Famous gay cowboys
STAFF OPINION: Cowboys in media are inherently gay
Spending second away from your wives, going on adventures, dusty and clad in leather is not straight people behavior…Cowboys are gay.
Cowboys are inherently queer. Not the redneck “pop country” cowboys that we see today, but the pop tradition versions that we’ve seen on our T.V.s.
Being from Colorado, I have had interactions with cowboy customs all my life, from riding horses at my grandma’s house to my school annually participating in “Wild West Days,” where kids dressed up as cowboys and participated in wild west-themed activities.
In terms of this piece, though, I intend to gaze at more of the portrayal of the unrestrained west in the media and how oftentimes it is so very queer.
Now before I get too far into it there are a few spoilers (notably for "Tombstone," though it is based on a historical event, so do with that what you will).
Movies like "Tombstone,""Brokeback Mountain" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"cement these ideas. From Val Kilmer’s very fruity portrayal of Doc Holliday to the dynamic between Butch Cassidy and Harry Longabaugh in the Sundance Kid, there have bee
University Writing Program
Out West: The Queer Sexuality of the American Cowboy and His Cultural Significance
by Hana Klempnauer Miller
Research Paper | UWS 53b Mythology of the American West | Eric Hollander | Fall 2021
About this paper | This paper as PDF | MLA format
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from Brokeback Mountain.
Ask anyone who’s seen BrokebackMountain(2005) to characterize the film in three words, and you’re almost certain to listen some variation of “gay cowboy love-story.” While many have lauded the production, directed by Ang Lee, for its nuanced portrayal of two men’s complicated love for each other, the film was subject to scathing criticism at the time of its release. Detractors, largely spearheaded by right-wing and religious groups, quickly and fervently deemed the film’s depiction of a homosexual couple immoral, evidence of an attempt to feminize men, and even anti-American. In many cases, critics honed in on the two leads ’ occupations as cowboys, challenging the life of a “gay cowboy” in American history. One critic wrote that the film was
Gay Cowboy
Bisexual shepherds, fasten enough.
The mythos of the American Old West, with its aura of ruggedness, danger and adventure, has appealed to many people over the years, including gay men. While they don't have quite as many stereotypical gay associations as sailors and leather-clad bikers, cowboys are nevertheless an important part of macho gay male iconography.
It's more about the look and feel of the cowboy than the facts, so these men can be found in The Wild West, but also in a Room Western, Cattle Punk, Modern Old West, Samurai Cowboy, or any other cowboy-flavored work.
This trope covers gay or bisexual men who are Western-flavored characters (ranchers, cattle hands, rodeo performer, and country singers) or just fans of the genre.
This is almost always a flavor of Manly Gay.
Examples:
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By John Polly
As "Brokeback Mountain," director Ang Lee's heartbreaking film tracking the ill-fated relationship of two ranch-roaming cowboys in rural Wyoming, continues to stack up awards and nominations for its powerful love story and its talented cast (most notably leading men Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), it's also drawn a bit of attention from a few nay-sayers who feel that the movie somehow misrepresents the long-iconic figure of the traditional Old West cowboy.
One Wyoming native, playwright Sandy Dixon, was quoted in an article in the Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune newspaper, which was then widely reported in national media, claiming she had certainly never met a gay cowboy, and that "real cowboys" would refute the film as "hogwash." Dixon stated: "There is nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."
Real gay ranchers, who do in proof exist, whether Dixon knowingly met them or not, may beg to differ that the film doesn't embellish at all. One of them is Tracy Lehman. Lehman, who is now 38, was raised on a 6,000-acre cattle ranch in eastern Washington in a town of 90 people. Growing up he filled his da
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