Held at Madison Square Garden on October 1, 1983, The World’s Toughest Rodeo was GMHC’s second major AIDS benefit. Rodeo culture was—and still is—coded as hypermasculine and heteronormative, symbolizing an idealized, rugged American manhood. At the same time, the cowboy is a long-standing figure within gay visual culture, featured in everything from Tom of Finland illustrations to leather-bar dress codes. Chaps, boots, and spurs were not just Western gear, they were erotically charged emblems of gay male fantasy and self-expression. By staging a rodeo in New York’s most iconic arena, GMHC occupied a space of cultural contradiction, at once subverting and celebrating the figure of the cowboy. The event tapped into this layered symbolism, challenging stereotypes of both cowboys and gay men, and bringing AIDS into the center of a spectacle rarely associated with gay life. German-born artist, set designer, and activist Enno Poersch was a founding member of GMHC. Trained at Yale, his bold poster designs helped transform public health messaging with vivid imagery that blended political urgency with popular entertainment.