Annual Colorado gay rodeo draws fans from around the country

For the one-million-plus Coloradans who live beyond Front Range cities and towns, Colorado is still a cowboy state. And to many lesbian and gay people all around Colorado, the big event of the summer isn’t PrideFest or bar hopping downtown. It’s something that has been around as long as memory for Western cowgirls and cowboys – the rodeo.

Preparations are on for Colorado’s 29th annual Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo on the weekend of July 8 – 10, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. It is the longest consistently running gay rodeo in the world, and is in every sense a real country rodeo – with bull-riding, barrel clowns, races and big unruly crowds.

This year’s slogan: “Get in the Truck!”

Our quintessential “mountain state” is iconized by snow-capped peaks and touristy ski towns above the well-connected Mile High City. Young LGBT people flock to Colorado’s rapidly growing urban centers as they come of age, for an urban life and strength in numbers.

Yet Colorado extends well over one-hundred miles east into the Great Plains, southward and westward to dry mesas spotted with piñon and sagebrush and through the picturesque San Luis Valley – all places where farming and ranching have been a way of life since before Colorado’s statehood.

Growing up lesbian or gay is a different experience in those places – and life continues to be different for LGBT people whose Western roots run so deep they just can’t leave the country life.

“I lived in a small town where people knew so much about you they knew how many sheets of toilet paper you used to wipe your ass,” joked Robert Thurtell, president of the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association, who is eagerly setting up for this year’s event.

Thurtell grew up in Brighton, when it was still a farm community, miles away from Denver’s expanding suburbs. He said it was tough to grow up gay in a place like that, and that in spite of close-knit small town community life and stereotypical gossip, the push LGBT people sought and continue to seek is not for social acceptance but a “live-and-let-live” motto.
“We didn’t need a parade,” Thurtell said. Gay bars or dance venues are few and far between in rural counties, and a typical gathering is a dinner party at a lesbian or gay couple’s house or a special event at local “straight” bar.
Dan Rutledge, spokesman for CGRA, grew up in the small town of Rawlins, Wyoming – a state without a single gay bar, and he was the only “out” person he knew growing up. He said you have to live in one of a handful of Wyoming’s larger cities to find any LGBT community, and Denver remains a “Mecca” for LGBT people from Wyoming to travel to for social life.
“The first time I saw two guys dancing at Charlie’s,” Rutlege said, “I thought ‘that’s not right.’ It took me about a half an hour watching to think, ‘hey … I could do this.’”

Rutledge said a handful of CGRA members live in Wyoming, where there is no longer a gay rodeo association.
Rutledge has been riding horses since he was 3-years-old, and after he moved to Littleton in his 30s he got involved in CGRA on the advice of friends.

“Being on a horse reminds me of growing up,” he said.

The International Gay Rodeo Association is a network of LGBT-friendly rodeo organizations across North America, with big events that span from Calgary to Florida. Thurtell said Colorado’s gay rodeo is probably the second or third largest internationally, with draws of up to 2,000 visitors, more than 100 volunteers, around 130 contestants and a budget of nearly $120,000.

This year’s registration is on Friday, July 8, when the social events begin, and nonstop attractions will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the fairgrounds for the rest of the weekend with rodeo events in the arena itself from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 9 – 10.

Proceeds that exceed operating costs are donated to CGRA’s nonprofit partners.

While rodeos are known for being a rural pastime, the Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo attracts visitors from Denver, throughout Colorado and beyond. As the second largest annual LGBT-themed event in Colorado after PrideFest, it’s a place not only for small-town LGBT Coloradans but is for folks from the cities who come to connect to Colorado’s Western traditions.

Mary Munger, the director of CGRA, grew up in Lakewood. “More people who attend are from the city,” she said, while the competitors are “quite a mix.”

Munger got involved in CGRA through friends in the 1990s, drawn by the sense of camaraderie she felt when she first visited the Pikes Peak International Rodeo in Colorado Springs, which is no longer active.

“I was hooked after that,” Munger said as she went on to compete in many of the rodeo’s events. “As a city girl, when you compete and win your first buckle, that feels like an accomplishment.”
Men and women participate in all competitions, unlike mainstream rodeos that only allow women to compete in barrel racing. The CGRA allows women to headline events like bull-riding, Munger said.

“We grew up being bullied, or not getting picked for teams,” Munger said. “This is a way that no matter what people’s lifestyle is, you can participate. We have heterosexual couples who compete in the circuit too,” she said. She also pointed out that mainstream rodeos have not yet accepted openly-gay participants.

“Maybe the heterosexual community can learn from us,” said Munger.

Gay rodeos feature drag queen royalty who perform routines throughout the weekend. In gay rodeos, some competitors may even compete in events in full drag, and feature fun or silly “camp events” such as “goat dressing,” a race to put women’s underwear on a goat.

“We do not discriminate. And we do not abuse animals,” Munger said, mentioning the aspect of rodeos that often turns the public off to them. “Animal welfare is something that the IGRA is committed to. I’ve never seen an animal hurt.”

She added, “I have, however, seen people get hurt.”

This year, with gas prices climbing and the economy struggling, not as many people can afford to travel to the fairgrounds from out of state, Thurtell said.

“We’re focusing on the local community, and how to pull those individuals into our rodeo,” Thurtell said.

But Colorado’s gay rodeo has drawn admiring fans from around the country.

“The biggest compliment I hear is that people come to Denver because it’s so friendly,” he said, talking about the Western way of life.

“It’s more than a rodeo – we’re way more than that,” Thurtell said.  “We’re the cowboys and cowgirls. It’s a cultural attitude. It’s truly being there for others and not just yourself.”