RodeoFest 2011 (presented by the Michigan International Gay Rodeo Association) is promising a fun-filled weekend of entertainment later this month. However, for the animals involved in these shows, rodeos are anything but fun. In fact, most animals in the rodeo experience lives full of pain and abuse.
Rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. IGRA rodeos include roughstock and roping events such as bull riding, calf roping and chute dogging (cruelly twisting a steer's head by holding onto her/his horns and wrestling the struggling animal to the ground). The animals used in these events are captive performers. Many of these animals are not aggressive by nature; they are physically provoked into displaying "wild" behavior in order to make the cowboys look brave.
RodeoFest will also feature events like goat dressing and steer decorating. In goat dressing, participants yank goats' hind legs off the ground and force underwear onto them. This is done as quickly as possible, making injuries more likely.
Rodeo cowboys voluntarily risk injury by participating in events, but the animals they use have no such choice. Countless animals in rodeos have suffered broken ribs, backs, and legs; punctured lungs; deep internal organ bruising; hemorrhaging; ripped tendons; torn ligaments and muscles; snapped necks; and agonizing deaths.
Torturing animals is no way to create community. And endorsing the infliction of violence on other beings does nothing to combat the discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression that we may face. Moreover, promoting rodeos sends a dangerous message that entertainment based on suffering and ridicule is not only allowed, it is encouraged. There are much more compassionate ways (that don't involve cruelty to animals) to strengthen our community and work to eradicate homophobia and transphobia. Please stand up to cruelty in all its forms, and boycott the rodeo.
Sincerely,
Kate Brindle
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Gay rodeo promotes animal abuse, not community
Read More
Trump Is Old And Tired, But That’s Not What Makes Him Objectively Terrible
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but old people get tired. Which is why disgraced former president Donald Trump fell asleep during day one of his [...]
25 and Out!
I am 52 years old and incredibly corny. As I write this, my final column, I keep hearing television variety show sign-off songs in my head, whether it’s [...]
Re-Remembering Brent Dorian Carpenter: A Writer Who Pushed Boundaries With His Fearless Essays
Over the past two decades, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing my name among the bylines in this paper of some pretty talented writers. I was blessed to win [...]
Lies, Lies — and the Conservatives Who Tell Them in Order to Assert Their Dominance
I know that this is going to come as a shock to everyone, but I have to say it: The folks who want to ban transgender people from public bathrooms and overturn [...]
Biden Declares the Easter Bunny Transgender, Conservatives Go Wild
I am writing this on March 31, the 15th annual Transgender Day of Visibility. All over the world people are celebrating the lives of transgender people, [...]
The Under-the-Radar Republican Amendment That Kills the Rainbow Flag
Republicans did something recently that went almost unnoticed. Through one simple act in 1970, the United States became the world's leader in making our [...]
