Southern Spurs Rodeo

June 1-2, 2002

(Although the Southern Spurs Rodeo was not a naturist event, I believe it deserved recognition in my outdoor news journal. Hope you enjoy.)

At the last minuet I printed a sign before I left work. It read: "Southern Spurs Rodeo 2002." "You Go Cowboy!" Of course I could not resist decorating the sign with a couple small rainbow stickers from my wallet. They were losing their stickiness and needed to be attached with tape, yet the message was still there. "I am going to the Gay Rodeo, are you?" Taping the sign on my rear truck window I started galloping my way up I-75 towards my first rodeo. My truck tires pounding the pavement like any good steed.

I wondered just what kind of acknowledgements I might rein in. In the end it made my long drive of eight hours to Atlanta more interesting. My first acknowledgement came as thumbs up from a gay couple driving a sports car with a New Jersey license plate. Then a Colorado guy bid me the time of day. He was a bit rough looking, mountain man type, but I figured that he would clean up OK. Then a black guy, a true Georgia Boy, played cat and mouse with me for a while. Each time we would pass each other he would make eye contact and make a little hello jester with his hand. The closer I got to Atlanta the more young rednecks, driving pickup trucks, just had to take a long hard look. The expression on their faces just reeked of "Damn, get me out of this Georgia closet."

Saturday I was up early to attend the morning events. To my surprise the grandstand was only populated with a dozen people. It was not till noon, when the grand entry started, that the spectators arrived. I have to admit that the Calf Roping events in the morning were not all that exciting. I realized why so many waited for the afternoon entertainment that was only a few hours away.

It takes a good announcer with a sense of humor to entertain the crowd as well. One of the cowgirls was participating in her first calf roping computation. The announcer suggested that she was a virgin, at least a virgin calf roper. During the course of the two-day rodeo several of the cowboys helped the announcer out with various quips about their current martial status. We hear announcements about the single cowboys looking for love. (I am withholding their names, although I suspect that the free advertisement would be appreciated.) "Cowboy A would like to announce that he is still single." Cowboy B got revolving doors installed on his apartment last week." "This news flash just in, Cowboy A would like to announce that he has a new boyfriend, and he is spending the night � in New York." "Cowboy B has been asked to remove his shirt for the next event." Needless to say the crowd responded in a positive way to all the announcements made. Those horny cowboys!

The grand stand started filling up as the Grand Entry was started at noon on each day. A rider-less horse, with a floral arrangement on its saddle, was lead through the arena. The rider-less horse was in memory of all our loved ones lost to aids, rodeo accidents, and other tragedies of life. It was a very touching moment and I could not hold back the tears. Tears because I knew everyone there had experienced some pain along the way. My pain and tears were not unique. Every cowboy and cowgirl there, gay or straight, I am sure, remembered difficult times and lost loved ones in their lives.

The rodeo may have started out on a solemn note but it was not about to be a day of mourning. It was a day of celebrating our gay life style in a not-so-stereotypical kind of way. It was a day for those competing to show what they were made of. It was a day of total acceptance: Not everyone there was gay. Not everyone there was lesbian. Not everyone there was male. Note everyone there was female. Not everyone there was straight. But everyone there accepted everyone there as part of the human family. Professing that you were gay was not a prerequisite for participation or being a spectator. Being a spectator or having the desire to compete was all that was required.

The serious competitive events included, Calf roping on foot, Team Roping, Break-a-way Calf Roping, Bareback Bronc Riding, Chute Dogging, Pole Bending, Steer Riding, Bull Riding, Barrel Racing, Steer Decorating, and Flag Racing. The more entertaining events included, Goat Dressing, the Wild Drag Race, and the Scarlet O'Hara Race.

The calf roping on foot explains its self. A cowboy or cowgirl would race after a calf, which was released from a chute, on foot trying to lasso said animal. Team Roping consisted of a team of two doing the same thing. The Break-a-way Calf roping was done on horseback. There were only several that attempted the Bareback Bronc Riding, quite a dangerous sport. Chute Dogging was a test of strength between cow-person and animal. The human contestant had to keep a steer under control by holding its head and wrestling the animal to the ground. Several friends referred to this sport as Cow Tipping. Which in reality, the animal was tipped off its feet. Pole Bending was done on horseback. Horse riders had to maneuver a course of poles that were placed twenty-one feet apart. Steer Riding and Bull Riding were both dangerous events. No one was dangerously hurt but several had the wind knocked out and needed assistance leaving the arena. Barrel Racing was another horse race, maneuvering a course around barrels. The Steer Decorating was done in a team of two, one cowpoke had to tug the steer out of the chute with a rope while the other tied a ribbon to its tail. Flag Racing was again done as a horse race, the rider picking up a flag from a bucket set on top of a barrel and depositing it successfully into a similar set up on the other side of the arena. An announcement was made that the "Finest rabbit chow" was used in the buckets. I concluded that the medium in the buckets needed to be of a course texture to allow the flags to be easily held in place. All events were conducted with in a specified time limit.

Now for the fun stuff that was scattered between the serious events. The next three events were real belly busters. Several times I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. The Goat Dressing was quite a hoot. A team of two had to race down a course and pick up a goat and place a pair of white briefs on its hindquarters. Boy did the goat look out of place with white underwear on. The Wild Drag Race implies that someone is in drag. The two persons, not in drag, had to pull the steer out of a chute across a forty-foot line. At that point the 'Drag Queen' could help pull the steer across a seventy-foot line, 'She' then had to mount the steer and cross back over the seventy-foot line. Let it to our gay community to dream up something so comical and entertaining.

The Scarlet O'Hara Race had the audience howling. The teams consisted of three persons. One person of course played Scarlet. 'Her' two suitors had to ride stick ponies through Jonesboro GA and around the Town Square. When they approached Tara they had to announce that "Tara was burning! Tara was burning!" At that point they had to help Scarlet into a hooped skirt, a wig, and a parasol. Scarlet had a list of treasures that needed to be saved from the burning barn. After the treasures were retrieved from a large sack in the 'burning barn' the suitors had to pick up Scarlet and carry 'her' through the woods to the river where a wagon was waiting. The forest consisted of traffic cones with evergreen branches sticking out of the top. The wagon was a wheelbarrow that had to be pushed across the blue plastic river, with Scarlet riding safely inside, to the finish line in Atlanta. This race was so much fun to watch that the entire audience almost rolled out of the bleachers.

In retrospect this was one of the most reaffirming gay events that I have attended in a long time, probably since the March on Washington in 1993. It was a safe environment for public displays of affection between cowboys and cowgirls alike. It was a pleasing sight to see two cowboys, dressed up in their 'Western Drag,' resting in each other's arms. There was one cowgirl there that was only about three years old. She was dressed in a red cowgirl hat, red shirt, denim skirt, sandals, and red socks. She crawled on the fence and watched with great interest while her mother cautioned her. I am sure that she will be crawling up more than one fence in her life. From a very young age most of us know what direction we want to go in life. Of course, like others, I had to participate in life's arena and loose several competitions before I was able score points. The judges of life tallied up everyone's scorecards at the Gay Rodeo. Everyone was a winner that attended or competed in the Southern Spurs Rodeo 2002.

� Copyright 2002 Dustin P. Roeb�re All Rights Reserved