Utah gay rodeo returns after 19 years, brings competition, belonging to queer country community

The Utah Gay Rodeo Association’s multiday “Crossroads of the West” regional rodeo in Ogden last weekend featured all the same trappings as a “traditional” rodeo. Similar competitions. Similar outfits — jeans, crisp button-up shirts, cowboy hats. The groomed dirt and manure gave off the same earthy, stinky-sweet scent.

But mixed with nostalgia for rodeo, a pastime many here lost or felt ostracized from after coming out, these competitors and spectators also felt a sense of belonging and relief to be among their people — folks who wouldn’t judge them for their boots or blue jeans, who knew the words to and could be brought to quiet tears by a Garth Brooks song, who grew up with more horses than neighbors. All either queer themselves, or welcoming if you were.