OPINION

Wyoming’s cowboy party boss takes a stand … against ‘gay rodeo’

The Wyoming GOP has finally gotten its priorities straight: saving the state from transgender tennis players and female bull riders.

by Kerry Drake
August 22, 2023



Chairman Frank Eathorne plays the role of fundraising auctioneer for the Wyoming Republican Party at the Save Wyoming rally in Lander on July 22, 2022. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)

I’ve been searching for a reason why some Wyoming residents go out of their way to make life more difficult for LGBTQ people. Is their goal to drive them away from the “Equality State” forever?

There are plenty of examples, including two in the spotlight recently. One featured Brooklyn Ross, a 27-year-old transgender woman from Colorado, who entered the Wyoming Governor’s Open tennis tournament in Cheyenne.

The second was Wyoming State Republican Chairman Frank Eathorne’s broadside against “gay rodeos.” The man’s a true visionary — a Wyoming politician coming out as anti-rodeo.

The tennis tournament having a trans player likely would have been a quickly forgotten ripple in the state’s sports world, but Cheyenne Tennis Association President Jackie Fulkrod resigned in protest. Loudly.

Suddenly, the incident made headlines across the country and even had tabloids in Britain and Italy covering the controversy like it happened at the Wimbledon finals.

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