Queer eye for the Southern ally

Gays, lesbians, and trannies set things straight with the U.S. Social Forum at the MondoHomo Dirty South Festival

By Mandy Van Deven
Published: July 25th, 2007 | 4:12pm

On June 27 through July 1, 2007, more than 10,000 activists, organizers, and academics traveled to Atlanta for a landmark political summit, the United States Social Forum (USSF). Set to coincide with the event was MondoHomo Dirty South, a queer-focused festival that drew the gays, lesbians, trannies, and gender outlaws of all stripes out at night and tried to ensure that the queer population was not only represented at the USSF, but that its issues were taken seriously. I spoke with co-founder Kiki Carr about MondoHomo’s successes and its future in the new South.

How successful was MondoHomo?
We don't have an exact tally, but my estimate is about 1,300 people attended. The audience was pretty amazingly mixed — skewing toward white dykes in their 20s and 30s — but including lots of people of color (especially women), more older folks than I imagined, and gay men. Diversity is very important to MondoHomo, so we've spent a lot of time trying to involve a diversity of organizers and schedule as many different kinds of “alternative” music and arts as we can.

You deliberately planned MondoHomo in conjunction with the USSF, instead of as a summer music and arts festival. Why did this make sense to you?
We'd been thinking about doing an alternative queer festival for a while and decided to hold it during the USSF because we hoped to raise a queer presence there, attract more young queers to the forum, and give queer participants something fun to do at night. MondoHomo is as much about promoting progressive politics as it is about alternative culture; we see the two as intrinsically connected. This isn't a Ladyfest-type thing.

For folks not from the “Dirty South,” can you explain the significance of the term and how the theme applies to MondoHomo?
The term came from a Goodie Mob song in the ‘90s ["Dirty South" from the 1995 album Soul Food], referring to the dirty deeds in Southern politics, getting- by in the ghettoes and backwoods, and, of course, the nasty, unapologetic sexuality that emerges from this hothouse. It's been taken up as a sort of working class anthem, a pride in coming from dirty places, doing dirty things. So I think it's perfect for MondoHomo — homebrewed here in the Dirty South, and adding another layer of sexuality to the region, and representing MondoHomo's pride in being a DIY, no-budget, all-volunteer scrappy festival fighting its way out of the preconceptions of the South to gain a wider recognition for the gritty brilliance and culture we've scratched out.

How did you choose your performers?
We started with e-mailing and calling a list of our top-30 faves and then got recommendations for others. Way more artists e-mailed us or MySpaced us than I expected. Those whose music we liked, we invited to perform.

Which events were most popular?
I'd say the ElectroClash/Homo Hip-Hop night at the Drunken Unicorn was off the chain! Those Homo Revolution MCs really tore it up, and the crowds loved it. The free skate demo, bands, and craft fair were quite popular too and were great, because it brought out kids and straight folks.

What is the best thing to come out of this festival?
It's cliché, but the relationships. A small group of us worked like dogs for months, and we've gotten pretty close. Actually, making friends with some of the artists was really gratifying too. They all did this on no budget and at great personal sacrifice for some. One group, KIN, drove overnight from New York, did their show here, hung out with us dancing ’til late, then flew out at 6 a.m. the next morning. That's dedication! All of the artists were determined to help out a fledgling queer festival, especially some of the Homo Revolution MCs who were pretty excited about performing for the first time in Atlanta — the current global ground zero of hip-hop.

What surprised you the most?
Truly? That there weren't even more people attending. Maybe that's arrogant, but from the day me and Nikki (the other cofounder) decided to do this, there was this incredible groundswell of support. It was obvious that queers who felt unrepresented in the mainstream gay culture here were starving for something like this. And I think that every Atlanta-area queer attended, but I guess we need to do better outreach to outlying cities next year.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mandy Van Deven is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, curator, publisher, and activist. Her work has appeared in Clamor and Altar magazines, and on Feministreview.org. She is also the associate director/community organizing coordinator for Girls for Gender Equity (ggenyc.org).