My Conversation with Actual Cowboys!

Katie is in town!!!! And tonight we went to the Irish Times for the second time in two days (I know, I know). Who else is there but a rancher convention!!! In cowboy hats, and buckles and anti-death tax buttons. From the moment I saw them it became my goal to talk to one of them. Which I did! A few of them. And I had some unlikely conversation with these cowboys:

1. Feminism: not really a conversation in itself, but I mentioned that I was a feminist. Which led to...
2. Abortion: we disussed the new law passed in South Dakota which outlaws all abortion except for when the life of the mother is in danger. I talked about being pro-choice as a feminist. Cowboy Scott (from South Dakota) was upset that his governor was focusing so much energy on something that only "black hat" cowboys (the bad guys [his words]) were interested in.
3. Circumcision: Cowboy John (from Arizona) mentioned he had seen a protest on the Mall agaisnt circumcision of all things. I mentioned that I had seen a television program that had made me question whether or not to circumsize my hypothetical son because (and now I must move to dialouge form):

Me: I'm sorry if this offends you, but I heard it lessens sensation.
Cowboy John: Well, I wouldn't know about that. I've always been happy...
Me: Well, right. You wouldn't know any differently since you've always been...
CJ: Ok, we need to stop this conversation.
Me: Yeah, I don't want to talk to you about circumcision or sensation.
CJ: Really this conversation needs to end because of our age difference.

And so it did. Next we talked about:

4. Homosexuality: Cowboy John says, "ignoring Brokeback Mountain..." Which forced me to tell him how much I had wanted to talk to him about Brokeback Mountain. His stance was that since cowboys are the last bastions of the 1880s that they aren't into accepting gay rights. BUT! His neice is gay and has a girlfriend that she brings around the ranch and that because she was family he would accept her.

So ends the exciting parts of my cowboy chats, but I really did have my mind blown by how "accepting" they were. I mean, they ain't democrats, but they are more liberal than some. And that's saying something.