Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour Will Have Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

In a little under a month, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour is proving to be the singer’s queerest outing yet. In addition to the very queer musical content, Beyoncé is making a point of including gender-neutral bathrooms on as many stops as possible—even in venues that don’t already have them.

The world tour supporting Beyoncé’s seventh studio album kicked off last month in Stockholm, Sweden. From the very beginning, fans were treated to a monumental display of the Progress Pride Flag—in case there’s any ambiguity about the audience for this tour.

Less monumental but no less impactful—concert-goers quickly noticed changes to the venue’s single-sex restrooms. Beyoncé’s team had taped over the usual gender markers on bathroom doors with their own gender neutral signage.

As if we needed another reason to fangirl out on the Renaissance tour, this act of solidarity comes at a time when bathrooms have been weaponized against the trans and nonbinary community. While we’ve come to expect a backlash from the right, the Beyhive thoroughly drowned out their complaints online.

This is not the first time that Beyoncé has stood up for trans and nonbinary fans on tour. All the way back in 2016’s Formation tour, she spoke out against an early bathroom bill in North Carolina, directing fans to resources to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Related:

The Lyrics in Beyoncé’s ‘Cozy’ Describe the Progress Pride Flag and the Internet Is Shook

More fun facts keep popping up about Beyoncé’s “Renaissance”. But did you know she describes the Progress Pride Flag in her song “Cozy”?

The Renaissance album is also fully inspired by the queer Black ballroom scene. She dedicated the album to her Uncle Johnny, “the most fabulous gay man,” whom she credits with introducing her to ballroom culture. In making the album, Beyoncé collaborated with Black transgender music producer Honey Dijon and sampled music from drag artist Moi Renee. And the album booklet contains photography referencing Paris is Burning’s Octavia St Laurent and Pepper LaBeija.

“Thank you to all of the pioneers who originate culture, to all of the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long,” the album’s dedication reads.

The world tour is slated to hit the US in July, where Beyoncé’s gender-neutral bathrooms will be subject to red state bathroom laws. But in a match between Beyoncé and transphobes, we’ll put our odds on Queen Bey.