Birmingham will play host to a panel discussion next month exploring LGBTQ representation in esports.
It will feature a trio of UK esports caster personalities and LGBTQ advocates, including Emi ‘CaptainFluke’ Donaldson (aka Fluke), who won the ‘Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports’ award at the Gayming Awards 2022 a few months ago.
Fluke will be joined on the panel by Wild Rift EMEA commentator James ‘StressCasts’ O’Leary (aka Stress) and caster and British Esports adviser Layla Ashwell. Afterwards, a networking reception will take place.
The ‘LGBTQ+ For The Win’ event will be hosted by Robin Gray, founder of Gayming Magazine and executive board member of Create Central, a West Midlands industry body, with other speakers to be revealed.
Pride House Birmingham and Gayming Magazine are teaming up at the event to ask the question: “How can we increase LGBTQ representation in esports?”
The panel discussion – free to attend – will take place on Monday August 1st 2022 from 6pm to 10pm BST at Pride House Birmingham, B5 6RG.
It will take place ahead of the Commonwealth Esports Games, which get underway from August 6th to 7th 2022. One day before this, the Commonwealth Esports Forum will take place, with Saudi Esports’ president giving a talk at the forum.
Saudi’s increasing involvement in esports has made headlines over the past year. A few days ago, Moist Esports declined to play at Saudi’s upcoming Gamers Without Borders Rocket League event, with UK coach Noah vowing “not to associate with a country that doesn’t recognise LGBTQ+ people as human beings”.
After Esports News UK published news about the Commonwealth Esports Forum earlier today, James ‘Stress’ O’Leary responded with information about the LGBTQ panel discussion:
A blurb on the event page read: “LGBTQ interest in esports is ever growing while representation, particularly at the top tier level, is low. Pride House and Gayming Magazine want to utilise their unique position at the Commonwealth Games to promote and further the awareness of esports both as a mainstream sport, but also as one that is welcoming to LGBTQ people.
“Alongside this, Create Central and the Mayor of the West Midlands have set out an ambition for Birmingham to be the heart of the UK’s esports scene, with specific reference to driving diversity in the industry.”
You can book tickets to attend the LGBTQ+ For The Win event here
Further reading:
- Celebrating Pride Month: UK & Ireland esports personalities share their view on LGBTQIA+ issues and representation
- How Pride Month is handled in esports, that FaZe Virus tweet and more – opinion
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
