Now, with the Out West series, an assortment of panel discussions, performances, exhibits, gallery tours and unprecedented historical evidence, the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California, has undertaken a twelve month-long project that will examine LGBT Native Americans, LGBT rodeo culture and the contributions of LGBT Americans to the Western arts.
Conceived by Gregory Hinton, consulting producer for the series, Out West was inspired by the Autry's recent installation of the iconic shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the film Brokeback Mountain as well as by the permanent inclusion of the International Gay Rodeo Association's (IGRA) archives into the Autry Library.
"The Out West series underscores the need for gay men and women who leave their
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rural communities to reclaim their country heritage," Hinton said.
"They may find safety and companionship in cities, but they leave behind a spirit and a connection to the land that cannot be replaced.
For those of us who come from the West [Hinton was born in Montana and raised in Wyoming], it's our blood and never lets us go."
In the first program of the series which was presented in December entitled, "What Ever Happened to Ennis del Mar?," a panel of experts took on the story of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist (the two fictional main characters in Brokeback) while examining messages of tolerance, fairness and integrity for which they longed and which were clearly evident in the ten-point "Cowboy Code," made popular by Gene Autry.
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