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The cowboy way: Rik Godbey and his partner, Marc Hopkins, don't live like Wild West cowpokes. But they sometimes dress that way

Advocate, The, Feb 15, 2005 by Chad Graham

In December the Oklahoma Gay Rodeo Association's Christmas banquet was getting under way in the basement of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. There was plenty of down-home cooking, performances by drag queens, and awards given to various members.

Holding a gay rodeo event in a church may seem like a strange idea, but St. Andrew's is no ordinance house of worship. In the mid 1990s it became a gay-affirming church.

"The first time we walked into this church, they hugged the fire out of us," says church member and rodeo organizer Marc Hopkins. "It was just like a family."

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Hopkins's partner of nine years, Rik Godbey (pictured), who was raised as a Southern Baptist, is also part of the congregation. Finding St. Andrew's "was like coming home," he says.

Not all the church's members--many of whom had been with St. Andrew's since its founding in the 1940s--were happy. The congregation split, many leaving for other churches. About 100 members stayed.

The night of the rodeo banquet, the church's pastor stuck around for dinner and the show but looked a bit nervous when the local drag queens began to perform. After all, this was the first time an event of this nature had ever been held at the church. Still, the show went on. Hopkins and Godbey, both 43, were both dressed to the nines in Western wear, playing the part of urban cowboys perfectly. The funds they helped raise will benefit the 20th Annual Great Plains Rodeo, scheduled for Memorial Day weekend at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.

Godbey, who was raised in Kentucky, kept himself busy in the church kitchen and served guests just about the most decadent brownies this side of the Mississippi. Hopkins--who was married to a woman for 13 years and was a devout member of the Church of Christ--lipsynched a couple of numbers, but he wasn't in drag.

Hopkins works at a bank, and Godbey, an ordained minister, works at the city's gay newspaper, The Gayly Oklahoman. They met when Godbey was working as a waiter at the Habana Inn's restaurant and Hopkins was a customer. The sparks immediately flew. "We have something very special that not a lot of people have," Godbey says. "We have a blast together."

Both men say they'd like to be legally married, and both want children. Every time their doorbell rings Godbey jokes that maybe it's a baby being left on their doorstep. "I don't care if it's white, brown, green, or purple," he says with a laugh. They even put in a call to the state's foster-care agency, but they were told flat out that gay couples could not adopt children. Hopkins was floored. "Here we are, we have a steady income, we own our home, and I have three boys from my marriage," he says.

It's another reason why both are grateful for their relationship--as well as for their family at church.

The cowboy way: Rik Godbey and his partner, Marc Hopkins, don't live like Wild West cowpokes. But they sometimes dress that way

Advocate, The, Feb 15, 2005 by Chad Graham

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