BY EILEEN SOLER, SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
Stereotypes were crushed under 700-pound bulls Saturday during the Florida Gay Rodeo Association’s Sunshine Stampede in Davie.
“It’s serious competition. . . It’s an exercise in discipline and staying in shape . . . It’s proving I can do it and I am not a sissy,” said competitor and Army veteran Red Hodeo, of Pittsburgh.
There are no lightweights in rodeo — gay or straight, amateur or professional — even among female contestants, said Florida chapter vice president and assistant rodeo director Kole Hillman.
“Anything men can do, so can the women. We are inclusive,” Hillman said.
There, at Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, 90 amateur cowboys and cowgirls are competing through Sunday in rough-and-tumble, human-against-beast competition — whether bull riding or calf roping; barrel racing or pole bending; goat dressing or steer decorating.
