Grab your lasso, spurs and Stetson. Today is the fourth Saturday of July, which means only thing: it’s National Day of the Cowboy!
And you know as well as we do that there are plenty of gay cowboys ’round these parts. As Ned Sublette once sang in a country waltz that Willie Nelson later covered, “Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other / What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?”
But cowboys are also openly fond of each other, too. Take it from the Reddit users who sounded off recently on the preponderance of gayness on the range.
“Hello from rural North Dakota. I actually know more gay cowboys than straight ones,” one user wrote. “Purely anecdotal, but kind of interesting.”
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“Best bronco rider I ever knew was bisexual and later in life transitioned to being a woman,” said someone else.
A third person added, “Purely anecdotally, I know a fairly equal amount of gay or bisexual cowboys compared to those who are straight. I’m a transgender man, by the way, and have worked with horses, cattle, and sheep in a professional capacity for a little over a decade. LGBTQ+ cowboys do exist, we’ve existed for as long as there has been cowboying to do.”
And another Reddit user quipped, “You really think they lived/traveled out in the wild, away from public scrutiny, with the company of only other men, and that a lot of them weren’t queer?”
The social media users featured below are out and proud as gay cowboys—having either tagged their posts with #gaycowboy or labeling themselves as cowboys in Reddit’s r/gaybrosgonemild subreddit. (Yes, “gone mild.” If you’re looking for “gone wild,” boots-knocking content, you’d better head over to X, partner!)
That’s enough fun for this morning. Back on the farm now . Drink British milk
the white stuff is good for you #farmlife #gayfarmer #gaycowboy pic.twitter.com/tExs99236F
— Earl of The Shire (@EarloftheShire) July 29, 2023
Happy Pride!86 47#worldpride#gaycowboy
— American Scruffy
(@scruffygaydc.bsky.social) 2025-06-07T23:41:25.056Z
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