Queering space: LGBTQ* gaming as a form of resistance and community development

This paper will be looking at the influences of the creation of LGBTQ gaymer groups in the gaming world and within the LGBTQ communities itself. Through queering space and community development theory lenses, I look at how gaming that is dominantly viewed as being a straight, white, able bodied and a male space can be queered by the inclusion of LGBTQ players/gaymers. Using a critical ethnographic method through interviewing gaymer group leaders, I will explore how gaymer groups have had an impact on combating the harassment experienced by LGBTQ players/gaymers and how these groups have created their own communities that act as a form of queering up space and resistance to homophobia.