Real Cowboys, Real Roos - The Gay & Lbian Review

Contents:

• THE REAL GAY WBOYS
• STAFF OPINION: COWBOYS MEDIA ARE HERENTLY GAY
• GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE
• THE DALLAS COWBOYS’ LONG GAY & BI HISTORY: 3 OUT ATHLET, SOME GLORY HOLE, A GAY DATG SE & MORE
• GAY COWBOY

THE REAL GAY WBOYS

Ask anyone who’s seen Brokeback Mounta (2005) to characterize the film three words, and you’re almost certa to hear some variatn of “gay wboy love-story. Detractors, largely spearhead by right-wg and relig groups, quickly and fervently emed the film’s pictn of a homosexual uple immoral, evince of an attempt to femize men, and even anti-Amerin. In many s, crics honed on the two leads ’ occupatns as wboys, challengg the existence of a “gay wboy” Amerin history.

STAFF OPINION: COWBOYS MEDIA ARE HERENTLY GAY

” Other crics acced filmmakers of phg an “agenda” onto Amerins, wh one wrg that “Hollywood screenwrers and producers thk that ’s their duty to teach Ameri that homosexual nduct and cross-drsg are normal behavrs that should be affirmed Amerin culture. The beliefs, though objectively bafflg, beg tertg qutns: Was homosexualy ever accepted Ameri’s past? Supported by sendary sourc, I will argue that this myth is rooted homoerotic relatnships, a reflectn of historil fact.

In light of this ntentn, I will explore the reali of homosexualy and homosocialy amongst wboys the Old Wt, argug that they were accepted and monplace. In this way, Cooper has embedd an acknowledgement of same-sex love the very heart of Amerin myth, directly ntrastg claims that homosexualy is an unnatural and/or morn ventn. Furthermore, the homosocialy scribed Cooper’s work is not purely imagative, but actually reflective of historil rerds ditg the prence of homoerotic relatnships among wboys the ontier wt, keepg wh Cooper’s assertn that the stori were spired by tal he had been told by actual wboys.

This is also nsistent wh fdgs like those Aled Ksey’s notor 1948 study, Sexual Behavr the Human Male, which reported the hight equenci of homosexual timacy to be among men ral farmg muni; probably, Ksey nclud, much like their pneer forebearers the ontier wt.

GAY WBOYS? ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ DO NOT STAND ALONE GOG THERE

Ined, Ksey’s ntentn reflects primary source material ditg homosexual relatnships among ontier wboys. One such source, a limerick that allus to homosexual timacy between wboys, was found by historian Clifford Wtermeier and published his 1976 say “The Cowboy and Sex. This suggts not only the prence of homosexual timacy the ontier wt, but also a greater culture of sexual ambiguy.

Homosocialy was re to muny wboy culture, allowg men to nnect wh others whout societal retributn (Packard 3, 7). The term “sexual vert” was veloped to refer to the people and was ed terchangeably wh “homosexual” (Boag 5). As Peter Boag explas, “to intify a homoerotic re s myth about the supremacy of whe Amerin masculy is to imply that Amerin dienc want their ontiersman to practice nonnormative sir as part of their rol natn-buildg” (12).

THE DALLAS COWBOYS’ LONG GAY & BI HISTORY: 3 OUT ATHLET, SOME GLORY HOLE, A GAY DATG SE & MORE

In other words, if there is somethg natnal about the wboy and if there is somethg homoerotic about the partnerships he forms the wilrns, then there is somethg homoerotic about Amerin natnal inty. This would be somethg seemgly ntradictory to the rercement of homosexualy as Other and anathema to the Amerin/mascule ials the wboy was supposed to reprent.

In forcg the dience to regnize a eper nnectn between the two protagonists, one that may reflect feelgs held by many other Amerin men, the dience is pelled to acknowledge the artificial boundary between homosocial and homoerotic that is imposed by homophobia and rerced by the Hollywood Cowboy. As Eric Patterson ncurs, “By lotg love between men wh the inographic system of landspe, clothg, and activi that are fundamental to the Wtern, Brokeback Mounta oblig rears and dienc to beg to regnize how the Amerin natnal fantasy of Wtern adventure and particularly the ialized wboy hero have distorted history and endorsed a homophobic nstctn of masculy” (117).

One Wyomg native, playwright Sandy Dixon, was quoted an article the Casper, Wyomg Star-Tribune newspaper, which was then wily reported natnal media, claimg she had certaly never met a gay wboy, and that “real wboys” would dismiss the film as “hogwash. Real gay ranchers, who do fact exist, whether Dixon knowgly met them or not, may beg to differ that the film don’t embellish at all.

GAY COWBOY

“The movie shows that world very much the way is, ” affirms Lehman, who is gay, and who also spent many years livg the closet. “Back home, I had a iend who went to a rival high school and we would meet up secret, ” explas Lehman, who now pet on both the straight and gay roo circus.

And they’re also pleased that “Brokeback Mounta” puts forth an image of gay characters that has been seen too equently the mastream media, that of the gged everyman who jt happens to be gay.

“This movie do show somethg that people probably don’t know about, ” offers Hartman, who, wh an admted penchant for chewg tobac and his love of ranchg fi any “Queer Eye” notns of what a gay man may be. “It’s 2006 and shows like ‘Will & Grace’ have put posive gay characters out there, but this film tells another valid story. Not surprisgly, when asked how he’d answer those folks who claim that Brokeback’s notn of gays on the range is “hogwash, ” the normally staid horseman Hartman jt chuckl.