Get ready to flood Watopia with colorful Pride Ons – Zwift has announced its fourth year partnering with Athlete Ally to hold a series of Pride events for the month of June and beyond. The goal of the events is simple: to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community on Zwift. “2022 is bolder, the music is a little louder, and we’re moving forward—together.”
See the schedule of events at zwift.com/prideon
Pride On Design
This year four different designs were created by a designer in Zwift’s internal Employee Resource Group (ERG), the Priders. The inspiration for her Pride On design comes from the theme of “rainbows and sunshine.”
From there, all four designs were voted on by the entire Prider ERG, with the favorite design selected and placed in-game as the 2022 Pride On design.
Pride On Events
Zwift holds Pride On events throughout the year, but they will be especially prominent on the calendar during the month of June. Social-paced rides and runs will take place every day of the week, with time slots available across multiple time zones.
See the group ride and run schedule at zwift.com/prideon
Special AIDS/LifeCycle Events
June 5th, 9th and 11th are special days dedicated to AIDS/LifeCycle events (see schedule here). These rides honor the 1.2 million people living with HIV and support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Kit Unlocks
One Pride On ride or run completion will unlock the 2022 Pride On kit and socks. There are separate kits for runners and riders.
Questions or Comments?
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The socks are amazing. Do it for love, do it for socks! I’m never washing these socks.
People have the right to their sexuality. All people are equally worthy. A person’s sexuality is personal choice. However, I don’t think this is appropriate for a cycling training app. I have no hate and treat everyone the exact same way.
It’s got nothing to do with Zwift being a cycling app. My employer also shows its support for Pride at this time of year, as do many brands with public profiles or which aspire to be part of a community, even that is only a community of its employees and customers. As a white heterosexual male I am all too well aware that there are things that I take for granted because I “fit in” in most walks of life, and that many people in minority groups can feel excluded by comparison because the world is generally geared towards those of us who are in the majority. I am very pleased to demonstrate that those minority groups are not excluded, are not ignored and are important. We all benefit if all groups feel included and become part of the community, rather than drift off to somewhere else that does make them feel welcome. It’s not enough for me to say that I don’t discriminate – the person who is in the minority needs to hear and see that I don’t. Only then do they feel included in the way that they should.
Zwift is no different. Sexuality is irrelevant on Zwift but gender is overt and when the rest of the business world is taking steps at this time of year to say “we embrace and welcome LBGTQIA+”, it would feel odd if Zwift remained silent.
Don’t join those events if you don’t want to, but I am pleased that Zwift does this as a way of overtly showing its values to the people that deserve to hear it.
We can encourage diversity by just accepting one another and by working on being a good person, rather than continual “promotion”. Sane people accept and welcome diversity because it makes life interesting. People are different and we can celebrate differences. However, we don’t need to outline the differences regularly in promotions. If every month there are categorizations of people by race, ethnicity, sexual preference etc, it promotes differences as being important; and certain people belonging to certain groups. There are particular differences that make people interesting and mutual understanding can advance how we think. However, our differences do not encompass who we are. They do not define us. This is a mistake. We should focus more on what makes everyone the same as human beings instead. That’s what leads to compassion and kindness.
It’s a wonderful thought that there are no differences. Unfortunately members of the LGBTQIA+ community are treated differently under the law. There are no federal non-discrimation laws in the US and many other countries which means that members of the community can be denied accommodations or be fired just for being who they are.
Adoption rights and marriage equality are under constant threat of being weakened and overturned- something members of other communities never have to worry about. And members of the LGBTQIA+ have historically been made to feel excluded from sports by hurtful name calling and lack of representation.
I understand where you’re coming from and respect your point of view. I just want to express that as a gay athlete this type of visibility is important to me and makes me feel welcome.
It’s true that some companies engage in “Pride washing” (eg, making rainbow logos while donating to homophobic politicians) but rides in Zwift actually help support the community. That support has real benefits for people who suffer from rampant discrimination, and if you join the rides you can experience that for yourself.
I’d like to add that it is not just Zwift. There is a bunch of volunteers who organizes and leads the Pride Rides during June and all over the year to provide a welcoming atmosphere for all those Rainbow Zwifters out there. Some of them coming from countries where they are still forced to hide who they really are.