The First QueerJoyFest is over but Pride Month has just begun, Here's our extended conversation with WIMINFEST organizer Havens
This is a follow up to our story with Havens Levitt about WIMIN INC.
In this extended interview from 5/26/26, we briefly touch on the decades of WIMINFEST history, and cover QueerJoyFest which happened this past weekend 5/30/26 in Albuquerque.
You can find that story here.
Julian here. Excited to share an upcoming event, as well as some neat historical perspective on our wonderful history here in the Land of Enchantment. Can I start by having you introduce yourself to folks at home?
Havens: Sure. My name is Havens Levitt, I am one of the members of the board of WIMIN which used to produce WIMINFEST back in the day, and we have a new iteration of that. We're calling it WIMINFEST Reimagined: QueerJoyFest
It's Saturday, May 30th at The Kimo. We have four incredible performers.
- Kristy Lee, powerhouse vocalist and songwriter opens the night with her unique Dirt Road Soul
- Alex Slim is a Navajo transgender woman, Burque local, and the 2023 Saturday Night Live scholarship recipient from the Groundlings in Hollywood. The Fat Earth Society, her sketch comedy group performs in Santa Fe on June 27th
- WIMINFEST favorite, whom Robin Williams called a Lesbian Lenny Bruce, comedian Marga Gomez
- The Joy Clark Band, who recently rocked Jazz Fest in New Orleans
- Plus MC Havens Levitt, known for her sharp wit and fabulous costume changes, and after party dance at Expressions Gallery in Old Town with DJ Bex
Julian: Oh, you're not gonna be able to keep people in their seats.
Havens: I hope not.
Julian: That's exciting.
Havens: WIMINFEST lasted for about 20 years, from '85 to 2005. It was a three-day festival at the KiMo. It was very lesbian-centric and glorious, and we took over downtown Albuquerque, and I think for a lot of people, it was definitely a life-saving thing. A lot of women would say, "You know, I come every year so I can get through the rest of the year." We were just all about supporting each other and having a good time and walking down the street holding hands and not caring who had a problem with that.
Julian: And that started in 1985. Now, I know that New Mexico, I'm not sure of its current numbers, but for a while, we had the highest per capita rate of lesbians, I think, in the United States. Is that part of why y'all were able to have a big event, or is it also just incredible organizers?
Havens: I'm gonna go with incredible organizers.
Julian: I think so too.
Havens: I think New Mexico's zeitgeist, for lack of a better word, is very welcoming. We've never experienced a lot of overt homophobia. I'm sure it's out there. But, you know, just a more comfortable place for people. And we also called ourselves the Women's Festival with Room Service 'cause we weren't out in the woods. We were actually at the old La Posada, on 2nd Street. And it just built slowly. The first time it almost happened by accident 'cause the woman who ran The Kimo called and said, "I got three dates in March that just got canceled. Do you want them?" And we said, "Yeah." We had no idea what we were getting into. And so the first year, you know, not as many people, I'd say maybe five to 10 years, ...it was standing room only at The Kimo, a dance every night after the show. Just a lot of joy and love and it was great. So we ended in 2005. We did a few concerts after that, but, you know, back from '85 to 2005, I think there was a lot of, especially the first 10 or 15 years, a desperation to be in a queer-friendly, supportive space.
Havens: And then as the years, went on, people were more comfortable
[and society in general became more accepting. - Julian]
You know, we had attendance go down. So we stopped in 2005. Then last year, in early 2025, I think everybody can figure out what was going on then.
Havens: I just looked around and I said, "We need more opportunities to come together and celebrate each other." And I think in the meantime, all of us anyway, and the WIMIN board has definitely evolved in the way that we hope all people do to wanna be more inclusive and have it be about queer joy, about all of our community.
Everyone's welcome, lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, all the things.
Julian: What is the entertainment that y'all focus on?
Havens: Then or now?
Julian: Then, and then we'll get to now.
Havens: So then we were definitely focused on only women performers. We were not a women-only audience. But definitely women-only performers and, I would say 90% lesbian. Back in those days that we didn't have a lot of identities to sort out. I'm sure there were plenty of people that would identify in different categories now, but it was a very lesbian-centric event.
Julian: A lot of music?
Havens: Mostly music. We always had comics. Kate Clinton was a favorite. Marga Gomez was a favorite, and she's coming back this year. Some of the women's music standards like Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Meg Christian, Linda Tillery, you know, great performers. Rhiannon.
Julian: I love that, that mix of also bringing comedians in.
Havens: Oh, yeah.
Havens: We love the KiMo 'cause it's such a beautiful theater, and they've always been very supportive of the work we try to do. I mean, people have changed, obviously, but we always get a lot of support from the staff that works at the KiMo.
