GAY RODEO--please read This coming Sunday nights #ThisIsLife is about gay rodeo--who knew there was such a thing? Its a beautiful show about a community in America with which you might not be familiar. Prior to this assignment, I had never before been to a rodeo, so I had no idea what to expect. In response to my promotion of the episode, a number of people are accusing us of glorifying rodeos and their cruel treatment of animals. As an animal lover who has no experience with rodeo, I read the IGRA (International Gay Rodeo Association) policy regarding animal welfare igra/rodeo-fans/animal-welfare/ before attending and it fulfilled my concerns about how animals in GAY rodeo are treated. The IGRA seems to take pains to make sure that animals used in their rodeos are not harmed and even tailor their events accordingly – I took them for their word. This, however, is obviously not satisfactory for some people. Our show, #ThisIsLife is an exploration of worlds within our world – it is a look at American subcultures. As such, there are many people with whom I may disagree, who do things that I might even find abhorrent, but that doesnt mean that their lives are not worthy of being covered. Like it or not, rodeos have been a part of cowboy culture in America for decades. Cowboys and cowgirls are, in and of themselves, part of an American subculture. Participants in gay rodeo are a subculture within the subculture – thats the story were covering. Whether you support what theyre doing or not, they are a group with a membership of 5000 strong and have been doing what theyve been doing for over 30 years – that is the story were covering. Gay rodeo has been a place of refuge and has provided a family for so many gay Americans as theyve dealt with discrimination, isolation and heartbreak. That is the story were covering There are many who believe that all rodeos should be done away with entirely. I totally respect the reasoning behind that desire, but that is not the story were covering. Thank you so much for taking the time to express your feelings about this and every episode of #ThisIsLife. We hope you will come to our show with your opinions, but at the same time, come with an open mind.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:22:30 +0000
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