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Tyria Pride 2020!


Lelling.6795

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It's been a weird year! Many of us are stuck at home, missing our communities. Many pride events around the world are being cancelled. But luckily, there's no social distancing in GW2, so

Tyria Pride 2020 is coming!

Tyria Pride is an in-game march through Tyria, aimed at showing support for our LGBTQ+ friends & guildies, and raising funds for Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit organisation that helps LGBTQ individuals escape persecution and violence!

Just like the years before, both NA & EU will be travelling on the same routes on the same day, and raising funds for Rainbow Railroad, a charity which helps LGBTQ people around the world escape state violence and persecution.

Citizens of Tyria!

You are invited to join us in celebrating Tyria Pride 2020 this June 27th and 28th, at 16:00 CEST on EU and 4 PM CDT on NA on both days!

We march primarily to show our support for gender and sexual minority players, some of which have found Guild Wars 2 to be one of a few safe places to simply be themselves and get away from the hardships they face in the outside world.

In other words, we march to spread the message of positivity, acceptance and love!

Allies and proponents of equality for all are especially welcome to attend, as are those who are members of LGBTQIA+ communities!

In addition to having fun in-game, we also want to make a positive impact in the world by supporting a fundraiser! For the third year in a row, we are teaming up with Gamers Giving Back, who is leading the organisation on the NA side, and together we are raising funds for Rainbow Railroad, a charity focused on providing support to LGBTQ individuals seeking a safe haven from countries where their lives are at risk for simply being who they are.

When do we meet?

The events start at 16:00 CEST [EU] / 4 PM CDT [NA], but you can also hop in early ^^

Commanders & organizers will begin gathering an hour earlier, so you should already be able to reach us one hour in advance. You can contact us in-game, our contact information is at the bottom of the post! We're also setting up a brand new (and I mean that literally, I am setting it up in another tab as I write this announcement) Tyria Pride organisation discord so that it's easier for people who are not part of any guild or community to receive info and notifications about the event and get involved!

Where do we meet?

  • Day 1: Ebonhawke! If you don't have explored yet, do not worry! You can reach Ebonhawke through a portal in Divinity's Reach, so we will also have a commander showing people the way through DR if needed.
  • Day 2: Lion's Arch!

How do we get on the same instance of the map?

There will be LFGs, and you can also squadjoin directly on the organisers. If you get confused, whisper either of the two contacts listed at the bottom of this post, or any other organiser / assistant. We'll be adding a more complete list of volunteers to this post later.

Note: Please don't open LFGs for Tyria Pride unless you are an organiser - if you're looking for a map, join a group in LFG, rather than opening one.

What do I bring?

You don't have to bring anything! But, party boxes, kites, transformations, fireworks, and other fun things of all kinds are of course welcome! If you wish to dye your armor in the traditional pride flag colours, that's also a fun way to express support!

Fundraiser

But wait! We're not just talking the talk, we're also walking the walk, and we want to create actual change and improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people worldwide, so we are running a fundraiser for Rainbow Railroad, an organisation focused on helping LGBTQ+ individuals escape persecution and violence. You can find the fundraiser at justgiving.com/tyriapride2020.

However, this year, in support of the protests against police violence in America and around the world, we are only fundraising for half the usual amount. Instead, we would like to encourage people to donate to funds which benefit protesters as well as queer racial minorities. Police violence was the reason for the very first Pride March, the Stonewall Riots. We cannot honor the legacy of the many black trans women and other queer POC who played a key role in LGBT Pride becoming what it is while simultaneously ignoring the systemic racism in so many of our communities.

There are hundreds of causes and funds that we could highlight here! To keep this from being a list of hundreds of LGBTQ+/racial justice organisations, we chose to highlight 3 different funds / organisations, which would greatly benefit from your support.

  • This website allows you to split your donation among 70+ bail funds, racial justice organizers and mutual aid funds.
  • SNaPCo: Builds power of Black trans and queer people to force systemic divestment from the prison industrial complex and invest in community support. 
  • LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund: Posts bail for LGBTQ people held in jail or immigrant detention and raises awareness of the epidemic of LGBTQ overincarceration.

Please check them out!

How can I support the event?

Spread the word! Tell your friends and guildies! For easy sharing of information, you can share this promo image!

You can also support the event in-game - last year, we raffled off two legendaries to people who supported the fundraiser. If you want to help us give out cool prizes this year, you can donate in-game! If you can spare anything, even just a couple ectos, it'll really help! Please send your donations to Lelling.6795 with the subject "Tyria Pride Donation"!

Who can I contact for more info?

  • Lelling.6795 [EU]
  • AngelWriter.3652 [NA]

We've also newly created two other places where you can get in touch with Tyria Pride stuff more easily:

  • Tyria Pride discord
  • Tyria Pride guild (contact Lelling.6795 for an invite) - this guild has no representation or activity requirement, it is simply used as a contact list for informing members about Tyria Pride.

If you would like to help organize this event, please let me know by contacting me in-game, on the forums, or by replying to this thread!

Please be aware that we are marching in the name of unity and acceptance. Any attacks or discrimination against anyone, whether based on religion, sexuality, race, specific minorities, ethnic groups, religions, etc. are not welcome at this event.

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Beautiful video! Are there any route maps available? Curious because of making sure the toon I dress up for the event is an appropriate level for the territory we walk through. Or possibly needing to unlock or buy waypoints beforehand. (I get lost a lot. And the toon I brought last year kept 'finding trouble').Would be lovely if anet could sell us a Fun Pride Recipe like: Tray of Rainbow Cake for the community spirit festivities (but with Happy Stats- no more killing) :)Nourishment (20 m): +40 Vitality, or gain Toughness upon healing/rezzing an ally, + 20% Healing, + 15% Karma, etc

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@"procyon.2593" said:Just fabulous. I shall be habilled in the best ballgown I usually go a-mesmering through Tyria in. Along with a number 1 shaved stubble cut of course. One must be à la mode at these receptions n'est-ce-pas?

I must confess it took me a while to read "number 1 shaved stubble cut" as my brain kept interpreting that as some other phrase that rhymes with "stubble cut".

@"Zoerbet.6098" said:Beautiful video! Are there any route maps available? Curious because of making sure the toon I dress up for the event is an appropriate level for the territory we walk through. Or possibly needing to unlock or buy waypoints beforehand. (I get lost a lot. And the toon I brought last year kept 'finding trouble').

Here is the route map: http://www.theopencommunity.org/images/extras/TyriaPride_Path.jpg

We usually don't distribute the route maps too much, since, even if you know the correct route, you still have to stick with a volunteer in order to get on the same map as everyone else, and depending on the time, organisers may choose to take a detour or shortcut. We used to put out the route map with timestamps of approximately when we'll be in which map, but because there are so many variables, we gave up on that :tongue:

Each time we change maps, people get scattered across many instances, and each instance can only take around 160 people and we usually have a lot more people attending, so sticking with the volunteers is important - it both makes it easier for organisers to determine how many instances we should take, and makes it easier for attendees to stay with the group and participate in the organised portion of the event rather than just walk the path, which is only a small part of the event.

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I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who organised this. It was my first time doing it, and my first Pride parade, and it was a great experience from start to finish.

You did a really good job finding a long route with surprisingly little combat, even when events started up nearby. It was a great atmosphere throughout and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. We even got great reactions from the people we surprised along the way who had no idea the event was going on. (Although one guy was disappointed to learn that lots of commander tags together doesn't always mean an event with lots of loot!)

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