http://youtu.be/5xIA-7-A97E
In episode seven of Lisa Ling’s CNN series This is Life with Lisa Ling, airing this Sunday Ling travels to Santa Fe where she gets to know, in-depth, members of the International Gay Rodeo Association.
The episode, titled Gay Rodeo, airs Sunday, Nov.9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNN. Watch the trailer above.
We all know the image of the American cowboy: He’s tough, self-reliant, stoic, the epitome of masculine. Could he be all that— and gay? Ling will explore the world of the International Gay Rodeo Association, which today has over 5,000 registered members. Here, in Santa Fe, Ling will meet people united by two unlikely qualities: their love of Western culture and their homosexuality. Many have braved childhoods in the most homophobic regions of the country; some are still in the closet; and others are fastening their chaps for the very first time. But all are bucking stereotypes, proving that you don’t have to be straight to rope, ride and wrestle a steer.
All rodeos are wrong but as a member of the gay community I am deeply embarrassed by the the fact that members of my own community are harming animals for fun. Abusing animals should not be considered entertainment. In the gay rodeo terrified, normally-docile animals used in gay rodeo are forced into performing through the use of painful “bucking straps,” spurs, and other techniques and devices. Animals are chased and roped, or roughly grabbed and restrained to have panties forced onto them. Animals’ heads are twisted until they are forced to the ground. Animals are sometimes injured or even killed which has been confirmed by the International Gay Rodeo Association. It’s a shame that Lisa Ling decided to do a story promoting a rodeo.
Rodeos (even if put on by LGBTs) are inherently cruel to animals. Scared animals are forced to “perform” using pain and fear. As a gay man, I’m horrified and ashamed that some in my community would want to hurt and bully those who cannot defend themselves, simply for “entertainment.”
For more information (including documentation of animal injuries and welfare problems directly from IGRA’s annual convention minutes), please visit http://www.LGBTcompassion.org/gayrodeo
How disheartening that we, as gay people, have learned so little from our own history of oppression and marginalization. Nope, let’s pass it on to farm animals. This abuse may be “entertaining” for a some misguided humans, but it’s just a detour en route to the slaughterhouse for most of the animals.
“Western lifestyle”? Please! A majority of the wannabe cowboys/girls don’t even know how to ride a horse, reportedly. Hence such nonsensical events as “chute dogging,” “goat tying,” and the embarrassing “wild cow drag.”
Credit where credit’s due: Unlike most rodeos, the Gay Rodeo at least has an on-site veterinarian to care for injured animals. Be aware that CA state law (Penal Code 596.7) requires that rodeo animal injury reports be submitted to the State Veterinary Medical Board within 48 hours of the rodeo’s end. We ran the Gay Rodeo out of San Francisco years ago. Let’s run ALL rodeos–gay, straight, black, junior–out of the country. Even Cesar Chavez was an outspoken critic.
And I just found this gem from George Carlin, the late comic, in his 1997 book BRAIN DROPPINGS: “I do not torture animals, and I do not support the torture of animals, such as that which goes on at rodeos: cowardly men in big hats abusing simple beasts in a fruitless search for manhood. In fact, I regularly pray for serious, life-threatening rodeo injuries. I wish a cowboy to walk crooked, and with great pain, for the rest of his life.”
I certainly don’t wish injury upon anyone, but this activity needs to stop. Now.
Sincerely,
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Gay folk are notoriously creative. Surely we cancome up with a life-affirming, compassionate event which neither harms nor terrorizes innocent farm animals.