Sports
Gay rodeo veterans find adrenaline, family in circuit
Two legends on the International Gay Rodeo Association circuit to compete
Wade Earp, left, and Sonny Koerner compete with the International Gay Rodeo Association. (Photos courtesy the subjects)
Two legends on the International Gay Rodeo Association circuit will compete at the 30th anniversary World Gay Rodeo Finals this weekend in Las Vegas. The competition will feature the top 20 competitors on the Association circuit in 13 events. The finalists are determined by points accumulated over roughly 14 rodeos throughout the United States and Canada this past year.
On a beautiful morning on a ranch outside of Dallas, it’s feeding time and the animals are producing a loud symphony for their owner. Wade Earp apologizes for the background noise.
“The birds are going crazy this morning,” says Earp, “and it always makes the other animals frisky.”
Along with his partner, Earp raises ducks, geese, chickens, Bobwhite quail, donkeys and small breed goats. He says his whole life is farming and ranching. Oh and there’s that rodeo thing too.
Raised in Texas and Arkansas, Earp thrived in sports including baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball and basketball where he was all-state. His road to being a rodeo competitor is a journey that includes two older brothers who competed, competitive two-step dancing and a lifelong love of animals. Also, his father was a fireman and the fire department hosted the local rodeo every year.
Earp’s first gay rodeo event was barrel racing in 1999 and since then, he’s been a fixture on the gay rodeo circuit. In 2014, he was one of the featured cowboys in the film documentary, “Queens and Cowboys.” His accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but include the Association World Gay Rodeo Finals all-around cowboy and a Gay Games gold medal.
At this year’s finals, Earp has qualified for nine out of 13 events. He retired from bronc riding last year, but at 50 is still going strong in other events. He says he’s too hooked on the camaraderie of the gay rodeo circuit to consider retiring.
“I wish it wasn’t about gay or straight, but rodeo is very machismo. It’s tough to be an out gay rodeo competitor outside of this circuit,” Earp says. “There is such a family atmosphere here, especially with the rough stock competitors. It’s a place where people loan each other gear and help tie each other in in the chute.”
Earp is a direct descendant of the Earp brothers who gained fame from their Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He tracked his link back to Virgil Earp when Time Life presented a family tree.
“It’s a tough name to live up to,” says Earp, “but I haven’t had it half as bad as my brother, Wyatt.”
Sonny Koerner remembers giggling the first time he saw men two-stepping together at Remington’s back in the early ‘90s. He would go on to become one of the first D.C. Cowboys. Earlier in his life he had been determined to become the first member of his family to become a rodeo competitor to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was the main male influence in his life.
Koerner grew up in multiple locations as a part of a military family, but spent a lot of time at his grandparent’s cattle ranch in Victoria, Texas. He started competing in junior rodeos at age 12 and has been competing off and on ever since.
He has been in the D.C. area since being stationed here in the early ‘90s during his military stint and now runs a consulting firm along with his partner. D.C. is not known to be a hotbed for rodeo, but he was pulled back into the sport after attending his first gay rodeo.
“I was kind of in tears as I sat in the stands and watched my first gay rodeo,” Koerner says. “I had not married both sides of my life; rodeo and being gay. The opposing sides of me were coming together. It was a cathartic.”
Koerner competed in his first gay rodeo in 1993 and has competed in all four categories, though he has focused on rough stock events: bull riding, steer riding, steer wrestling and bareback bronc riding.
Now approaching 50, he has retired from bronc riding and has qualified for this year’s finals in the three other rough stock events and three camp events. The rough stock events can be brutal and require an elevated level of athleticism from the competitors.
Early on, Koerner excelled at sports such as track & field, basketball and football. He went to the University of Alabama on a track scholarship and is a 14-time medalist in track & field at the Gay Games along with winning a medal in steer riding. He says he has maintained his fitness all along to help with his rodeo events.
“There is a threshold that you cross in this sport in terms of training,” Koerner says. “Eventually it becomes more about knowledge, fitness and core.”
The prospect of retiring is definitely in Koerner’s crosshairs, but like his performances on bulls, he’s hanging on. He still loves it and he wants to help draw new people to the circuit. The Association is looking for new blood in the rough stock events to replace an aging core group and Koerner’s charisma is palpable.
“I have won plenty of buckles and I have plenty of awards. I still enjoy it, but I am past that point where I crave it,” Koerner says. “It’s the people that make up this rodeo family that are keeping me here. It’s more than the sport.”
