Members of the Orlando Gayming League with members of the Charlette Gaymer Network at the Anime Festival Orlando in June. (Photo by Luis Xavier De Peña)
ORLANDO | What began as a meet-up group at the LGBT+ Center Orlando has taken a step forward in the new year. As of December 2024, the Orlando Gayming League officially became a 501(c)(3), a nonprofit group organized and operated exclusively for charitable or other specified purposes. With the newly obtained status, the group now operates independently as an established organization.
Orlando Gayming League President Johan Colon-Sanchez and members of the board plan to grow throughout 2025.
Founded by Derrick Cuomo-Lombardi in January 2024, the Orlando Gayming League is a group of LGBTQ+ gamers that play a variety of video games as well as tabletop and card games. Its mission is to empower people, embrace inclusivity, build lifelong connections and inspire positive change in their community through the power of gaming. Colon-Sanchez vocalized that those who serve on the board, including himself, are committed to this mission and understand what they are trying to accomplish.
“Towards the end of the year, we decided the best way to grow is to make this stand out on its own and become independent. That gives us the ability to have our own mission,” Colon-Sanchez says.
The Orlando Gayming League has set its sights on increasing community engagement. They plan to host monthly events, which started in January with its first “REVIVAL,” the name chosen to represent a new beginning for the organization. Here, gamers within the LGBTQ+ community can come together and share their common interests.
“REVIVAL” will be at the new RīZōM Experience at Zymarium Meadery in Orlando Jan. 11, from 1-5 p.m. The event is suited for adults 18 and up. Zymarium Meadery becomes 21 and up after 6 p.m.
“We’d like to become a very large community that always has something going on. If there’s a gamer, there’s always somewhere to go with people to see and people to talk to. You don’t have to wait a whole month just to see your people again,” says Colon-Sanchez.
Aside from community engagement, the Orlando Gayming League plans to provide outreach services beyond the LGBTQ+ community. The group takes inspiration from another 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Charlotte Gaymers Network, and their initiative called Project Blue Shell. This project collaborates with local schools to help raise funds for school supplies and students can earn games or systems.
“What we envisioned for the foreseeable future is that we’re going to get more into the charity and philanthropic side of gaming. And one of the key issues that we would like to address is making gaming more accessible to disenfranchised or lower-income schools and students,” says Colon-Sanchez.
Colon-Sanchez assures that the Orlando Gayming League understands the importance of representation in the modern day. In recent years, video games such as “Baldur’s Gate 3” and “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” have included options in their character customization menu from choosing your pronouns to identifying as transgender. The organization adopts a leadership role of representing the LGBTQ+ community in a positive light.
“I think we as a community of gamers have a responsibility to be at the forefront of inclusivity and cultural diversity because those things are important. It’s not a matter of pushing an agenda, it’s a matter of having video games that reflect society as a whole,” Colon-Sanchez says.
People who are interested in the Orlando Gayming League can visit their Discord channel at tinyurl.com/ogldiscord. This channel is made up of community members with shared interests and diverse sexualities. Information about the organization and upcoming events can be found on their Facebook and Instagram pages by searching Orlando Gayming League.
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