Frank Harrell
Santa Fean Brian Helander holds gay rodeo champion titles in chute-dogging and other events.
You've got ranchers, hobbyists, seasoned professional athletes who've traveled from across the country to compete, and amateurs on their first round in the arena. Plus, you'll find fearless cowboys and cowgirls wrestling steers to the ground and trying not to get bucked from raging bulls and broncos. There's speed racing and roping, for which a good horse will sell for upwards of $25,000. And then, of course, camp events entail dressing goats in underwear and steers in ribbons, men and women in drag-racing across the arena, wild dance parties and drag queen royalty entertaining the crowds.
Welcome to the Gay Rodeo!
Usually, the New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association hosts the annual Zia Regional Rodeo at the Rodeo de Santa Fe arena in August. But this year Santa Fe's gay rodeo will take place during the same weekend as Santa Fe Pride.
"We would have never chosen to plan it this way because we really don't want the rodeo to compete with Pride," NMGRA President Keith Holtzclaw tells SFR. "It was a total coincidence based on when bookings were available."
But for one queen at least, the overlap seems serendipitous. Paul Valdez, who goes by Marie Antoinette Du Barry when in drag, is Miss New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association 2019. She's also the emeritus Miss Santa Fe Pride 2019. On Saturday, she gets to be both.
Anson Stevens-Bollen
Du Barry will look every bit the fairy tale empress as she rides the NMGRA float in Saturday's Pride parade in a stunning hand-embroidered gown and a double crown, but underneath she'll wear jeans and boots. She is a rodeo queen after all, and her duties include knowing how to rope steers, time events and deliver CPR, as well as performing shows to raise funds for the rodeo and for the charities to which the NMGRA donates all of its proceeds.
"I used to watch my grandmother make the gowns for the Fiesta Queen. When I was a little boy, I looked at that woman who was going to go into the cathedral and get her crown and serve her community, and I wanted to be that person. … As gay rodeo royalty, I feel like that's who I get to be, and so I take the commitment very seriously," Du Barry says, and then laughs. "A lot of girls think you just get to sit on the car and look pretty, but Miss Gay Rodeo is a working title. It's just another thing that's special about gay rodeo."
In the arena, the International Gay Rodeo Association, of which NMGRA is a member, follows the same rules and scoring systems as mainstream rodeo but with a few notable exceptions, says Brian Helander, a Santa Fe resident and Gay Rodeo champion who holds records in multiple events including goat-dressing and chute-dogging. Where the rules differ, Helander says it's all in the name of animal safety and gender equality. The IGRA allows women to compete in all events, for example, as opposed to mainstream rodeo where women are barred from activities such as bull riding and wrestling.
Helander's been in the game for 25 years and helped bring gay rodeo to Santa Fe for the first time in 2014. He's seen a lot change over the years, for better and for worse.
"There was a time when we couldn't find a stock provider to supply us with stock, and there's a history of being refused access to venues," says Helander. This still happens at times, but in general, he says, gay rodeo raises far fewer eyebrows than it once did. There's even been an uptick in straight participants in recent years who joined the IGRA because "they share our values of acceptance. Gay Rodeo is a welcoming safe space for everybody."
But the rodeo has also struggled to maintain membership and funding in the last decade. Helander speculates this may be because rodeo is an expensive sport, and rising costs of living make it more difficult to get started these days than in the past. There are also fewer young people working with livestock across the country, where the average age of a cattle rancher is 58, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
What hasn't changed over all the years, says Holtzclaw, is that "the gay rodeo feels like family, and we honor that commitment to our community in every way we can."
As for what to do this weekend, you can learn the basics at Rodeo School (11 am-2 pm Friday June 28), or see Miss Du Barry perform from 9-10:30 pm on both Friday June 28 and Saturday June 29. Bring money for tips; proceeds are split 50/50 between NMGRA and the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance, and both nights feature a free dance party starting at 9:30 pm.
The Gay Rodeo takes over the SFR Instagram this weekend, so check @sfreporter for all they have to offer. The rodeo runs all weekend; go to nmgra.org for more info.
Various times Friday-Sunday June 28-30. $15-$25.
Rodeo de Santa Fe,
3237 Rodeo Road,
471-4300; nmgra.org.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong last name for Paul Valdez. SFR regrets the error.
