'Out West' at the Autry examines the history of homosexuals and transgender

[Shana A]

'Out West' at the Autry examines the history of homosexuals and transgender people in the Old West
Museum officials say the series may be the first of its kind.

By David Ng

December 15, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-out-west15-2009dec15,0,2323794.story

Say the words "gay cowboy" and chances are the conversation will turn to "Brokeback Mountain," the 2005 film starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, and based on the Annie Proulx short story.

The Oscar-winning drama, which is set in the 1960s to '80s, highlighted a long-submerged facet of frontier culture. But as a new series at the Autry National Center shows, the presence of homosexuals and transgender individuals in the American West is much older than the movie might lead you to think. It is, in fact, almost as old as the West itself.