Coachella is Launching These ‘Safe Spaces’ for LGBTQ+ Festival Goers

After a three-year hiatus, Coachella is returning for another year of incredible live music and will be headlined by Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, and Swedish House Mafia plus the Weeknd. A slew of our favorite LGBTQ+ musicians are also performing, but that hasn't stopped some queer people of being wary – and for good reason.

Coachella has come under fire in recent years for its association with Philip Anschutz, the Republican mega-donor who owns the event’s parent company, AEG. His repeated donations to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations have incited some to call for a boycott of the event from fans and even participating artists. But as Out points out, "boycotting AEG would be a herculean task" as the company controls "all of the larger and high-quality venues in major markets in the U.S. and a bunch of important venues worldwide," including the Crypto.com Area in LA, the Barclays Center in New York, The O2 in London, and hundreds more. "As an artist, speaking out against just one festival could ensure that you couldn’t get booked at any of the others, or worse, at any of the company’s venues across the world."

Despite the controversy, Coachella still attracts over 250,000 people a year – and many of them are a part of the queer community. So what is an LGBTQ+ music fan to do? 

In an effort to make their alliance with the community clear, Coachella has launched Q+, an "initiative to archive, celebrate, and empower the Queer+ x Black Indigenous, and People of Color [Q+ x BIPOC] community," the site reads. "We invite every person to come together and unite for acceptance." The initiative will take place inside the festival as well as the campgrounds.

HeadQ+uarters [HQ+] "will operate as a social gathering space within the festival grounds for Q+ x BIPoC individuals to come and be celebrated. HQ+ will feature a positively themed photo and testimonial opportunity and consist of multiple interactive, inspirational, and archival art projects." They say that by "providing a space that embodies self-expression, inclusion and diversity, we aim to uplift, empower, and expand the Q+ Community at the festival." Any and all festival-goers are welcome to stop by the activation.

They've also launched Q+amp inside the campgrounds, which is providing a select few LGBTQ+ guests camping and boarding accommodations. "Q+ampers can expect to be fully immersed in the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival experience with VIP access to all festival activations and opportunities to interact with Q+ and BIPoC leaders of the festival. We hope this experience empowers each of our Q+ampers and also creates a community from which we can expand the Q+ x BIPoC attendance of the festival. "

The application for this is closed and it's unclear what the experience will look like, but the group of folks who "embody authenticity, ooze with pride, and shine bright like a diamond" will surely have a blast.

This Q+ initiative seems to be a well-intentioned effort from the festival to show that they are LGBTQ+ inclusive. We'll see how those spaces play out over the next two weekends.