June is LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) month in the US and elsewhere, and Blizzard recognized it with the gayest wallpaper that they have ever released. More importantly, it means that there are going to be lots of gay pride events around the world, including in the World of Warcraft!
Proudmoore Pride has been held every year since WoW’s launch and has been primarily run by The Spreading Taint family of guilds. This year, it will be on June 19th at noon PST. Many, many LGBT-friendly guilds and players take part in Proudmoore Pride from both factions. While I don’t know an exact number, it was easily over 500 last year, perhaps upwards of a thousand, and it has grown extremely quickly year to year, likely faster than the growth of the WoW player base. The Spreading Taint family of guilds alone reports 4,658 unique members have at some point been recorded in one of the guilds over some 12,000 characters. Even if you are not interested in the parade itself, it’s still quite an event to witness this many players in one place.
Players not currently in a guild on the US Proudmoore realm, or who would like to network with the The Spreading Taint on Horde or Stonewall Family on Alliance, can join a temporary guild connected to the other guilds’ chat. Both The Spreading Taint and Stonewall Family are already comprised of several guilds, so visitors fit right it. There are lots of guilds that participate, both Proudmoore and guest guilds from other servers, so if you are looking for an LGBT friendly guild, the parade is a great place to get to know people. The Alliance players start in Theramore and march toward Camp Taurajo, where they meet up with Horde players to march toward Ratchet to take the boat to Booty Bay for a party. If you’ve ever wanted to see a time when Dalaran is empty and you may disconnect from lag in Booty Bay, this may be your only opportunity.
Some players organize to create “floats” before hand, which are groups of players coordinated in outfits and routine to march in a group. There are contests and prizes for creative floats. To help you get the idea, check out this video from last year’s parade:
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the battle-bot float mayhem or the “>8< spider pride” army coming over the hill. If you and your guild or friends would like to make a float for this years’ parade, you can register it on the Proudmoore Pride website.
There will be an internet radio station broadcasting during the pride playing music and making announcements. If you want to send a shout-out to pride participants, you can submit a recorded message.
Oh, and if you are curious about griefers and PvP at the event: PvP is strongly discouraged. Proudmoore is a PvE realm, so the only players that may be forced to be flagged are Alliance players walking through the Barrens. However, with the hundreds to thousands of players participating in the event, any inevitable griefers have very little impact, and dozens of players from both factions run “security” to deal with any problems or accidents.
There will be lots of people available to help anyone with questions on the day of the parade. New characters can be summoned in and take part, so don’t be shy if you are interested in coming!
Check out proudmoorepride.com for more information and videos from past events and check out taint.rtgc.org and thestonewallfamily.com for information on permanently joining the guilds!
I had forgotten about this event. I’m glad they’re continuing their tradition.
Wow. Never in all my time playing WoW have I EVER seen that many people gathered in one place. For any reason. (I came in just barely pre-wrath, so missed things like Ahn-Qiraj.)
It makes me sad to know that a PvE realm has a better community than the RP realm I play on. In fact, I’ll tell them about this! This is how RP events should be! None of this “let’s gather in this out-of-the-way inn that few people go to during off-peak hours and RP with our small group of interested people.”
Awe, this touches the heart. Such dedication and community is rather a great thing to behold. I can’t really expand upon that since you’ve done a good job of it anyway. D:
I do have a general question that may not go answered right away. Was this the same event advertised through a series of spam on various LiveJournal communities last year? Like Dear_Gnome?