Sports
Brittney Griner considered suicide in Russian prison
WNBA star’s interview with Robin Roberts airs on May 7
CONTENT WARNING: The following story discusses suicide ideation.
Her first few weeks behind bars in a Russian prison took a terrible toll on Brittney Griner, the lesbian WNBA star who is breaking her silence on the 10 months she was held on drug-related charges.
“I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks,” Griner told ABC’s Robin Roberts in a primetime interview Wednesday. “I felt like leaving here so badly.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time WNBA All-Star, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, said she ultimately decided against suicide, partly because she feared Russian authorities would not release her body to her wife, Cherelle Griner.
Griner, 33, was arrested on Feb. 17, 2022, at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. Authorities said they found vape cartridges in her luggage containing cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country.
Griner told Roberts that was the result of a “mental lapse” on her part — packing the cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage, Griner said that she had overslept on the morning she was leaving for Russia to play during the WNBA’s off-season, which is how many of the league’s vastly underpaid players earn a living, compared to NBA players.
So, she packed while she was “in panic mode,” Griner said.
“My packing at that moment was just throwing all my stuff in there and zipping it up and saying, ‘OK, I’m ready,’” she told Roberts.
After landing in Russia, Griner realized that she had those two cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage as Russian security officers inspected her bag at the airport. She recalled the moment as a sinking feeling.
“I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ Like, ‘How did I — how did I make this mistake?’” Griner said. “I could just visualize everything I worked so hard for just crumbling and going away.”
Russian authorities immediately arrested Griner, but her trial would not take place for five months. She described the horrible conditions of her imprisonment during that delay, saying that she didn’t always have toilet paper and that the toothpaste they gave her had expired about 15 years ago.
“That toothpaste was expired,” she said. “We used to put it on the black mold to kill the mold on the walls.”
“The mattress had a huge blood stain on it, and they give you these thin two sheets,” she added. “So you’re basically laying on bars.”
On July 7, 2022, Griner pleaded guilty at her trial to drug charges, admitting that she had the vape cartridges containing cannabis oil but stating she put them in her luggage unintentionally. She testified that she had packed the cartridges by accident, and had “no intention” to break Russian law.
Roberts pressed Griner on this point: “You know there are those who say, ‘Come on. How did you not know that you had cartridges in your luggage?’”
“It’s just so easy to have a mental lapse,” Griner replied. “Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn’t take away from how that can happen,” she explained.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Aug. 4, 2022, and in October 2022, a judge denied the appeal filed by Griner’s attorneys.
The sentence landed Griner in a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia.
“It’s a work camp. You go there to work,” said Griner. “There’s no rest.” Her job was cutting fabric for Russian military uniforms.
“What were the conditions like there?” Roberts asked.
“Really cold,” Griner said. So cold that her health was impacted and she decided to chop off her long dreadlocks.
“What was that like losing that part of you, too?” Roberts asked Griner.
“Honestly, it just had to happen. We had spiders above my bed — making nests,” she said. “My dreads started to freeze,” she added. “They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to survive.”
Her arrest came around the same time as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, further increasing tensions between Russia and the U.S. But as the Los Angeles Blade reported on Dec, 8, 2022, Russia agreed to release Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
However, before winning her freedom, Griner revealed authorities forced her to write a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They made me write this letter. It was in Russian,” she said. “I had to ask for forgiveness and thanks from their so-called great leader. I didn’t want to do it, but at the same time I wanted to come home.”
Griner said her heart sank upon boarding the plane to freedom and finding that Paul Whelan, another American the White House said was “wrongfully detained,” wasn’t leaving Russia with her.
“I walked on and didn’t see him, maybe he’s next. Maybe they will bring him next,” she said. “They closed the door, and I was like, are you serious? You’re not going to let this man come home now.”
Griner recounts on the experience in “Coming Home,” a memoir set to be released on May 7.
988 is the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and is available 24/7 via phone, text or chat to everyone of all ages, orientations and identities. If you are a transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person considering suicide, Trans Lifeline can be reached at 877-565-8860. LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger) can reach the Trevor Project Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386. You can still also contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 24 hours a day, and it’s available to people of all ages and identities.
Additional resources:
If you are in a life-threatening situation, please dial 911.
If you are in crisis, please dial 988 or contact Rainbow Youth Project directly at +1 (317) 643-4888
Sports
Bisexual former umpire sues Major League Baseball for sexual harassment
Brandon Cooper claims female colleague sexually harassed him
A fired former umpire is suing Major League Baseball, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because of his gender and his sexual orientation.
