Gay-Cowboy

A self-professed gay cowboy has opened up about receiving death threats online while living in Australia.

Joshua Goyne, who set up the LGBT+ support group The Gay Cowboy, posted a video on Facebook talking about the abuse he has received online.

Gay-Cowboy

In the video he says he got messages from cowboys on an online rodeo forum who said that they were pleased “AIDS thinned out” gays in the 1980s.

“Today I was asked if I thought it was good that gays died of AIDS, and then the guy said he wished it was 1850 so he could shoot me for being a fag,” Goyne says.

“Rural Australia has a terrible problem with homophobia, and it needs to stop.

“The fact I’m getting death threats just for going to a rodeo is disgusting and these people are the scum of the earth. I have zero respect for them.”

The Gay Cowboy was set up by Goyne in response to statistics he read about the disproportionately high suicide rates among LGBT+ people in rural Australia.

He says he has personally been close to several LGBT+ people who have taken their own lives in remote areas of Australia.

Goyne also says he has been on the receiving end of homophobia, noting a time when a contractor rigged his riding ropes which made him snap his ankles.

“I’m an out and proud cowboy doing what I can for the rural LGBT community,” he adds.

“They think they’re going to silence me, but there’s no chance in hell. I will proudly stand up to any homophobe and say right to their face I’m an openly gay cowboy.

“It’s pretty vital to give visibility because it’s a really hard topic to speak about for a lot of people, because many aren’t willing to admit they’re LGBTI.”

Check out the video via Goyne’s Facebook below:

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