Queering Up Country

Often, folks of all kinds need personal and media references as a platform to form ideas about themselves and relationships to their community and society. This reflection of self in media outlets serves as a form of representation. I believe that how we as a species are able to form notions on identity is through categories; therefore through labels. Labels allow us to pinpoint and add dialogue to how we feel, therefore making it tangible and be discussed. Without a resolute sense of self, what we have left is too fleeting.

This idea on the importance in sense of identity links to LGBTQIA representation: If queer youth can see themselves in media, there;s less sense that something is inherently wrong or “other.”, for rural queer youth , especially those with little access to media outside their immediate community, this is especially important. In small rural towns, often there is a strong connection to the history of he town or the land. People define their relationships through family history. For some looking to branch out from this, it can be stifling to have such a high pressure to live up to familial connections. Having such a small community with little outside access to other types of living or media, and when trying to figure out an identity that might coincide with whats not talked about, representation of any kind from elders or media is crucial to feel like a person.

Gay country music? Almost seems like an incompatible juxtaposition. Though there have been only a few queer country stars to come out in the last few decades, that doesn’t mean queer culture and rodeo vibes aren’t a great pair. What may have been the first gay country album was in the 70’s, by lavender country. Later, notable country artists Doug Stevens started another great out gay country band, under the name Doug Stevens and the Outband. There have also been artists chely wright, Ty Herndon, Steve Grand, Billy Gilman, and of course k.d Lang for a spell.

As a true symbol of the American west, the cowboy has long been a respected icon of masculinity and steadfastness, exemplified as role models and romanticizations in hollywood with the Marlboro man, John Wayne, and countless other slices of jock nonsense. At the core of this image is all that America was and still may aim to be; a taker, a doer, a leader. How then, did the symbol of the cowboy become a rival to Madonna as a gay icon (both debatably problematic and dated)?

What I aim to do is look at the origins of this idolatry of the cowboy image in the lgbtq+ community, focused on country western music and culture.