Cloud9 x Pride 2020

For Pride 2020, Cloud9 is working to be a better LGBTQIA+ ally. As a longtime brand and a platform in esports and the growing competitive gaming world, we want to uplift and empower underrepresented and marginalized groups in our space. We’ve been actively working with Amanda Stevens, as Cloud9’s Inclusivity Ambassador, to assess, challenge, and better our company’s involvement in Pride this year.

Amanda Stevens is a Black Queer and Trans woman who works in esports and the Fighting Game Community. In her efforts to bring more inclusivity and diversity to gaming spaces – Amanda works as an affiliate for AnyKey, a media trainer for XO Academy, and is a gaming ambassador for the Trans focused charity Trans Lifeline. Amanda also works as a diversity consultant in the space working with various orgs, like Cloud9, to help improve the space. You can support Amanda’s various projects in esports, like her FGC talk show The Neutral, by backing her Patreon.

Cloud9’s charitable giving focus for Pride 2020 will support the following organizations:

• LA LGBT Center
  • Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.
  • Los Angeles LGBT Center opened its Center South facilities in late January of this year, championing the long-term commitment to care for LGBTQIA+ people living throughout Los Angeles. This center focuses its initiatives on those most vulnerable for new HIV infections: young gay and bisexual Black and Latino men and transgender women of color. With additional funding from the County Department of Public Health, comprehensive programs and services will be provided at this center to provide safety, medical assistance, housing support and mental health resources. All of the Center South’s programs and services will be provided free or at low cost.
  • Learn more about LA LGBT Center:
    • How can you help?
    • Follow @lalgbtcenter on social media
• Trans Lifeline
  • Trans Lifeline is a trans-led organization that connects trans people to community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive.
  • Donations contribute directly to supporting services provided by Trans Lifeline. Every donation helps. $25 connects one trans person to the hotline. $110 provides peer support to one person to change their ID.
  • Learn more about Trans Lifeline:
    • How can you help?
    • Follow @TransLifeline on social media
• Ali Forney Center
  • The Ali Forney Center’s mission is to protect LGBTQ+ youth from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently.
  • The organization’s namesake, Ali Forney, was a gender-nonconforming teen who fled his home at 13 and experienced severe abuse and homelessness. Ali was dedicated to helping other young people and publicly advocated for the safety of homeless LGBT+ youth. In December of 1997, Ali was murdered in Harlem, New York. This organization, founded in memory of Ali, has grown to become the largest agency in the country dedicated to LGBT+ homeless youths.
    • How can you help?
    • Follow @AliForneyCenter on social media

Throughout the month of June, Cloud9 will work to uplift and empower the platforms of LGBTQIA+ and marginalized LGBTQIA+ creators. Keep an eye on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as the Cloud9 website, for more information and updates throughout June.