''Gayming Magazine'' is a British online

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

video gaming magazine. The first video gaming website dedicated to the LGBTQ community, the site was launched in June 2019 with the aim of connecting the LGBTQ and video gaming communities, and has launched virtual

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

events. In 2021, the magazine hosted the world's first LGBTQ+ gaming awards ceremony, Gayming Awards. ''Gayming Magazine'' debuted its event Gayming LIVE Online in 2022, which aims to bring together video games, drag artists and queer culture.

History

''Gayming Magazine'' was revealed at the London Games Festival in April 2019. According to founder Robin Gray, the LGBTQ+ community had been a niche of the video gaming community, and they wanted to celebrate that and bring the two communities closer together. The site was launched in June. In September, the site was nominated for a Women in Games Advocacy award. A live event, Gayming Live, was run between 30 September and 5 October, which featured LGBTQ+ gaming artists and journalists, and writers from Fusebox Games offered writing tips. Within its first year it was reported to have a readership of 17,000. During Summer 2020, ''Gayming Magazine'' hosted DIGIPRIDE 2020, a digital Pride event, emphasising the importance of getting through the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and noting that normal Pride events were being cancelled. DIGIPRIDE then became an annual staple for the next 4 years. The site was nominated for another Women in Games award in September 2020. Gayming LIVE was an online convention concept launched in 2022 and held subsequently in 2023 and 2024. Each year saw a multi-day program of streamed events. The concept was retired in 2024 as a result in the downturn of the gaming economy and a withdrawal of key sponsorships.

Gayming Awards

Gayming Awards 2021

In July 2020, ''Gayming Magazine'' hosted the world's first LGBTQ+ gaming awards ceremony, Gayming Awards. Presented by Electronic Arts (EA), the awards were supported by The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment. The first ceremony was held virtually in February 2021 and hosted by Suzi Ruffell. The panel of judges consisted of more than twenty LGBTQ people, though the public voted on the Best LGBTQ+ Streamer and Gayming Magazine Readers’ Awards categories. Voting took place in November and December 2020, with all games released in 2020 being eligible. The full list of winners of the Gayming Awards 2021 are as follows: * Game of the Year: ''

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

'' * Gayming Icon Award: Robert Yang * ''Gayming Magazine'' Readers' Award: ''

'' * Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award: '' If Found...'' * Industry Diversity Award: I Need Diverse Games * LGBTQ Streamer of the Year: DEERE * Best LGBTQ Character Award: Tyler Ronan, '' Tell Me Why'' * Authentic Representation Award: ''Tell Me Why'' * Best LGBTQ Narrative Award: '' If Found...'' The digital-only ceremony was watched by over 150,000 unique viewers around the world, making it the largest LGBTQ+ event on Twitch over the past year.

Gayming Awards 2022

The Gayming Awards, presented by

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

, returned in-person in April 2022, hosted by

Julia Hardy Julia Hardy, also known as Jules Hardy, is a British television presenter known for their interests in gaming, music, e-sports, and new technology. They are the creator and presenter of the online fitness programme Game to Train. In addition t ...

. As before, the ceremony was live streamed on Twitch and IGN and was watched by over 320,000 people in 97 countries. 2022 saw a new LGBTQ+ Streamer Rising Star Award, as well as categories in

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

and

tabletop games Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a Table (furniture), table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, Tabletop role-playing game, tabletop role-playing games, or ti ...

. The full list of winners of the Gayming Awards 2022 are as follows: * Game of the Year: '' Life Is Strange: True Colors'' * Gayming Icon Award:

Tanya DePass Tanya DePass (born 1973), also known by her username Cypheroftyr, is an American journalist, activist and streamer. She is the founder of the non-profit organization I Need Diverse Games, which she established in 2016. Early life DePass grew ...

* Gayming Magazine Readers' Award: ''

Resident Evil Village ''Resident Evil Village'' is a 2021 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the sequel to ''Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' (2017) and the eighth numbered mainline game of the ''Resident Evil'' series. Players control Ethan Wi ...

'' * Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award: '' Unpacking'' * Industry Diversity Award:

Ukie The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was founded in 1989 as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), then chang ...

's #RaiseTheGame pledge * LGBTQ Streamer of the Year: Aimsey * Best LGBTQ Character Award:

Alex Chen Alexandra "Alex" Chen is a character from the '' Life Is Strange'' video game series published by Square Enix. Created by American developer Deck Nine, she first appears in the 2021 video game '' Life Is Strange: True Colors'' as its main prota ...