Julian: Do y'all have any social media presence or anything that we should be following or keeping up with?
Havens: We're on QueerJoyFest, for Instagram, Facebook. I think those are the things. We hired a younger person to manage all that.
Julian: You, you've got to do that. Everyone, hire your youth. Like, we need the mentorship in both directions, right?
Havens: That's right. The website is queerjoyfest.org.
Julian: That's really exciting. Now, I know that Pride is also coming up. Is there anything else you would like to shout out or speak to?
Havens: Well, I just think we all need to come together as much as we can. I know there's PrideFest in Albuquerque on the 13th. Pride on the Pitch is the 6th, it's a New Mexico United game but they really do it like they mean it, as opposed to some other local sports organizations.
Julian: That's our local football team, right?
Havens: Soccer, yes. Or, as they call it other places, football.
Julian: Yeah.
Havens: Right? We're having a, GLSEN, which is a local organization for its kind of a swan song, is doing a lavender graduation, which is a fun thing for people graduating to be able to, walk across and have a lavender stole that has all the pride stripes on it, you know, fun things like that. So we are trying to partner with all the organizations. Orgs can have information in the KiMo lobby. You can't have a table 'cause there's not very much room in the KiMo lobby. But we're excited, and we just hope people will come down and join us. We're having a dance after the concert, at a place called Expressions Gallery on Rio Grande, just a little bit north of Central. And you can get tickets at the door if you didn't come to the concert. If you come to the concert, your concert ticket gets you into the dance.
Julian: Yeah! DJ Bex is gonna be playing at Expressions in Old Town. They're also a local gallery that supports a lot of our other cultures. They even have a goth night once a month now.
Havens: Yeah, they do cool stuff there. We found this place which feels like a much better fit for our vibe and the way we want our event to feel.
Julian: There's a lot of really nice seating in there, so you're gonna get more conversation circles.
Havens: Yeah. Which is what this is all about, in part.
Julian: Right.Thank you so much for your time.
Havens: Thank you.
Julian: I'd love to stay in touch as we continue to talk about not just our queer history, but our queer future here in the Land of Enchantment.
Havens: Absolutely. Thank you.
JAlex: One last question! What do you think that makes New Mexico so unique in how accepting they are of gay, queer, lesbian, and the deep history that's here? What is it about New Mexico that permits that?
Havens: I'm pretty sure it's something in the water.
But seriously, you know, I think there is a melding of cultures here that's been true for centuries in a way that has felt more respectful, not perfect, but more respectful than a lot of places. Just a little bit more of a live and let live attitude, maybe based on the fact that it's in the desert and things have to move slowly… and so let's move slowly… and love each other… and take care of each other. It is a little bit of a mystery, but we have to cultivate it. That's the important thing.
Julian: It's a little bit of that land of mañana, a little bit of that chosen family-
Havens: Uh-huh. Exactly …
Julian: And I just wanna say the evolution to QueerJoyFest, as a genderqueer person, that felt so special that y'all chose to kind of open it up because of what's going on.
And I also wanna say it was always special, too, being able to see a women-focused, women-specific, on stage in the spotlight. That was also just so uplifting and encouraging 'cause sometimes we'll forget that there's anybody but drag queens, and there's so much more than just that. It’s an important part of our history, but there's so much more than just that. (Drag queens.) So I love, I love the representation that you have done and the evolution that y'all are continuing to do.
Havens: And I would just add that one of the ways that we have taken this journey is our connection with StormMiguel Flores, who's a filmmaker. He lives in the Bay Area now. But he was on the WIMIN board back in the day, before he transitioned. He made a movie called "The Whistle," which some people may be familiar with.
"A 45 year old Latinx trans man returns to his birthplace - Albuquerque, New Mexico - in search for the origin of a secret lesbian code he learned when he identified as a teenage dyke in the 80s." The Whistle
https://www.stormflorez.com/the-whistle.html
A number of us that are on the WIMIN board ended up in that movie. So we have this long history with StormMiguel. He's going to be working on a documentary about WIMIN Fest and folding in what's going to happen this weekend. He's going to be here filming and recording. So it's another layer of the history and the need to kind of keep what we did and look forward to what we can do better.
Julian: Excellent. We definitely have some folks coming back into town this year to celebrate, not just Pride Month, but, you know, being here and queer New Mexico.
Havens: Queer New Mexico. New Mexiqueer. I like that ... as opposed to New Mexico.
Julian: I like New Mexiqueer. I like New Mexiqueer a lot. I think that is the next T-shirt.
Julian: And, and quick shout-out, 2005 Womyn Fest tee here in a beautiful regal purple.
Check out QueerJoyFest and stay tuned for more queer stories here.