The Real Gay Cowboys of Wyoming

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 7:56pm

The New York Times just published a fantastic article on the real-life gay cowboys of Wyoming, what they thought of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and how it compares to their life.

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[...]

But to gay men trying to forge lives in a world where the shape of masculinity is narrow, and where the "liberated" antics of the homosexual minstrels so often depicted on television can seem far off, the emotional privation and brutal violence of "Brokeback Mountain" seems like documentary.

"That could have been my life," Derrick Glover said one bitter cold afternoon last week, referring to the film, which he had seen at a special screening a week before in Jackson, Wyo. A 33-year-old rancher, Mr. Glover comes from a family that has worked the land around Lusk for generations. His father still runs 300 head of cattle.

Seated at a table in the smoky Outpost Cafe alongside Highway 85, Mr. Glover laid out the story of a typical ranch-country boyhood: herding, branding, culling and haying, horses hobbled on picket lines and calves pulled forcibly from their mother's bodies during spring calving. Every summer Mr. Glover sets out with his brother in a panel truck carrying their two quarter horses, to compete in calf and steer roping competitions. "I never had any intention of leaving the cowboy lifestyle," Mr. Glover said. "Ranching is who I am."

Yet next month Mr. Glover will quit Lusk and that part of himself in order to move to the bright lights of Lander, Wyo. (population 6,864). "I don't really want to do it," Mr. Glover said. Yet he has to, he explained, if he ever wants to live his life openly. Like Jack Twist, the rodeo-loving character portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie, Derrick Glover is gay.

"They always define it as coming out of the closet, but I don't consider myself to be out of the closet," Mr. Glover explained. There is a reason for that, he said. "Where I live, you can't really go out and be yourself. You couldn't go out together, two guys, as a couple and ever be accepted. It wasn't accepted in the past, it's still not, and I don't think it ever will be." That he and some of the others interviewed for this article were willing to be named and photographed was not without social and even physical risk.

[...]

Cowboys, Just Like in the Movie

Updated On: 12/20/05 at 07:56 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 8:50pm

Thank you so much for this link. I'll make sure to read it before I pack up the computer.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 9:05pm

Yes, thanks I noticed that article before Bluewizard and forgot to save it. I dated someone from Wyoming and through him came to understand the level of homophobia in that region which made it very difficult for him to accept himself and his sexuality. The sad thing is how deep the hatred and fear of gays still is to this day.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 9:16pm

Amazing read.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 9:24pm

Amazing article; makes the movie that much more powerful, to know how clearly it echoes reality.

[DG]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 9:42pm

I'm so thankful things like this are getting publicized. It exists today because there is a LONG history of it in the region. This is why I almost threw up when the argument about 'tainting' the history of the cowboy was brought up. PLEASE! They should only hope that the REAL history of the cowboy doesn't become common knowledge!

People that have lived in the west for any length of time are really enjoying this level of new-found discovery. Welcome to the real world folks

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/21/05 at 2:12pm

Such a sad reality it all presents...

No matter how far we go, we're never going to completely liberate everyone...