Was the wild west gay
We take a observe at some movies that show how the western is also a place for “queer” stories.
“In no other western film have we seen two men making a bed,” said Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar when talking about Strange Way of Life, his new brief film and the first western in his filmography. The work had its world premiere at the Cannes Motion picture Festival. “That scene makes my clip stand out from other westerns,” noted the director.
At Cannes audiences finally got to see his take on the gay cowboy movie: a 31-minute film about a sheriff named Jake (Ethan Hawke) and a cowboy named Silva (Pedro Pascal) who, 25 years after a love affair, reunite in the desert under mysterious circumstances. Director Almodóvar takes the language of this exceptionally virile genre and uses it to compose an absolutely rapturous queer drama along the lines of what Nicholas Ray did in Johnny Guitar (1954).
The film sells itself as a “queer western” that wants to revere the classics of the genre but subvert its conventions.
We understand that same-sex sexuality existed back in the American frontier era, though it wasn’t something folks often drew attention to
‘The Queer Frontier’: 5 Things You Didn’t Realize About the (Super Gay) Wild West
When most people think of the Wild West era of 1865 to 1895, they imagine ultra-masculine cowboys who drank whiskey, roped steers, shot revolvers and frequented brothels. There’s a veritable trove of TV series and films depicting the Wild West’s blood-thirsty bandits, but, alas, no gay cowboys. But forget your preconceptions; queer historian Michael Lyons says the 19th century American frontier was much gayer than most people think. And yeah, same-sex attracted cowboys were totally a thing.
Lyons followed the exploits of “Scottish-born adventurer and noted homosexual” William Drummond Stewart, a military nobleman known for his lgbtq+ adventures in the American Wild West. Stewart’s travels and other historical truths make for some eye-opening revelations about the homosexual frontier.
Here are 5 things you might not contain known about the Unrestrained West:
1. In a bond between two gay cowboys, it was likely one played the role of “male travel companion.”
After coming to America in 1832, Stewart joined a “rendezvous” of hunters and trappers in Wyoming and met a French Canadian-Cree sportsman named Antoine
Gay Cowboys? Sure, Pardner.
But real-life gay cowboys and Wild West historians say that the plot of Brokeback Mountain -- an Oscar favourite after topping the Golden Globes nominations -- is nothing new.
And in a claim that is likely to outrage many rural conservatives, they utter that homosexuality was an unspoken norm on the American frontier, where men were close and women were scarce.
''There they were, a couple of men, alone together in isolated frontier country, for weeks or sometimes months at a time,'' says Randy Jones, 53, who was the stetson-wearing, lasso-throwing gay cowboy in the Village People and who acted as an adviser on the film.
''The thought must have passed through their minds, even if they didn't act on it, because men are sexy animals. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be so much homosexual sex in prison.''
There is growing evidence to support Jones's theory. As far advocate as 1882, the Texas Livestock Journal wrote that ''if the inner history of friendship among
“Homos on the Range”
In truth, History professor Clifford P. Westermeier noted any examination of sexual activity by cowboys—homosexual or not—was such a cautious topic, his article in the 1975 Red River Valley Historical Review was titled “Cowboy Sexuality: A Historical No-No?”
“To tamper with the image of a folk hero, a historic formula, a legend, and most of all, that of the American cowboy heritage is probably more dangerous than the proverbial where ‘fools rush in,’” Westermeier writes. He notes the traditional cowboy had four failings: drinking, gambling, lechery and violence. “Of these … lechery is often alluded to but is the least detailed activity of his frenetic pleasures.”
While most would expect the cowboy’s lechery was pointed towards women, that wasn’t always true, but it also didn’t mean what it would mean today.
“It’s vital to know the history of homosexuality,” notes History Department Chairman Peter Boag from the University of Colorado at Boulder. “Society didn’t really designate people as homosexual or heterosexual through most of the 19th century; it was not really until the 20th century that those identities crystallized.”
Boag, w
Whenever anyone imagines the “Wild West” certain images are always conjured up. A heroic gun-toting cowboy (probably John Wayne), a grand stallion, free in the desert plains, delivering justice, saving the girl. These Hollywood visions are increasingly resisted. Historians of the American West are recovering the stories of marginalised groups and individuals, helping us understand the way of life and individuality of the “real Untamed West”.
There are many explanations as to why Americans began to migrate west. There were the political motivations of America’s “Manifest Destiny” to colonise westward and ‘civilise’ the Indigenous population. Another motivation was economics, declining opportunities of the Eastern Seaboard and economic recessions drew migration west with the assure of opportunity, particularly in the 1848 gold rushes and with the climb of ranching.
Black and homosexual Americans also headed west but for many additional reasons. For African Americans, the west presented an opportunity for freedom. Many initially headed west as fugitives escaping southern plantations and later as ‘Exodusters’ in the 1870s fleeing Jim Crow. Queer people, as well as women, also headed we