In 1975 the Comstock Empire Silver Dollar Court was founded in Reno by Empress of Nevada I Rex Ann Casino Royale, Queen of Reno I Keith Ann.

Emperor I of Reno, Phil Ragsdale came up with one of the most creative ideas to raise funds.

Ragsdale wanted to help out the local Senior Citizens Annual Thanksgiving Day feed. An amateur gay rodeo would be fun, raise money, and even erase a lot of gay stereotyping. Ragsdale did not find it easy to pull off this event.

Coming so close on the heels of Stonewall it's hard to overstate how audacious this whole idea was.