Dyke, Dick & Drag Derby: A Southern Queer Field Day
July 12, 4-7 p.m.
Cabbagetown Park
Kirkwood Avenue & Tye Street
$25-$100 www.southernersonnewground.org/register
IF
YOU’RE
BURSTING
WITH
ANTICIPATION
to
see
awe-inspiring
athleticism
and
you
just
can’t
wait
until
the
Beijing
Summer
Olympics
next
month,
be
sure
not
to
miss
the
“Dyke,
Dick,
&
Drag
Derby:
A
Southern
Queer
Field
Day”
on
July
12
in
Cabbage-town
Park.
Actually,
the
athletes
and
sporting
events
might
not
be
Olympic
caliber,
but
that
spirit
of
competition
and
camaraderie
will
be
pulsing
as
teams
compete
for
the
top
prize
in
events
like
“Desperately
Seeking
Sperm.”
“It
will
probably
be
just
silly,”
Deepali
Gokhale
says.
“So
I
expect
this
to
be
a
lot
of
fun.”
Gokhale
is
a
member
of
the
Hot
Homo
Huddle
Committee,
the
group
responsible
for
organizing
the
Queer
Field
Day
as
a
fundraiser
for
Southerners
On
New
Ground,
a
progressive
queer
organization.
“It
was
just
a
bunch
of
us
that
got
together,
a
bunch
of
queer,
progressive
folks
who
wanted
to
do
something
fun
and
something
everybody
could
participate
in,”
says
Gokhale,
who
has
pleasant
memories
of
her
childhood
field
days
at
school.
“I
think
I
always
had
fun
on
field
day,
although
I
don’t
know
that
I
was
ever
really
the
super
athlete
or
anything,”
she
says.
“I
just
had
fun
running
around
and
playing
games.”
FORGET
ABOUT
THE
FIELD
DAYS
that
you
remember
as
a
child,
when
you
and
your
classmates
were
forced
to
form
an
assembly
line
of
athleticism,
taking
turns
seeing
who
could
jump
the
longest,
run
the
fastest
or
throw
the
furthest.
That
kind
of
field
day
is
über-establishment,
and
anytime
the
Cabbagetown
queers
get
their
hands
on
something
that
totalitarian,
they
like
to
flip
it
on
its
head
with
some
socialized
fun.
Teams
of
four
or
five
people
will
be
compete
in
such
queer
events
as
Fag
Football
and
Fairy
Footsteps,
which
is
like
the
game
Red
Light-Green
Light.
There’s
also
the
aforementioned
Desper-ately
Seeking
Sperm
competition,
a
naughtily
named
egg
relay
race,
with
team
members
using
spoons
to
deliver
the
egg
to
its
sperm.
“What
we’re
asking
people
to
do
is
come
in
teams
of
four
or
five,”
Gokhale
says,
noting
the
$100
entry
fee
per
team.
“Different
groups
can
do
it
in
any
way
you
want
to
— you
can
be
a
non-profit,
you
can
be
just
a
group
of
folks
who
cam
together
to
have
some
fun,
or
you
can
come
by
yourself
and
we
have
options
for
that.”
Among
the
athletes
the
Hot
Homo
Huddle
Committee
hopes
to
recruit
to
the
Queer
Field
Day
are
all
“homos,
gaywads,
transfabulous
ones,
lesbos,
queers,
qurious
folks,
faggots
and
pansies.”
“We’re
trying
to
be
as
gay
as
possible,
and
just
kind
of
have
a
little
fun
with
it,”
Gokhale
says.
AS
PART
OF
THE
MONDO
HOMO
team,
Kiki
Carr
and
her
teammates
might
be
at
the
peak
of
their
training
as
the
countdown
to
the
Queer
Field
Day
begins.
During
the
Mondo
Homo
festival
in
May,
the
group
hosted
a
“socialist
version”
of
kickball
that
gave
them
a
taste
of
the
competitive
adrenaline
they
can
expect
at
the
Queer
Field
Day.
“From
the
way
I’ve
hear
it
talked
about,
it
sounds
like
people
are
going
to
be
a
little
more
competitive
this
time
around,”
Carr
jokes.
Along
with
the
physical
challenges,
the
Queer
Field
Day
features
a
BBQ
and
beauty
pageant,
along
with
a
series
of
brain
teasers
for
folks
not
competing
in
events
like
Fag
Football.
“They
won’t
all
be
running
around
events
— we
may
have
some
games
and
stuff
like
that
for
those
folks
who
don’t
want
to
be
running
around
in
the
heat,”
Gokhale
says.
The
funds
raised
during
the
Queer
Field
Day
will
help
SONG
as
it
prepares
to
celebrate
its
15th
anniversary
in
September.
The
multiracial
group
fights
against
all
kinds
of
oppression,
whether
based
on
sexual
orientation,
ethnicity,
class
or
gender.
“It
focuses
on
intersectional
politics,
meaning
we
all
come
as
whole
people
with
various
identities,
and
we
should
all
be
able
to
bring
our
whole
self
to
any
place
we
go
and
feel
liberated
doing
that,”
Gokhale
says.
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