History
The first gay rodeo was held as a charity fundraising event at the Washoe County Fairgrounds in Reno, Nevada on October 2, 1976. The organizer, Phil Ragsdale, a member of the Imperial Court System, was the Court Emperor of Reno. In time, he came to be regarded as the "Father of Gay Rodeo."
Ragsdale came up with the idea of a holding a rodeo to raise money for the local Thanksgiving Day food drive for senior citizens. Over 125 people took part in the first rodeo, and the winners were crowned King of the Cowboys, Queen of the Cowgirls, and Miss Dusty Spurs (drag queen). The National Reno Gay Rodeo title was officially created in 1977, when he founded the Comstock Gay Rodeo Association. Following the Imperial courts lead Ragsdale added the "Mr., Ms., and Miss National Reno Gay Rodeo" titles to aid in the fund raising that was to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. These titles still exist today but have been recognized as Mr., Ms., Miss., and MsTer International Gay Rodeo Association since the IGRA replaced the old National Reno format.
By 1984, the ninth and final National Reno Gay Rodeo brought out over 10,000 people to the rodeo grounds. The demise of the National Reno Rodeos is credited by the IRS as a dispute between the Gay Rodeo and the Washoe County Fairgrounds and the Sands Hotel. The rodeo books were also alleged to have been seized by the IRS.
History has recorded 14 gay rodeos (9 Reno rodeos, 3 Colorado rodeos, 1 Texas rodeo, and 1 California rodeo) prior to the formation of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA). The IGRA became truly international in 1993 when the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association from Canada joined.
In September 1985 with 10 years of rodeo history behind it, groups of men gathered in Denver, Colorado to formulate the history of Gay Rodeo. The five founding states of the International Gay Rodeo Association were Colorado, Texas, California, and Arizona. These four associations seated the Oklahoma Gay Rodeo Association at its first convention held in the same year. The new Association elected Wayne Jakino from Colorado as its first President.
Read more about this topic: International Gay Rodeo Association
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
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