Wyoming Republicans are torn between a rock and a hard place: rodeos and gay people. While they love the former, they can’t imagine supporting the latter.
As a result, the state’s Republican Party chair recently made a bold stand against gay rodeos… despite not any existing in Wyoming.
Frank Eathorne, who was just reelected to a third term as party chair, declared at a state Republican Party meeting he doesn’t want the Republican National Committee donating to any LGBTQ+ groups or causes.
For some strange reason, the RNC’s supposed backing of gay rodeos was at the top of his grievance list.
“There’s been expenditures made, unbeknownst to us until later discovery, that direct contributions (to) things like gay rodeos and LGBTQ causes has in fact been transacted,” he said, via Cowboy State Daily.
In the ensuing days, Eathorne hasn’t supplied any additional information about the RNC’s alleged backing of gay rodeos. His broader complaints were centered around the lavish spending habits of RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who used roughly $500,000 in party funds to pay for her luxury D.C. apartment, and another $75,000 on beauty and spa services.
Wyoming National Committeewoman Nina Webber backed Eathorne, saying she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for Republicans to fund gay events, considering their steadfast opposition to LGBTQ+ equality.
“We have a lot of people supporting a lot of events,” she said. “It shouldn’t be based on the ideals of whether someone is gay or not, or by race or faith.”
For those wondering, there is an International Gay Rodeo Association that hosts events across the U.S., mostly in more left-leaning Western states such as New Mexico, California and Nevada. Formed in 1985, the IGRA seeks to “spread the Rodeo spirit across the United States and into Canada.”
Traditionally, gay rodeos have served as important queer spaces in rural parts of the U.S. One participant, Washington resident Curt Westberg, told Oregon Public Radio this summer it was a life-changing revelation when he discovered their existence.
“I saw a flyer somewhere that said, ‘A gay rodeo’ and I was going, ‘You gotta be kidding me!,” he said. “And there was hundreds of men there … It’s like I died and went to heaven.”
But back to the central question: why is the Wyoming Republican Party chair so obsessed with these gay rodeos?
A member of the far-right Oath Keepers, Eathorne traffics in hateful politics, and participated in the Jan. 6 riots. His latest crusade involves targeting county clerks who say audits of elections aren’t necessary.
In other words, he isn’t exactly focused on real issues that affect everyday people in his home state. Instead, he would rather rail against the RNC for its modest outreach to the LGBTQ+ community, such as the creation of the “RNC Pride Coalition.”
Eathorne also pushed heavily for Wyoming’s transgender athlete ban, which even right-wing governor Mark Gordon acknowledged would only impact four high school athletes in the state (Gordon, in cowardly fashion, let the bill pass without his signature).
“There’s plenty of good causes and organizations to support those measures, not those the Democrats support,” said Eathorne.
As probably the first Wyoming politician to ever come out against rodeos, Eathorne is breaking boundaries. It’s probably only a matter of time before he spearheads another pointless and embarrassing cause.
dbmcvey
Another day another triggered conservative.
abfab
They can’t stand how hot and horny seeing strong Gay men and women on bronking bucks makes them feel. It’s an insult to our western mythology!
RIGay
And are these dimwits going to force the event to be shut down?
Fahd
Facts aren’t important to Republicans anymore. They’re focused on maintaining/getting power even if it involves undemocratic means. For shame!
There is no chance that Wyoming will go Democratic, and Wyoming as the U.S.’s least populous state has 3 electoral votes. I’m pretty sure the RNC doesn’t say “how high?” when the Wyoming branch says “jump”.
As the article notes, gay rodeos have been around for awhile, but I’m not sure one can harmonize traditional style rodeos with animal cruelty laws and animal rights in general. I wouldn’t hope for more gay rodeos, at least not of the traditional style.
Kangol2
Repugs and right-wingers keep letting LGBTQ know they fear us and cannot stand us and are willing to go out of their way to harm us, through anti-LGBTQ laws and policies, promoting anti-LGBTQ smears, and outright violence, and don’t expect us to fight back. They need to be taught a good lesson, at the ballot box and in the streets, since weakness only emboldens them. Our predecessors didn’t give their blood, sweat and tears only for us to be relegated to the margins and shadows, harassed and excluded from public life.