How esports orgs are handling Pride is a mixed bag
Though all gaming is rife with homo and transphobia, along with other forms of bigotry, esports has a particularly nasty culture of it, despite the numerous queer folks who participate in the industry. Now that Pride Month has rolled around, many esports organizations have donned their rainbow-themed logos. But what they’re doing beyond that, and how they’re handling backlash to their support of the LGBTQIA+ community has varied from company to company.
On Wednesday, June 1, FaZe Clan tweeted a message celebrating Pride. “Happy Pride Month! Sending love to our LGBTQ+ friends, family, and community,” FaZe Clan wrote on Twitter.
Predictably, the replies to this tweet were soon filled with vitriol and disappointment from certain fans that the esports organization was publicly supporting Pride. One person replied: “I love yall but this big L.”
“Never really respected FaZe much but now any potential respect I may or could have had is gone,” another replied.
Additionally, FaZe Clan’s Talal “Virus” Almalki posted a now-deleted quote tweet of the esports organization’s Pride tweet explicitly denying his support of anything LGBTQIA for religious reasons.
“Just to clarify that I don’t support any kind of LGBTQ or anything similar even if ‘FaZe’ does,” Virus wrote. “I’m a Muslim.”
Though FaZe Clan currently has queer members like Kalei Renay, the esports organization has not made any further posts about Pride month or rebuking the homophobic comments.
Cloud9, on the other hand, has taken a slightly more active approach to its Pride Month posting. On Friday, the org created a thread of various resources for LGBTQIA+ people.
“Supporting our LGBTQIA+ friends and fans is what #C9Pride is all about. We’ve compiled a list of resources to help those in need – charities, education for kids and parents, and more,” Cloud9 tweeted.
The thread includes resources for LGBTQIA+ youth, asexuality awareness, and even queer gaming. Though it’s still fresh, this thread hasn’t had as negative of a response yet. While this is certainly a more positive outcome than what happened with FaZe Clan, it’s clear that esports organizations and their fans still have a ways to go when it comes to acceptance of the queer community.
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