Exclusive: Brandy, Chromeo to headline LA Pride Festival

LA Pride might be pausing the pomp and revelry of its decades-old parade in exchange for a protest march, but the party will continue at the multi-day festival that’s tied to the annual celebration of the LGBTQ community.

Brandy and Chromeo will headline the 2017 edition of the music festival, organizers revealed to The Times.

Set for June 10-11 in West Hollywood, the lineup is a diverse assortment of acts who are either openly queer or working to celebrate and support the community.

Electro-funk duo Chromeo will launch the festival on June 10, with R&B star Brandy closing the following night.

Young M.A, Erika Jayne, Brooke Candy, Kat Dahlia, Aaron Carter, iLoveMakonnen, Spencer Ludwig, Starley, Tish Hyman, Leon Else, Connell Cruise and Jesse Møntana will also perform during the weekend.

Organizers are expected to announce further details in the coming days, including curated lineups for Latin, hip-hop and R&B fans.

Tickets are already on sale. General admission weekend passes are $35 with single-day tickets going for $25.

Last year organizers faced backlash when it re-branded the festival into a three-day ticketed event with an expanded lineup that featured more than 50 acts. Ticket prices were raised and free events for transgender people and lesbians were truncated.

The expanded plans were met with derision. Organizers were accused of abandoning their mission in a bid to turn festivities into a “gay Coachella� and the #NotOurPride movement was spawned out of the backlash.

Organizers listened to criticisms and scaled back ticketed events.

This year’s Pride has again shifted its focus. There won’t be a cavalcade of colorful floats sauntering down Santa Monica Boulevard.

Instead, this year will be capped with a protest march in response to the current political climate — though organizers have stressed that it’s not an anti-Trump protest.

“It’s not a red thing or a blue thing,� said Brian Pendleton, a board member for Christopher Street West, the nonprofit that organizes the annual event. “It’s about marching for human rights, which are a Republican concept and a Democratic concept. … We’re changing the format this year to let people know we care about human rights, whether you’re a woman, a Dreamer, or an LGBTQ person.�

“We’re getting back to our roots,� Pendleton said. “We will be resisting forces that want to roll back our rights, and politicians who want to make us second-class citizens.�

As a weeklong celebration, LA Pride will host a number of free and ticketed events starting June 5, including the annual L.A. Dodgers LGBT Night and as-yet-to be announced events that will lead into the two-day festival and the Resist March.

Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts contributed to this report.

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