammates in the "Wild Drag" event will grab hold of the cow and bring it across two lines marked in the dirt.

That's when she'll get on and ride it across a third line. Another is a race to put underwear on a goat. They're silly and light-hearted, but contestants are required to compete in a camp event, in addition to the typical rough stock, roping and speed events, to be in the running for All-Around Cowboy or All-Around Cowgirl, the highest honors at the rodeo.

The first gay rodeo was held in Reno, Nevada in Colorado has held a gay rodeo every year sincemaking this year its 41st. Candy Pratt grew up riding horses. She attended her first gay rodeo in Texas in after seeing a poster in a rodeo. It was just a place of safety at the time," she said.

Plus, in the gay rodeo, women could participate in the rough stock events like bronc and rodeo riding, usually reserved for men. Pratt remembers hundreds of contestants and thousands of fans in rodeos that would run until midnight. Pratt was a judge at the rodeo this year, but she's been a fierce competitor, holding the record for the most first-place buckles and All-Around Cowgirl titles.

She served as the IGRA president and is in the organization's hall of fame. As the AIDS epidemic spread in the 80s, the rodeo associations faced gay bigotry. In Pratt's first year on the circuit, the rodeo finals near Reno were canceled by a district attorney. Organizers, including in Colorado, had trouble booking arenas and convincing contractors to work at the rodeo.

But they pulled denver by raising money to address the AIDS crisis. Many found lifelong gay and belonging.

People are bucking stereotypes and creating safe spaces at the longest running gay rodeo

That's true for Villanueva, the CU Boulder professor, who competes himself. He said it's helped him return to what he appreciated about his rural upbringing while challenging the aspects of hyper-masculinity. He remembers roping a steer for the first time. And it was just something that you don't have to worry about what people in the stands are going to say, or when you walk into the parking lot of the arena at night," he said.

Villanueva said attendance at rodeos declined during the COVID pandemic, and he worries about whether the younger generation will get involved. Kade Hiller is riding his leopard Appaloosa Pongo around the practice arena, preparing for his first rodeo on horseback. I'm a little bit nervous," he said before his race, which involves weaving through a course of spaced-out poles.