Community

About the LGBT Community in Palm Springs

The current gay and lesbian population in Palm Springs is estimated to be about seven times the national average. This concentration is even greater than that of San Francisco, which has approximately five times the national average. Gay residents represent about 35 percent of those who are year-round residents. The influx of gays and lesbians into the city began in the early 1990s, shortly after the mayor and city council approved ordinances which sought to discourage college students from visiting Palm Springs during spring break, and began making aggressive attempts to recruit gays and lesbians to come to the city as tourists and new residents.

A popular destination among retirees, Palm Springs has also long drawn significant numbers of over-50 gay men and lesbians, both as full- and part-time residents and as vacationers. Generally, the demographic at bars and restaurants throughout the year tends toward the 40s-and-older set, but during high-season weekends and special events you’ll find a more age-varied crowd.

There are few places in the world where gay travelers feel so welcomed as in Palm Springs. The area has been a mecca for gay travelers since the 1950s, when it became known as the “Playground of the Stars”. Celebrities and other famous folks flocked to the dry desert to relax and play. Only two hours from Los Angeles, yet a world away, Palm Springs was the place where closeted Hollywood-types could let their hair down, and it still is.

Today, the area is a burgeoning gay travel and conference destination with major events like White Party, Dinah Shore Weekend and Greater Palm Springs Pride. The city was identified as a top gay travel destination in a 2006 survey by Community Marketing.

Openly gay business owners and political figures are visible at nearly every level of government, including the current and previous mayors, and a majority of the City Council. Palm Springs is home to America’s only Gay Veterans Memorial, and was one of the first California communities to establish a domestic partnership registry. Many diverse organizations form the fabric of the LGBT community in Palm Springs including the Gay Rodeo, Freedom Band, Frontrunners, AIDS Assistance Program and Desert AIDS Project.

hspace="6" vspace="6" There are more than 35 openly-gay resort hotels in the city. The annual Gay Pride Parade and Festival is held the first weekend in November and in recent years has grown to attract an estimated 35,000 spectators. The largest gay events in the area, however, occur in March or April, with the “White Party” attracting thousands of gay men for parties and concerts and The Dinah/Dinah Shore Weekend (held on the same weekend as, but not officially affiliated with the Kraft Nabisco LPGA Championship held in nearby Rancho Mirage), one of the largest events in the country for lesbian women.

Palm Springs ranks sixth in “most-visited” U.S. destinations by Community Marketing, the leading Gay market research firm in the country.

Simply put, Palm Springs is one of the gayest places on earth, and proud of it. With a population in excess of 48,000, it is estimated that more than 16,000 gay men and lesbians live here. That’s not including the other eight cities in the surrounding area, plus the gay tourist population and “snow-birds”.