The arena’s railings were festooned with the banners of corporate sponsors advertising products such as Bud Light beer, Jack Daniels whiskey, and Gun Oil personal lubricant. This year, they put up a sign directing traffic to the event, and no protesters came.įor two days, gays and lesbians and at least one transgender man competed in barrel racing and bull riding on the soft soil of a fairgrounds arena at the rodeo that looked like just about every small-scale rodeo held across the country. “For years, no one would allow us to advertise it,” said Sandy Bidwell, president of the Diamond State event, for fear protesters would create a disturbance. The sixteenth Diamond State Rodeo held in Little Rock drew 75 contestants, far outnumbering spectators, from a dozen states and Canada, all hoping to qualify for the International Gay Rodeo 2016 finals in Las Vegas. Everybody deserves equal rights,” said Earp, 45, a native of Benton, Arkansas, where he was raised in a fundamentalist Christian denomination, and a competitor in barrel racing, calf roping and steer riding.
states where same-sex marriage is not recognized. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson.Įarp was a contestant at the International Gay Rodeo event held last month in Arkansas, a Bible Belt state on the front lines of the fight over gay rights and one of the 13 U.S. Arkansas has been one of the front-line states in the battle between cultural conservatives and those seeking expanded rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Gordon Satterly, 61, from Michigan (L) kisses his husband Richard Brand, 53, from Texas, at the International Gay Rodeo Association’s Rodeo In the Rock party in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States April 24, 2015.
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