GaymerX is an American

501c3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501 ...

non-profit dedicated to celebrating and supporting LGBTQ+ people and culture in the world of gaming, with a focus on video games. GaymerX puts on a fan-facing convention with

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

-oriented

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

and geek culture, or

gaymer Gaymer and gay gamer are umbrella terms used to refer to the group of people who are identified as homosexual and have an active interest in video games or tabletop games, also known as gamers. Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender gamers are o ...

, with panels primarily focused on LGBT issues and debates in the gaming industry.

History

GaymerX was founded in August 2013 by

Matt Conn Matt Conn (born 1987 in San Francisco, California) is the founder and former CEO of MidBoss. He is known for the creation of GaymerX, the cyberpunk story adventure game '' Read Only Memories'', and producing the LGBTQ video game documentary ''Gam ...

and Toni Rocca as part of

MidBoss MidBoss is an American video game and media production company that was founded by members of the GaymerX team as they expanded beyond GaymerX into other ventures, specifically '' Gaming in Color'' and '' 2064: Read Only Memories''. On March 26, ...

. The goal was to establish a space for those who felt larger gaming conventions like E3 were unwelcoming places for

gamers. The first instance of GaymerX was financed through a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, and occurred on August 3 and 4, 2013 in

San Francisco, CA San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Organizers have said the event is about uniting gay gamers, not creating a division among gamers, as they want to create a "safe place" for

gamers. The planned convention began with significant news coverage of its initial

launch, but the event achieved more widespread attention after the anti-gay

Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a small American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. Labeled a hate group, WBC is known for engaging in homophobic and anti-American pickets, as ...

, known widely as a

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...

that pickets espousing homophobic statements, announced that they would protest the convention. GaymerX began with a Kickstarter project launched on August 1, 2012, which was covered by sites such as

Examiner Examiner or The Examiner may refer to: Occupations * Bank examiner, a kind of auditor * Examiner (Roman Catholicism), a type of office in the Roman Catholic Church * Examinership, a concept in Irish law * Medical examiner * Patent examiner * Tr ...

and

GamePolitics.com GamePolitics.com was a blog which covered the politics of computer and video games. GamePolitics was launched by freelance journalist Dennis McCauley in March 2005. At the time, McCauley was the video game columnist for ''The Philadelphia Inqui ...

. The convention raised over $14,000 in its first two days, exceeded its goal of $25,000 as early as August 6, and ended with over $90,000. Throughout the fundraising campaign, organizers added new support levels, in addition to existing support levels that include admission to the event and voice acting from

Ellen McLain Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''Portal'' video game series, the Combine Overwatch in ''Half-Life 2'', and the Administrator, the an ...

. At a session during the convention, McLain took part as assistant to a

marriage proposal A marriage proposal is an event where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement, a mutual promise of later marriage. It often has a ritual quality. Traditional prop ...

to help an attendee propose to his boyfriend by voicing a version of the song

Still Alive "Still Alive" is a song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game ''Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and subject of the song, GLaDOS. ...

with reworked lyrics. GaymerX2 was held at the InterContinental Hotel between July 11–13, 2014 in downtown San Francisco. It featured

Darren Young Frederick Douglas Rosser III (born November 2, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current Strong Openweight Champion in his first reign. He is best known for his ...

, the first openly gay wrestler in the WWE, who revealed that he would be a playable character in the upcoming

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

2K15. In July 2017 Gaymerx officially incorporated as a

non profit. Separating it from MidBoss. At this time a board of directors was formed consisting of consists of Raymond Lancione,

Tanya DePass Tanya DePass, 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 up in a poo ...

, Brian Kunde, Soraya Een Hajji, Steven Harmon, and Eugenio Vargas. and

was replaced by Toni Rocca as executive director. In 2018

was accused of labor rights violations. While Matt was had not been affiliated with GaymerX since the organization split from Midboss the previous year, he was the head of MidBoss, which had been a major sponsor of past events. In response GaymerX announced they were cutting all ties with

, and would no longer allow them to sponsor future events. Although shortly afterwards Matt resigned from MidBoss, the two organizations have had not had any further relationship. In April 2018 GaymerX named a new Executive Director: Katie Kaitchuck (Replacing Toni) Since her appointment of the organization they have launched a new scholarship program to help

developers get into the industry. In January GaymerX East 2019 was announced planned to take place on April 27 & 28 at the Microsoft Conference Center in Times Square. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that GaymerX East 2019 had been cancelled.

Events

GXDev: Everyone Creates

GXDev: Everyone Creates, was a

game jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...

and hackathon that happened over January 9 through 11th in 2015 and featured over 40 developers who produced over 10 games featuring queer content and themes, including one about "dating butts", and one about polyamory.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://gaymerx.org/
GaymerX on Twitter
Annual events in California Gaming conventions Kickstarter projects LGBT and video games LGBT culture in San Francisco LGBT events in the United States Recurring events established in 2013 San Francisco Bay Area conventions Video gaming in the United States 2013 establishments in California

History

Events

GXDev: Everyone Creates

See also

References

External links