, ''Life Is Strange: True Colors'' * Authentic Representation Award: ''Life Is Strange: True Colors'' * LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star Class of '22: It's Me Holly, cruuuunchy, CoderGirlChan, AwkwardishPanda, LuciaEverblack and Luke_Boogie * Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports: Emi "CaptainFluke" Donaldson * LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award: ''Adventuring With Pride: Queer We Go Again'' * Best LGBTQ Comic Book Moment: The Pride Omnibus –

ComiXology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . At its height it offered a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, g ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

The 2022 Awards were also supported by CeX, Green Man Gaming,

Bandai Namco (commonly known as and formerly Namco Bandai until 2015, also known as Bandai Namco Group,) is a Japanese mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specia ...

, Space Ape Games,

UKIE The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was founded in 1989 as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), then chang ...

, German Games Industry Association, Out Making Games and London Games Festival.

Gayming Awards 2023

The Gayming Awards, presented by

Logitech Logitech International S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the company has offices throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. It is a component of ...

G &

Streamlabs Streamlabs (formerly ''TwitchAlerts'') is a software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 2014 and distributes a variety of software centered around live streaming and content creation. History Strea ...

, returned in 2023 in a pre-recorded format from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The ceremony was broadcast on Twitch and IGN with over 525,000 watching live. The whole campaign reached over 1.5 million people and achieved press coverage in

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. ''VentureBeat'' is a tech news source that publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. The ''VentureBeat'' company was fou ...

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...

and more. The full list of winners of the Gayming Awards 2023 are as follows: * Game of the Year: ''

Cult of the Lamb ''Cult of the Lamb'' is a 2022 roguelite, roguelike video game developed by Australian studio Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 11 August 2022, for macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation ...

'' * Gayming Icon Award:

Ashly Burch Ashly Burch (born June 19, 1990) is an American actress, writer, director, and singer. She is known for her roles as Aloy in the ''Horizon (video game series), Horizon'' series, Chloe Price in the ''Life Is Strange (video game), Life Is Strange ...

* Gayming Magazine Readers' Award: '' Stray'' * Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award: '' Wylde Flowers'' * Industry Diversity Award: GLITCH * LGBTQ Streamer of the Year: DragTrashly * Best LGBTQ Character Award: Lor, '' New Tales from the Borderlands'' * Authentic Representation Award: '' I Was a Teenage Exocolonist'' * LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star Class of '23: BetweenTwoGays (Jayce & Ryan), Blobarella, itsOnlyVega, MadiDuVernay, Marisol Lords, TheJustRyan * Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports:

XSET XSET is an American professional gaming and lifestyle media brand based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 2020 by Greg Selkoe, Marco Mereu, Clinton Sparks, and Wil Eddins. History XSET was launched on July 16, 2020, by a group of for ...

* LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award: ''Adventuring with Pride – A Queero’s Journey'' * Best LGBTQ Comic Book Moment: Young Men in Love – A Wave Blue World The 2023 Awards were sponsored by

Facebook Gaming Facebook Gaming is Facebook's gaming-focused live streaming service. Facebook launched it officially on June 1, 2018 as a tab on the Facebook app and a standalone app. The service became successful in Southeast Asia and has produced internet ce ...

Devolver Digital Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wil ...

Rocksteady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and CO ...

, RedBull,

Sumo Group Sumo Group Limited is a British video game holding company based in Sheffield. It was formed in December 2017 as the parent company for Sumo Digital and Atomhawk, followed by its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange later that m ...

, Keywords Studios and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

Gayming Awards 2024

The Gayming Awards returned in 2024 in a new pre-recorded virtual format broadcast on

as part of their Summer of Gaming, alongside live broadcasts on

and

. The 2024 Awards saw a 200% increase in viewership with over 1.6 million people watching live or through TikTok clips. The whole campaign reached over 13 million people from around the world and achieved press coverage in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

and more. The show was hosted by DEERE and MiladyConfetti, and produced by Nathan Noyes and Ian Devoglaer ('' The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula''). In addition to the main broadcast, there was also a Spanish language co-stream on TikTok and a captioned stream on YouTube, both greatly increasing the accessibility of the Gayming Awards. The full list of winners of the Gayming Awards 2024 are as follows: * Game of the Year: ''

Baldur's Gate 3 ''Baldur's Gate 3'' is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment of the ''Baldur's Gate'' series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. A partial ...

