The cowboy is a monolith of American identity, a symbol of masculinity, an emblem of order, and of course a flaming gay icon. From assless chaps to double denim, cowboy iconography has long straddled the thin, perhaps nonexistent, line between masculine bravado and homoeroticism. Simply put, the mythologized cowboy has a storied history as a fruity figure on the ranch. The gay cowboy trope may.