Curt Westberg sits on the porch of his house in Palouse, Washington. He lives here with his husband, but says growing up gay in a small town wasn’t always easy.
“I got bullied pretty bad when I was in fourth and fifth grade,” said Westberg. “Somehow they just knew I was different.”
Westberg grew up in Pullman but moved to Colfax in high school.
“I didn’t really fit in anywhere. And I kind of fell in with the cowboys,” he said.
He learned how to ride steers, and then bulls. He did rodeo in high school, and again at Washington State University.
When he was 23, Westburg moved to Denver to compete professionally.
The International Gay Rodeo Association was founded in 1985, so rules, payouts and safety measures could be standardized across the country, said Rebecca Scofield, who chairs the University of Idaho history department. (Credit: Alyson Roy)
“I saw a flyer…
