It’s Pride month and LA is packed with events to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, but finding year-round queer spaces, especially in Los Angeles, isn’t easy.

Enter Queer Field Day, a nonprofit led by queer women and non-binary individuals that hosts activity-filled afternoons for LGBTQ+ people.

Queer Field Day usually occurs at a park or beach. The event kicks off with icebreakers before athletic and social activities begin. 

Kayleen Casey, co-founder of Queer Field Day, explained why the events are so popular.

“We are for the community of people that don’t want to be meeting people in bars all the time. Many of the events in Los Angeles are alcohol-centric, and there are a lot of sober people in our community. There are a lot of people that aren’t yet of bar age that want to be out there making queer connections, meeting new people, and finding people that they have things in common with,” Casey said.

Co-founder Lilly Brown talked about what types of programming the field day includes. 

“We try to have a physical game and a social game happening at the same time so that people can pick which one they want to do. The whole point really is to make queer friends and build community. A lot of people come to Queer Field Day alone and they leave with friends, and that’s our goal,” Brown explained.  

The idea for Queer Field Day began when Brown gained a following on social media and hosted a meetup for her followers. 

“The day came and at least like 300 people showed up. After the first Queer Feel Day, I made a TikTok recap, and that video was the one that really took us to the next level. It got about 500,000 views, and a week later we did our next Queer Field day and probably a thousand people came,” Brown recalled.

Courtney Loechl attended a recent Queer Field Day event and spoke about how the events can help others in the LGBTQ+ community.

“The opportunity to meet more queer folks and make new friends, to be outside, have fun and, at the same time, really cultivate the community connection was the biggest reason. If I have seen events like this, in terms of it being a queer umbrella focus, rather than a gay thing or a lesbian thing, I absolutely, probably would have come to terms with my sexuality a lot sooner, because I would have seen multiple orientations being valid and being celebrated,” Loechl shared.

Brown talked about the value of meeting people who have had similar experiences, and how that can impact the people who come to her events.

“It’s not about really who you’re attracted to. It’s about the experience and life you had. It’s about even just sometimes a reference you make to a TV show and somebody else gets it and no one ever gets it. You can just mention something about coming out and how your mom wasn’t okay with it, and the person next to you had the same experience. It’s just so important to have those spaces where you can feel truly safe,” Brown said. 

For more information, head over to QueerFieldDay.com or follow them on Instagram @QueerFieldDay.

Watch the full video above.

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