Gayming Awards Meet the Nominees: LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award
The LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award is reserved for the people and organizations reshaping the competitive gaming landscape today.
These are the folks who understand what a monumental industry esports is and how it can be improved to support queer competitors. During a time when these spaces are still not always welcoming to LGBTQ+ gamers, it’s their tireless work that gives these players the chance to compete — with the knowledge that they can do so free from discrimination.
At the 2026 Gayming Awards, the nominees for this year’s LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award, sponsored by Valencia Gay Games, are the people who’ve truly made an impact in the fight to make gaming more inclusive for all. Let’s look at them now and learn what makes each of them such trailblazers today!
British Esports Federation
Esports continues to grapple with major issues around discrimination and queer exclusion, and while many organizations are trying to address these today, few are doing more for the cause than the British Esports Federation (BEF).
BEF is the national overseer for all official esports in the United Kingdom and has worked for the past decade to create a system that makes digital competition equitable for all. The past year has seen them make more strides in that mission than ever before; in 2025, the organization launched the ‘Duty to Care in Esports’ program, which established LGBTQ+ inclusivity trainings for all esport coaches. This built upon its existing work with the Women in Esports Committee to ensure that non-binary and queer identities were respected in competitions, and their overall curriculum that accounts for the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in gaming. These additions have made BEF’s esports rulebook one of the most inclusive in the world, and its already being replicated by numerous other federations across the globe.
The past twelve months have seen the British Esports Federation do all of this and so much more in the fight for inclusive gaming — so it’s no wonder they’re nominated for the LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award at this year’s Gayming Awards!
Cora Kennedy
Cora Kennedy stands out for her inspiring work towards building an esports system that respects all identities — and the fact that she has managed to create all of this powerful change all on her own!
Director of esports at Illinois Wesleyan University, Kennedy spent 2025 developing an ‘inclusion first’ framework that addressed the issues trans and non-binary students face in digital competitions. This helped make IWU’s esports system one of the most inclusive in the country, and it’s already being adopted by multiple major conferences! Cora paired this systemic development with an editorial series spotlighting the dangers trans and non-binary students face in esports, causing an industry-wide discussion of the issues that still exist in this medium and what it means to create truly inclusive arenas.
Somehow, there are still so many other ways that Cora Kennedy fights for the queer community in esports today. Whether it’s her work documenting diverse competitors or her ‘Queer Behind the Lens’ initiative that helps LGBTQ+ students become esports journalists, she stands as a true trailblazer who fights daily for esports to be inclusive for all. She deserves so much appreciation for all of this hard work, and she may just receive it in the form of the LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award at this year’s Gayming Awards!
VALORANT Game Changers
Since its creation in 2021, VALORANT Game Changers (VGC) has been a way for women and other players of marginalized identities to compete in their favorite game without fear of discrimination. It’s been a vital resource for many gamers today — and 2025 saw it go from being just a supplementary circuit to the global model for inclusive competition!
Designed as an addition to VALORANT competitions, VGC’s anti-harrassment protocols and career paths have helped LGBTQ+ gamers across all Tier 1 esports. 2025 saw a record-breaking amount of participation from non-binary and transgender athletes thanks to this circuit, with this tireless advocacy culminating in the 2025 VALORANT Game Changers World Championship. This competition saw 10 global teams — each one featuring people of underserved identities — duke it out for the title of VALORANT Game Changers Champions, with more than 200,000 concurrent viewers watching these match-ups. This event showed not only how eager fans were to celebrate these teams, but made it clear to the entire gaming industry that uplifting marginalized identities is always a recipe for massive success.
VALORANT Game Changers provides LGBTQ+ players the inclusive battlegrounds they need and reminds modern gaming how essential queer players are to this medium’s success. It’s a vital resource for gamers and professionals, and it may just win this year’s LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award!
Team Liquid
Esports teams have the massive responsibility of not only trying to win every match, but being role models for the many fans who look up to them. It’s always amazing when a team can uplift their audience, and 2025 saw the thoroughly queer Team Liquid offer LGBTQ+ fans the inspiration that so many need right now.
Team Liquid has always been an inclusive organization; its many teams feature numerous queer professional gamers. They are all inspiring in their own way, but this year saw Team Liquid Brazil — led by openly queer athletes Captain Vivi and Daiki — go on to astound millions with their amazing win at the 2025 VGC Gamer Changers World Championship. This was a monumental moment for the team, and they used it to discuss the need for inclusive esports to a worldwide audience.
This individual group used their success to platform the voices of millions of queer players today. And they definitely aren’t the only Team Liquid members who are fighting for inclusivity in gaming! In fact, the entire organization has spent the past few years speaking out against discrimination in esports, with Team Liquid launching its ‘Pride in Play’ advocacy series that addresses and debunks the exclusionary policies trans athletes face in modern sports.
Team Liquid has had an amazing past twelve months for not only its massive wins but the way it continues to show the power queer players have today. It’s one of the most prominent examples of inclusive esports we have today, and this may just earn them the LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award!
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