milking + plowing

A Social Network For Gay Farmers That’s Not a Facebook Game

With all the tired lines about how same-sex marriage will lead to man-goat and woman-sheep unions, you might imagine this Canadian gay farmer’s organization appreciate the irony.

A subsidiary of the 10-year-old farmer’s organization Au Coeur Des Familles Agricoles founded by Maria Labrecque Duchesneau, which is designed to help distressed farmers deal with everything from business pitfalls to feelings of solitude, the gay farmer’s group is a collective for Quebec agriculture’s even more isolated members. The Montreal Gazette notes:

“Like other rural residents, rural homosexuals don’t share the same concerns as urban gays,” said Labrecque Duchesneau, who has hosted several of the club’s meetings at her home, together with her husband. “They have their own realities.”

A club member who asked to remain anonymous agreed. “I think it would be disastrous for my business if people knew I was gay,” said the farmer, who is a major player in the Quebec beef industry. “The agricultural world is very macho. Bulls are bulls and cows are cows -it’s that simple.” He added that gays are not necessarily seen as good or reliable in business. “The gay village in Montreal is like a ghetto,” he told The Gazette. “The lifestyle there is far from the kind I’ve worked so hard to have and to maintain. I prefer to act straight and keep my private life private.”

Lampron, however, says he thinks gay farmers should reveal their true nature, regardless of the type of production they are involved in and the size of their enterprise. “I don’t think that being gay would hurt anyone’s business. We’re not in the 1950s anymore. Times have changed; people are much more open and accepting. If someone can’t or won’t come out, I think they’re hiding or haven’t accepted something inside themselves. They have an image of themselves or their business that doesn’t allow them to reveal that side of themselves. It all depends on where you are in your inner process. Every person’s reality is different.”

Despite wishing to keep his personal and professional identities separate, the anonymous farmer says he does enjoy chewing the fat with fellow members of the gay farmers’ club. “It’s very interesting to meet people with whom I have so much in common,” he said. “It’s fun and encouraging to see others living a life like mine.”

To be fair, what they have in common are obnoxious tan lines and the smell of cow poop. Which I actually find incredibly sexy.

[photo via 2010 Switzerland’s Sexiest Farmers, not Quebec]

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