It’s a Sunday afternoon and three overlords of the Texas Gay Roo Associatn — which is exactly what sounds like — have ngregated to drk about “A Texas Tradn,” their big annual chary roo this weekend Denton.
Contents:
- THE GEO PHOTOS FROM A GAY ROO WILL TRIGGER YOUR INNER COWBOY
- AT MEXI’S GAY WBOY NVENTNS, MEN NNECT WH EACH OTHER — AND THEIR UNTRY’S GGED PAST
- CONFSNS OF COWBOYS THE TEXAS GAY ROO
- GAY COWBOY
- STAFF OPINION: COWBOYS MEDIA ARE HERENTLY GAY
- HOW GAY ARE THE WBOYS?
THE GEO PHOTOS FROM A GAY ROO WILL TRIGGER YOUR INNER COWBOY
Each sprg, hundreds of gay wboys gather Zates for a nventn that celebrat sexual eedom and romanticiz Mexi's ral past. * the cowboys are gay *
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.
” 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?
AT MEXI’S GAY WBOY NVENTNS, MEN NNECT WH EACH OTHER — AND THEIR UNTRY’S GGED PAST
* the cowboys are gay *
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.
” While Cooper do not tail explic sex between the two, their relatnship is unmistakably homosocial. 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.
CONFSNS OF COWBOYS THE TEXAS GAY ROO
The Gay Cowboy trope as ed popular culture. The mythos of the Amerin Old Wt, wh s ra of ggedns, danger and adventure, has appealed to many … * the cowboys are gay *
“Homoerotic iendships prerve privilege and ensure survival a hostile wilrns” (Packard 15). Homosexualy was an act, not an orientatn.
GAY COWBOY
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. 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. Historilly, the wboy was able to engage homosexual sex while matag his masculy and stat. Homosocialy was re to muny wboy culture, allowg men to nnect wh others whout societal retributn (Packard 3, 7).
STAFF OPINION: COWBOYS MEDIA ARE HERENTLY GAY
The term “sexual vert” was veloped to refer to the people and was ed terchangeably wh “homosexual” (Boag 5). Concurrently, the ncept of “sexual versn/homosexualy” evolved direct ntrast to “heterosexualy.
” From the start, homosexualy was fed as nately “unnatural, ” and therefore sexually viant.
Moreover, the e of “sexual vert, ” homosexualy beme herently lked to effemacy. 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). 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.
HOW GAY ARE THE WBOYS?
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).
Though the ultimate du, he is somehow not like the other is bee he is gay. Is , like so many prtig gay works, a tragic romance?
Extrapolate those lsons too much and you end up patently homophobic terrory—we should not assume that every abive oaf p for a Bron Henry. On top of that, gay wboys were far more mon than you might thk! Gay wboys.