Bucking stereotypes: Gay rodeo returns to Santa Fe – Santa Fe New Mexican

“I want them to have fun,” Givens said of the spectators, who burst into laughter and applause at the unexpected bit of comedy Sunday at the Zia Regional Rodeo in Santa Fe. The 61-year-old from Little Rock, Ark., has been participating in gay rodeos since 1988.

“It’s been my family,” he said as he joked around with fellow rodeo contestant Nikki Starr, who ended up wearing the underwear over his outerwear.

The Zia Regional Rodeo included events such as roping, riding and wrestling steers to the ground.

But only in gay rodeos will you find a wild drag race, in which a contestant in drag must ride a not-too-pleased steer while two teammates help pull the stubborn critter over a line some 70 feet from the rodeo chute.

It’s a place where contestants feel supported and mentored, even from competing cowboys or cowgirls. It’s a place where they can be themselves, contestants said.

“It’s welcoming,” said 19-year-old Nando Cole, who made his rodeo debut over the weekend. “Everybody’s just friendly, and they have open arms. You can just be free and happy.”

The Zia Regional Rodeo, New Mexico’s only gay rodeo, is an associate member of the International Gay Rodeo Association.

The first gay rodeo was held in Nevada in 1976. Today, there are gay rodeos held around the country, and many of the contestants at the Zia rodeo said they take part in them.

Some are newcomers, like Nando Cole, who took down a steer in about 10 seconds during the chute dogging contest. He said he likes the excitement of the arena events.

Ringo Cole, 24 — no relation to Nando — was also a first-timer. Like Nando, he is from Texas, and his infatuation with cowboys came from the animated hit movie Toy Story, which features a cowboy character named Woody.

“I’ve always dreamed of being a cowboy,” said Ringo Cole, who said he likes watching Westerns and finds it a “rush” to try to take down a steer or clad a goat in underwear.

Their mentor is Alexis Cole, who has been running the rodeo circuit ever since childhood and thinks that Nando and Ringo may have it easier than he did years ago in terms of overcoming prejudice and judgment.

“They’ve obviously had a very huge opportunity that didn’t have the obstacles experienced by our older generation,” he said. “I think society now is more accepting about people being openly gay.”

While it is still an event of pride, it’s also a place where straight participants can compete and where gender lines evaporate as contestants try to win.

Some, like Terri Hibben of Albuquerque, come for the adrenaline rush they get from competing on horseback.

Hibben grew up in Iowa, where she first fell in love with horses after her parents bought her a pony when she was 9 years old. She rode that pony “all over town,” she said.

“Horses are a part of who I am,” she said as she petted the head of her quarter horse, Blurr. ”They’re a part of my identity.”

After racing Blurr around the field for the pole bending competition, Hibben said: “It’s so exciting and so fast-paced you don’t think about it.”

Others have been competing for decades, like 62-year-old Andy Pittman of Texas, who was still reeling from the recent loss of his beloved horse Lance.

A rodeo colleague, not wanting Pittman to miss out this year, loaned him a horse to use for the weekend.

Pittman first entered the gay rodeo circuit in 1999 and then, after taking a break, returned three years ago. While sexual identity “still plays into” gay rodeos, he’s seeing that fade away as more people accept the notion of gay rodeos and people of all gender identities and expressions.

Still, he said only in a gay rodeo competition could he “kiss my partner before I make a run” in the arena.