Fridays with Frankie, yes Frankie Grande, is once again here to deliver you conversations and kiki’s with some of your favorite Queer icons and allies — you’re welcome.
LISTEN NOW: Friday's with Frankie: Let the Gay Games Begin!
Let the LGBTQ games begin! This week Frankie dives into the hot new frontier of queer gaming, which as Frankie has discovered isn’t always all fun and games. Guests include, for his first-ever interview, Frankie's husband and top gamer, Hale Grande. Twitch partner, producer, and content creator Blizzb3ar, and CEO of Qweerty Gamers, Ray Lancione, plus the iconic RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Miss Peppermint.
When the topic is gaming and how it intersects with the LGBTQ community, Frankie couldn’t think of a better guest other than his professional Twitch streamer husband, Hale.
While the gay community comes in “all shapes and sizes,” as Frankie pointed out, “we’re not often associated with the gaming and the nerd community. Which is so surprising because we are such a big part of it.”
For Hale, who is currently partnered with LGBTQ-friendly gaming company Dead By Daylight, it is one of his “favorite parts about streaming, and what was so eye-opening about being who I am and putting it on the Internet.”
“I wasn’t expecting to find such a large community of like-minded individuals that enjoyed what I enjoyed. I honestly thought I was gonna have to like battle and fight my way into the straight man’s world… But no, there’s such a large, massive amount of amazing, weird, eccentric, lovable gamers out there that come in all shapes and sizes that just want to have a community to be a part of… and it’s opened my eyes to so much more love and acceptance within.”
While not all gaming companies aim to be as inclusive and “gay friendly” as Dead By Daylight, Hale said, “you do take what you can get at this point in the world, and it is what it is.”
Next to join Frankie to was streamer Blizzb3ar, who shared that he found gaming as a product of the pandemic.
“I was in the house bored, so I wanted to start streaming. Also because,” living in an area with not many Black or queer individuals, “I wanted to find that sense of community, and I found it through streaming.”
“I see these creators, I couldn’t find these Black queer creators out there until I actually joined Twitch and started seeing more people who look like me, identify similar to be. And it not only made me feel good but it validated the experiences that I was going through at the time.”
Most important to Blizzb3ar is creating a safe and inclusive community, which he has done, noting it’s been both a deliberate choice, but also naturally just came about.
“I wanted to create a place away from the fire that was the world, especially during the pandemic, and it’s still that place,” for anyone who’s had a bad day, he says, for them to join and know that their, ”vibes will just shoot up.”
But as Blizzb3ar revealed his streaming experience hasn’t always been all fun and games. Subjected to online bullying simply because he is a “Black bisexual male on the internet.” And while he takes the hate at face value and in return remains positive, he did note that while “Twitch is doing a lot of stuff with safety and privacy, if they intend to continue “to uplift these marginalized creators,” it’s important to make sure “that you are protecting them also at the same time.”
Qweerty CEO, Ray Lancione also joined Frankie to talk all about Qweerty and their mission of helping to make the streaming space safer for LGBTQ+ community, followed by a can't-miss conversation with the iconic Miss Peppermint who schools Frankie on "how to the play the game of life and win!”
To listen to the entirety of all these interesting conversations, press play on the episode above.
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