Are There Gay Cowboys?

Via Ace, I see that some Sheridan, Wyoming cowboys don’t cotton to Brokeback Mountain. The thought of gay cowboys, eating pudding or otherwise, sickens them.

JIM-BOB ZIMMERSCHIED is not a happy cowboy. “They’ve gone and killed John Wayne with this movie,” he says angrily, beer in hand. “I’ve been doing this job all my life and I ain’t never met no gay cowboy. It wouldn’t be right.”

I would point out that John Wayne died in 1979. Unless Zimmerschied is speaking metaphorically. But I’ve never heard of a metaphor-speaking cowboy.

The target of Mr Zimmerschied’s outburst is Brokeback Mountain, the Hollywood western-with-a-twist that is being tipped for Oscar success. The “gay cowboy flick”, as it has been dubbed in America, is directed by Ang Lee and stars the Australian Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two young ranch hands who begin a long-term love affair in 1963 against the stunning backdrop of Wyoming’s mountains and prairies.

I’m with Ace on this one: If this movie isn’t about gay cowboys, I’m not sure what it’s about.

Flushed by Bud Lite, Mr Zimmerschied, a squat walrus-moustachioed man in a hat and check shirt, was in full flow. “John Wayne and Will Rogers, they made real cowboy movies. They portrayed us like we are. There ain’t no queer in cowboy and I don’t care for anyone suggesting there is.”

[…]

While the patrons in the Mint Bar may be convinced that they have never met a homosexual cowboy, the popularity of the gay rodeo circuit in America is proof that they exist. “I was born gay and I was born a cowboy,” said Mike Yocum, a rodeo enthusiast from Oklahoma. “I grew up in a saddle. It’s horseshit to say there’s no such thing as a gay cowboy, but it’s a very touchy subject.”

Apparently, so.

Meanwhile, Mr Zimmerschied offered a suggestion for another film about same-sex romance on the range. “A movie about two women would be different,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

That’s so wrong.

Previously: Brokeback Mountain: Not Just Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding

FILED UNDER: Gender Issues, LGBTQ Issues, Popular Culture, , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. fizzix says:

    I understand that they tend sheep in the movie, so he has nothing to worry about. They’re actually gay shepherds.

  2. Anderson says:

    “A movie about two women would be different,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

    Even Cowgirls Get the _________?

  3. Stormy70 says:

    There are gay Cowboys here in Texas. I once went with my Bro to a country western gay bar. It was not an Urban Cowboy bar, but an authentic western bar. It looked like any hick, trucker hat wearing bar, except the two-steppers were gay. Men and women of the gay persuasion out dancing and having a good time. Trust me, the less stunningly attractive gay men and women need a place to go where they feel at home. They were just regular “red state” folk.

  4. ColfromColorado says:

    My best freind calls homos ‘Unnatural Abominations’. I went to a part to go hiking. Two people were making out in a car in the lot I parked in. They turned around. It was two men. I almost puked. I had to get out of my vehichle and start walking quickly to get away from that. I see them all as ‘disgusting perverts’ just like my best friend. They should be put back in the DSMIV for their mental conditions.

  5. Anderson says:

    I almost puked. I had to get out of my vehichle and start walking quickly to get away from that.

    Hey, thanks for sharing your weird sexual hangups, Col. Obviously the experience made quite an impression on you.

  6. Herb says:

    Fizzix:

    Thats what I heard, they only herd sheep in the film location where the movie was filmed. But, as the old Indian chief said, “SHEEP LIE”

  7. McGehee says:

    I see them all as ‘disgusting perverts’ just like my best friend.

    Does he know you see him as a disgusting pervert?

  8. DL says:

    Gay Shepherds? Do they carry lavender staffs?

  9. leelu says:

    “A movie about two women would be different,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

    Yup.

  10. Booty1 says:

    gayness is a sinckness of the soul and there should be some type of rehab for it but i think praying helps best. p.s. just say no.

  11. Pete Amschel says:

    I was born in Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1945. Cowboys pride themselves on self control butt Sodomy is the antithesis of self-control. Normal logic, therefore, establishes that the people on the silver screen up there in that movie are not portraying real cowboys. Real cowboys don’t get excited over nothing, for another thing, and as you boys mention above, Cowboys don’t herd sheep. These are objective indicators supporting the TCA conclusion that this movie is phoney baloney. This movie is just a squadjilizer’s wet dream.
    Pete A.
    Jackson