A crown, a belt buckle and a sash

Great Plains Rodeo 2016

by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer

International Gay Rodeo Association’s 2015 Miss IGRA and MsTer IGRA titles were given to Dennis Kitchen (Laine Weston) and Lize MacDonald (Mac Country). This year’s winners are yet to be decided, because the Great Plains Rodeo Association is back at it again, with drag queen rodeo performances, good-natured competition and fundraising for a good cause.

Kitchen has been in rodeo since 2004 and drag since 2006, professionally competing only two years into Laine Weston’s origin. He has won International First Runner Up in 2013, Mr. Missouri Gay Rodeo Association in 2008 and Miss Missouri Gay Rodeo in 2012.

“[Drag rodeo] is female impersonation. That’s what I was taught, years ago; and that’s why I fell in love with it. It’s just this idea that when I’m up there, people don’t know it’s me,” he says. "Now that I'm going back for Miss IGRA, I'm out for blood. I want the crown.”

MacDonald’s case is a little bit different. “I’d never considered doing drag king [competitions] before. [My friends and I] had a few drinks and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’” MacDonald shrugs, outlining the bet her friends made that she would compete.

So this is her first time winning MsTer IGRA. “I never considered it before until I became Mac Country.”

She has won Miss Gay Rodeo, Miss International Gay Rodeo 2002; she has worked at rodeos as a timer, scorekeeper and volunteer; and she says she has to believe in something if she’s going to go through with it. But she believes in the Gay Rodeo.

“I was called Mac all the time growing up. Even in nursery school. I was actually MsTer IGRA about 14 years ago. My wife was Amanda Country so I took the name from there. We all do [the rodeo] for charity. It’s all about raising money for charity.”

This year’s fundraiser benefits small, local charities, where the contributions will really make a difference. Other Options, an HIV service organization in Oklahoma City, is one of their beneficiaries, along with North Texas Health and a charity in Florida for veterans with PTSD.

"One of the big impacts we have is we give a lot of money to Other Options. We do so much for them, and volunteer so much for them, that I think the impact we have as the GPRA is that we'll help anybody,” Kitchen explains.

“This is a small association. If we didn’t have a partner like Other Options, it would be almost impossible for us to do it,” agrees MacDonald.

The turnout at Great Plains Rodeo or International Gay Rodeo events is always impressive, with cowboys, cowgirls, rhinestones and wigs aplenty.

"It is hilarious, especially when someone falls,” Kitchen laughs. “Because it's usually the butch guys that fall, not the drag queens."

Kitchen outlines some of the camp events, such as goat dressing, steer deco and wild drag. Goat dressing is particularly humorous. The mission is for the participating drag queen (“Normally a drag queen, because it’s funny to watch them fall off too,” he says) to put pants on a goat and then race to the finish line.

"But it's not drag as in glamour drag – you might have a bearded guy out there with a funky wig and dress, but they have to be in drag clothes. The idea is to get the drag queen on the steer, and all six legs have to get across the line. You're actually wrestling the steer with the rope."

Not all participants or attendees are members of the LGBT community. The IGRA and GPRA are open and inclusive, inviting all LGBT people as well as allies to join the association and come have some fun.

And it is about fun – all profits go to the association and the charities. The spirit of competition, the hysterical comedy and the charitable donations are what drive the contenders to win first place. Otherwise, “You get a crown, a belt buckle, and a sash."

This year’s events:

May 25, Rodeo Round-up, 8 p.m. at Finishline

May 26, OKC Spotlight Show, TBA

May 27, Registration at Barns 6 & 7, 6-9 p.m.

May 27, Royalty Review, 8 p.m. at The Finishline

May 28, Rodeo at Fairgrounds, 8:30 p.m. start time, Barns  6 & 7

May 28, Texas Tea Party, 7 p.m. at The COPA

May 29, Rodeo Day 2 at Fairgrounds, 8:30 p.m. start time, Barns 6 & 7

May 29, Awards at The COPA following rodeo

May 30, Recovery Party Noon at The Boom

The Gayly – May 24, 2016 @ 10:30 a.m.