Life in Georgia was alienating, Fernández said. “When you come here, you feel a certain pride in being Mexican,” said Emmanuel Fernández, a 29-year-old lawyer from Mexico City who first learned about the world of gay vaqueros while living in Atlanta. “I like to dress like a cowboy,” he said, “and I like guys who dress that way, too.”Īs the event has expanded and the subculture has spread, with weekend-long vaquero conventions now held in more than a dozen cities on both sides of the border, the gatherings have become a refuge for gay men seeking connection not just with each other, but with Mexican identity itself.Īfter all, while the event draws actual cowboys - men leathered by long days tending crops or cattle - it also attracts accountants, attorneys and other city folk for whom donning western wear is both a kink and a lifeline to Mexico’s rural past. With his python boots and plaid shirt unbuttoned to reveal a plush tuft of gray chest hair, Escobar said the idea behind that first party was simple - if a bit self-interested. Instead, live bands play for hours, with musicians in matching suits churning out cumbia and Norteña hits as a sea of Stetsons fills the dance floor.įor Mariano Escobar, the lanky 51-year-old bar owner who hosted what he believes was Mexico’s first gay cowboy convention here in Zacatecas 18 years ago, it’s nothing short of heaven.
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