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From: rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: Texas Gay Rodeo
Message-ID: <376@ptsfa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Nov-84 16:01:45 EST
Article-I.D.: ptsfa.376
Posted: Mon Nov 19 16:01:45 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 23-Nov-84 06:17:25 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Pacific Bell, San Francisco
Lines: 71

The first Texas Gay Rodeo, held in Simonton, TX ("near" Houston) November
2-4, was quite a success.

It was much smaller than the National Reno Gay Rodeo, maybe about 500
spectators (compared to several thousand in Reno, but then the Reno
Gay Rodeo has been a well-known 9 year tradition). About the same number
of contestants - several tens. It was incredibly well organized and well
run, putting the Reno Gay Rodeo to shame. I hung out with several people
from the Colorado group, who said that was because they helped organize
the Texas Gay Rodeo. If so, the success of it is much to their credit!

The rodeo was held in indoor rodeo grounds (The Roundup) in Simonton,
about 40-50 miles west of Houston, out in the boonies.
The people who run the  Roundup were surprisingly natural with the
all-gay crowd. The announcer and the bull-ride clown, who were part
of the Roundup team, and straight to boot, fit in PERFECTLY with the
gay event. For those of you who've never been to a rodeo, the clown
and the announcer engage in a lot of ribbing and joking between events
and rides. In this case, there were two clowns from the Texas Gay
Rodeo Assocation, as well, dressed in sort of drag-like rodeo clown
outfits. And so a lot of the ribbing between the clowns and announcers
was specifically tuned to the gay audience without being the sort of
gay self-putdown humor that you might expect. So it was amazing that
the straight announcer and clown did their job so well.

I heard that the reason why the rodeo was held so far out of Houston
was that the TGRA could not find a rodeo arena closer in that would
have a gay rodeo.

There was one thing I did not like, though. And I would like the opinion
of others on this.

The weekend began with a party Friday evening, with the usual announcements,
speeches, etc. A Lesbian minister gave an invocation.
Now being of Jewish ethnical background and of atheistic belief,
I probably could have grinned and beared it if the invocation merely gave
thanks to a god, but no, this was the Bible Belt.
The minister told us to bow our heads and her invocation was
specifically Christian, mentioning Lord Jeeeesus Chraaaahst; in fact
the friend I was with said it was in a style particular to some or other
Protestant sect. My blood boiled. Afterwards I went up the minister and
told her, "I felt alienated and excluded by your prayer. There are
people here who are not Christian. There are people here who are not
Judeo-Christian. There are people here who don't believe in God. This
event is for gay people in general, not just gay Christians, and it
makes me feel unwelcome here for you to give a religious prayer, and
a Christian one at that."

Her response was to hold my hand, and to smile and look directly into
my eyes in a way that came accross to me as that condescending Christian love
and say, "My intention here is to bring people together, not to
drive them apart ..."

I walked back to my friend muttering half tongue-in-cheek and half with
blood still boiling,
"Those goddam Christians have to turn everything into a Christian event.
Why can't they just keep their religion in their church where it belongs ..."

Now, I realize that the offensiveness of the invocation was not intended,
and that the Bible Belt is so overtly Christian that a Christian brought
up there may be blind to the offensiveness a such a prayer. But that is
no reason for putting up with such behavior.  This seems to me to be
similar to "heterosexism" -- when heterosexuals act with an "innocent" (i.e.
non-beligerent) assumption that everyone is heterosexual.

I would like other's opinions of this.
-- 


Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
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