Brandon Cooper worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, and according to the lawsuit he filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, he identifies as bisexual.
“I wanted my umpiring and ability to speak for itself and not to be labeled as ‘Brandon Cooper the bisexual umpire,’” he told Outsports. “I didn’t want to be labeled as something. It has been a passion of mine to simply make it to the Major Leagues.”
But that didn’t happen. Instead of being promoted, he was fired. His suit names MLB and an affiliated entity, PDL Blue, Inc., and alleges he had endured a hostile work environment and wrongful termination and/or retaliation because of gender and sexual orientation under New York State and New York City law.
“Historically the MLB has had a homogenous roster of umpires working in both the minor and major leagues,” Cooper claims in his suit. “Specifically, to date there has never been a woman who has worked in a (regular) season game played in the majors, and most umpires are still Caucasian men. To try to fix its gender and racial diversity issue, defendants have implemented an illegal diversity quota requiring that women be promoted regardless of merit.”
Cooper claims former umpire Ed Rapuano, now an umpire evaluator, and Darren Spagnardi, an umpire development supervisor, told him in January 2023 that MLB had a hiring quota, requiring that at least two women be among 10 new hires.
According to the suit, Cooper was assigned to spring training last year and was notified by the senior manager of umpire administration, Dusty Dellinger, that even though he received a high rating in June from former big league umpire Jim Reynolds, now an umpire supervisor, that women and minority candidates had to be hired first.
Cooper claims that upon learning Cooper was bisexual, fellow umpire Gina Quartararo insulted him and fellow umpire Kevin Bruno by using homophobic slurs and crude remarks. At that time, Quartararo and Cooper worked on the same umpiring crew and being evaluated for possible promotion to the big leagues.
This season, Quartararo is working as an umpire in the Florida State League, one of nine women who are working as minor league umpires.
Cooper said he notified Dellinger, but instead of taking action against Quartararo, he said MLB ordered Cooper to undergo sensitivity training. According to his lawsuit, he was also accused of violating the minor league anti-discrimination and harassment policy.
Cooper’s suit says he met with MLB Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean — who the Los Angeles Blade reported in December is battling cancer.
The lawsuit says at that meeting, Bean told the umpire that Quartararo claimed she was the victim, as the only female umpire in the ACL. Cooper said he told Bean Quartararo regularly used homophobic slurs and at one point physically shoved him. He also claims that he has video evidence, texts and emails to prove his claim.
But he said his complaints to Major League Baseball officials were ignored. His lawsuit said MLB passed him over for the playoffs and fired him in October. He said of the 26 umpires hired with Cooper, he was the only one let go.
Through a spokesperson, MLB declined to comment on pending litigation. Quartararo has also not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Sports
Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child
WNBA star released from Russian gulag in December 2022
One year after returning to the WNBA after her release from a Russian gulag and declaring, “I’m never playing overseas again,” Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife announced they have something even bigger coming up this summer.
Cherelle, 31, and Brittney, 33, are expecting their first child in July. The couple shared the news with their 715,000 followers on Instagram.
“Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,” the caption read, with the hashtag, #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 in a prisoner swap, more than nine months after being arrested in Moscow for possession of vape cartridges containing prescription cannabis.
In April 2023, at her first news conference following her release, the two-time Olympic gold medalist made only one exception to her vow to never play overseas again: To return to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be played in Paris starting in July, the same month “Baby Griner” is due. “The only time I would want to would be to represent the USA,” she said last year.
Given that the unrestricted free agent is on the roster of both Team USA and her WNBA team, it’s not immediately clear where Griner will be when their first child arrives.
The Griners purchased their “forever home” in Phoenix just last year.
“Phoenix is home,” Griner said at the Mercury’s end-of-season media day, according to ESPN. “Me and my wife literally just got a place. This is it.”
As the Los Angeles Blade reported last December, Griner is working with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts — like Griner, a married lesbian — on an ESPN television documentary as well as a television series for ABC about her life story. Cherelle is executive producer of these projects.
Next month, Griner’s tell-all memoir of her Russian incarceration will be published by Penguin Random House. It’s titled “Coming Home” and the hardcover hits bookstores on May 7.
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Calendar: May 3-9
Brittney Griner considered suicide in Russian prison
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
4th Circuit rules gender identity is a protected characteristic
Pride season has begun
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