'' * Gayming Icon Award: '' Jeremy Crawford'' * Gayming Magazine Readers' Award: ''

'' * Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award: '' Thirsty Suitors'' * Industry Diversity Award: ''Latinx in Gaming'' * LGBTQ Streamer of the Year: ''SpringSims'' * Best LGBTQ Character Award: '' Shadowheart, Baldur's Gate 3'' * Authentic Representation Award: '' Thirsty Suitors'' * LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star Class of '24: ''DEVOGLAER, PearlTeese, SimplyAretha, Sinarynn & Sukar Baba'' * Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports: ''Emma 'Emzii' Rose'' * LGBTQ Geek Entertainment Moment of the Year Award: ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States ...

: Long, Long Time'' The 2024 Awards were sponsored by

, Humble Games and

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher known for its social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile an ...

Gayming Awards 2025

The Gayming Awards are set to return in 2025 for their fifth year on July 8, 2025. The Awards have been revealed to be broadcasting on the WOWPresentsPlus streaming service from World of Wonder, producers of the ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'' franchise. Organizers claim that this move to a global streaming platform is a big step in "establish ngthe Gayming Awards as a key cultural moment". Two new categories have been added: LGBTQ+ Voice Actor of the Year and Community Impact Award. In addition, the LGBTQ+ Streamer of the Year category has been renamed as the LGBTQ+ Content Creator of the Year category to recognize the growth in non-live streaming content creators and their contributions to queer gaming. The full 13 categories of the Gayming Awards 2025 are as follows: * Game of the Year Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Bioware / EA Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Capcom Fear the Spotlight – Cozy Game Pals / Blumhouse Games Life is Strange: Double Exposure – Deck Nine / Square Enix Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Intelligent Systems / Nintendo The Last of Us Part II Remastered – Naughty Dog / PlayStation * Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award Caravan SandWitch – Studio Plane Toast / Dear Villagers Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Bioware / EA Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Capcom Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Life is Strange: Double Exposure – Deck Nine / Square Enix The Last of Us Part II Remastered – Naughty Dog / PlayStation * Gayming Icon Award * Industry Diversity Award Blizzard Entertainment Code Coven Limit Break Rare * Community Impact Award Boston Gaymers Charlotte Gaymers Network NYC Gaymers QueerVox The*gamehers Stream for a Cause * Authentic Representation Award * Best LGBTQ+ Character Award Bazz – Concord – Firewalk Studios / PlayStation Micah-10 – Destiny 2: The Final Shape – Bungie / PlayStation Michelle – Sorry We’re Closed – à la mode games / Akupara Games Rook – Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Bioware / EA Venture – Overwatch 2 – Blizzard Entertainment Vivian – Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Intelligent Systems / Nintendo * Best LGBTQ+ Indie Game Award Beloved Rapture – Rapturous Studio / 2 Left Thumbs Caravan SandWitch – Studio Plane Toast / Dear Villagers Fear the Spotlight – Cozy Game Pals / Blumhouse Games Kitsune Tails – Kitsune Games / Midboss Sorry We’re Closed – à la mode games / Akupara Games Tavern Talk – Gentle Troll Entertainment * LGBTQ+ Voice Actor of the Year Award Ciarán Strange Erika Ishii JP Karliak Katie Cofield Kieran Regan Mila Jam * LGBTQ+ Content Creator of the Year Award ChiChi Ctrlaltquin DataDave GaymerONE1 Halfmoonjoe Juice Boxx Negaoryx PearlTeese * LGBTQ+ Streamer Rising Star Class Bailey McCann Queer Women of Esports SonicFox Steve Arhancet * Best LGBTQ+ Contribution to Esports Award * LGBTQ+ Geek Entertainment of the Year Award Agatha All Along – Marvel Studios Arcane: Season 2 – Netflix Hazbin Hotel – SpindleHorse Toons / Amazon Studios Heartstopper – Netflix Interview with the Vampire: Season 2 – AMC The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Dead by Daylight – Shudder The launch of the 2025 Awards was the biggest one yet with major press coverage in Pride.com,

Yahoo Tech Yahoo! Tech is a technology news web site operated by Yahoo!. Former Yahoo! Tech The site, which was the first new product from the Santa Monica, California-based Yahoo! Media Group, featured a selection of original, licensed, and user-generated ...

Bleeding Cool ''Bleeding Cool'' is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by Avatar Press, it was launched by Rich Johnston in 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, also called ''B ...

Los Angeles Blade The ''Los Angeles Blade'' is an LGBT+ newspaper launched in 2017 as an offshoot of the ''Washington Blade''. The newspaper covers news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment in the Los Angeles area, and includes some national and internat ...

and more.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2019 establishments in the United Kingdom LGBTQ and video games LGBTQ portrayals in mass media LGBTQ-related magazines published in the United Kingdom LGBTQ-related websites Magazines established in 2019 Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game websites