‘The status quo is changing – for the better’ – Years & Years to launch a new project celebrating LGBT voices
The frontman Olly Alexander organised the project known as Rendezvous
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Years & Years are launching a new project to ‘celebrate LGBT voices and provide a space that’s respectful, inclusive and inspiring for everybody’.
Organised by the openly gay frontman, Olly Alexander, the project, known as Rendezvous, will be introduced at their upcoming headline show at the O2 on December 5, the BBC reported.
Olly said: “Listening to my LGBTQ+ peers has been my most powerful teacher, and I am lucky I’ve been able to meet so many like-minded people, but I know that isn’t always easy to find.
“My hope is that the launch of Rendezvous will encourage people to make new connections, new ideas, make friends, be inspired and have a lot of fun!
“The status quo is changing – for the better. Even so we’re used to festival line-ups being dominated by mostly male acts, with female acts side-lined along with LGBTQ+ artists.
“This gets more complicated with artists who live at the intersection of race and sexuality, or artists who don’t fit a gender binary.
“We believe that these artists deserve to be seen and heard and that audiences deserve to see and hear them too.”
The line-up for the show features ‘friends and allies from the LGBT community’ including Astrid, Rina Sawayama, Jay Jay Revlon and the LGBT inclusive choir Urban Voices Collective.