Even Cowgirls Get the Bulls : Women Relish Chance to Compete at Gay Rodeo

Betsy Herron gripped tightly onto metal bars, holding herself suspended above a narrow animal pen.

More than 1,000 people seated around a rodeo arena were watching her at that moment. An announcer said her name.

But Herron, a trim woman of 37, neither saw nor heard any of them. All her attention was focused on the half-ton animal beneath her--a wild steer, nervously bucking up against the sides of the pen.

Herron slipped onto its back, the gate opened and the steer bolted into the arena. With a fury that brought a roar from the crowd, the animal leaped into the air, kicked its hooves and jerked its body back and forth, desperately trying to throw Herron to the ground.

But Herron had other ideas. She had waited four years for this moment, since the time a steer crushed her against a wall so violently that she was temporarily paralyzed from the neck down.

This was her comeback ride, and she had firmly resolved to stay aboard for the regulation six seconds.

Herron is what the rodeo, at its best, is all about. She has skill, determination and guts. But there is only one amateur rodeo circuit that allows Herron--who works days as an assistant manager of a Home Depot in Mira Loma--to compete in all the same events as men.

On Saturday, that rodeo came to town.

It was the 12th annual edition of what is officially called L.A. Rodeo, but known to all as simply the gay rodeo, with 168 contestants this year.

“I would have never gotten a chance to do this in my life if it wasn’t for gay rodeo,” Herron said later of the rodeo that concludes today at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

“This is the one place they don’t care if you are a man, a woman, gay, straight or whatever. You get your chance.”

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Increasingly, she and other competitors said Saturday, women are taking advantage of the opportunities offered at gay rodeos, now held in several Western states and Canadian provinces. Of the 76 competitors signed up for calf roping at the Burbank event, 33 were women.

In the straight rodeo world, this is almost unheard of, say the cowgirls. There is a small, professional women’s rodeo circuit. But at the big professional competitions, women are allowed only in the barrel race, a horse skill event.

“I saw one of those rodeos on the Nashville Network,” said Tonja Alvis, waiting to be called for her turn at calf roping.

“This woman in the barrel race had on a sequined outfit that must have cost $2,500. That is not exactly my idea of a rodeo.”

Some mainstream amateur rodeos give women the opportunity to participate in additional events, but never the “rough stock” contests such as wild steer or bull riding, women said.

Yet it’s precisely these events that attracted Herron to rodeos. “There is nothing like it you can ever imagine,” she said. “It’s the biggest rush you’ll ever have in your life.”

As with any thrill sport, there are dangers. Chute dogging is an event in which you have to literally wrestle a steer to the ground. On Saturday, Amy Hall, 28, slipped while competing and fell onto the dirt. The steer ran over her, stepping on the right side of her face.

Paramedics rushed to help and luckily, Hall sustained only bruises. “There is always a chance of getting hurt,” she said later while holding an ice pack to her cheek. “You have to live with it if you’re going to do this.”

A few straight women use the opportunity afforded by gay rodeos to compete.

“I had known a lot of gay people and one time, some took me to a rodeo,” said Michele Chagnon, 33, of Chula Vista. Chagnon, who works as a clerk for an insurance company, said she’s never been treated differently because she is not a lesbian.

“I have lots of good friends here,” she said, “and they treat me right.”

None of the women interviewed were disappointed that they don’t get to participate in mainstream rodeo competitions.

“There is a lot more camaraderie here,” said Alvis, who had traveled from Phoenix for the event. “At straight rodeos, everything is so serious. Here, you are competing with other people, but they will always help you out.”

Many of the events were just for fun. There was the “wild drag race,” in which three-person teams--made up of a man, woman and person in drag (either man or woman)--tried to be the first to pull a steer across a finish line. Also, there was almost continuous country dancing inside a clubhouse and clogging and other entertainment by various groups.

There was no doubt, however, that the competition was real, even if it was just for a personal triumph.

Herron held tight onto the rope as her steer bucked, and for a few seconds it seemed she would be able to stay on during the wild ride. But then she suddenly slipped to the left and was thrown down. The clock read 4.52 seconds, not enough to give her a score.

But Herron got up, brushed herself off and gave a warm hug to a rodeo clown standing nearby.

“I made it, I came back, that’s what’s important,” Herron said after packing up her gear and putting her hat back on.

“I did good, I feel good. And I’m ready for a beer.”