GAY GEEK GAYMERS CONNECT FOR GAYMERX
According to Miriam-Webster, a geek is defined as a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake (that means Ozzy Osbourne was a geek). Then there’s the more common definition, which is a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked; an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity.
M-W is not so kind to nerds either, defining a nerd as an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.
The way I always understood it, a geek is someone who collects stuff and junk like comic books, baseball cards, etc, and a nerd is someone who collects intellectual data about stuff and junk. If collecting stuff and junk is geeky, then we’re all guilty of geekiness to a certain degree. I for one used to go to great lengths to collect Madonna on a cover of a magazine, but I SWORE that shit was cool.
Whatever you may think about geeks and nerds, one thing is agreed: It doesn’t get geekier or nerdier than playing video games and attending gaming conventions where people dress up as gaming or comic book characters. Geeks and nerds everywhere are giving Miriam-Webster the middle finger and owning all things geeky and nerdy. Gamers are not only embracing their outer geek, but they’re also leaving the virtual world to meet like-minded geeks–however, it’s one thing to be a geeky gamer, but it’s an entirely different thing to be a gay geek gaymer. I reckon it sucks when you don’t feel accepted by hetero geeks for being gay, or by the some pockets of the gay community because you’re a geek.
Along comes GaymerX, the first gaming convention for gay geeks, nerds, freaks and their admirers. I interviewed Matt Conn, the founder for GaymerX for the most recent issue of The Fight Magazine, which you can read below. I find the gay geek element in gaming interesting–simply because the common ground goes beyond being gay; you can’t choose to be gay, but you can choose what games you play, how often you play and who you play with. You can also choose to play in drag, decked in leather, or in a bow tie, suspenders and polyester pants.
Anyway, read the interview. I know Matt is supposed to be a big geek, but dare I say that I found him kinda/sorta cool?
Luv,
Me
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The number one goal is to have a safe space for people part of this community to get together and meet one another and chat. I'm also hoping this will be a dialogue starting off point.
I'm hoping cosplay is big part of the convention. We're gonna have contests with celebrity judges. I'm hoping that people go all out. This is a chance for people to be fabulous, dress up and have fun. If you're into cosplay, this is the spot. There will be media attention.
I respect their right to say anything they want. That will bring press to our convention. I think it's important to realize that they are using us to get press for themselves. As long as we don't touch them or do anything illegal, it's fine. They make a whole career out of suing people. I expect it will be a show.
We will definitely have more security than required for the amount of people that are coming, not because of the Westboro Baptist Church, but because there could potentially be other issues; this is an LGBT gathering; it is the first of its kind in the gayming community and we want people to have fun and feel safe.
I hope this convention is something that everyone will value. It's tough to time travel, but I think it would make me feel better to understand that I wasn't a weirdo. Just because I was one of 2,000 in my school, I was actually one of hundreds of thousands in the world. Knowing that would've been so much more empowering and made me feel so much less alone.
