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Strap On A Saddle Because Arkansas’ Gay Rodeo Is Just Getting Bigger and Better
Photo credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson
“I wish we didn’t have to have a gay rodeo,” Wade Earp tells Reuters. “I wish we could just rodeo.”
The aptly named Earp competed at the International Gay Rodeo held in Arkansas, a Bible Belt state not known for it’s supportiveness.
Arkansas is one of the 13 states where same-sex marriage is banned and where, earlier this year, lawmakers approved a religious freedom bill that granting private business owners the legal right to deny services.
The bill was eventually vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, but only after a loud public outcry that included his own son circulating a petition urging his father not to sign the discriminatory law.
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But all this still didn’t prevent 75 contestants from a dozen states and Canada from slipping into their leather chaps to participate in the sixteenth Diamond State Rodeo in Little Rock. For two days, LGBT cowboys and girls competed in calf roping, barrel racing and bull riding, all hoping to move onto the International Gay Rodeo 2016 finals in Las Vegas.
“For years, no one would allow us to advertise it,” Sandy Bidwell, president of the Diamond State Rodeo, said, claiming that organizers feared protesters would cause a disturbance. “My attitude is, let them. It’s free advertising.”
This year, signs and banners of large corporate sponsors, including Bud Light and Jack Daniels adorned the arena’s railings (not to mentionand Gun Oil personal lubricant), an indication that, while state lawmakers may be stuck in the past, the rest of the country is moving forward.
“We just want what’s right,” said Earp. “Everybody deserves equal treatment. Everybody deserves equal rights.”
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Graham Gremore
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