June is Pride Month, a good time to learn about and support the LGBTQ+ runners in your community. Let's celebrate Pride together.

Runners come in all sizes, speeds, stripes, and identities, and while we've come a long way in diversity and inclusion, there are still ways to improve. With Pride Month upon us, now is a good time to learn, grow, and celebrate pride.

Forming a welcoming space in the sport

Before we can look forward, however, it's important to reflect back. Running, like many sports, has for decades been the domain of straight, white men. They held the majority on race start lines, in advertisements, and in running clubs. But in the 1970s, that picture began to change as the first Front Runners running club came together in San Francisco. An LGBTQ+ club, the members met to run, socialize, and simply have a welcoming place in the sport.

Following closely on that club's heels was the New York City chapter. Gilbert Gaona is the current president of the Front Runners of New York. "Being gay in general wasn't easy in that era," he says. "If you were out as a runner, you were an outcast."

Gaona says that races often weren't welcoming environments to the LGBTQ+ community, even as late as the 1990s. "I've heard stories of people subtly throwing elbows in races, or working really hard to make sure the 'gay guy' didn't beat them," he says.

But slowly, as society has edged toward more inclusiveness, so too has the running community. "Visibility has helped," says Gaona. "There are now elite runners who identify as LGBTQ+, and this gives kids someone to look up to."

Today, there are more than 100 Front Runners clubs around the world, with about half of them in the United States. The New York City chapter has over 900 members, and like many other chapters, sponsors an annual Pride Run, typically a 5K that celebrates pride in a festive, welcoming environment.

Brooks Running recognizes the value that Front Runners clubs bring to the table and, for that reason, has partnered with International Front Runners to promote diversity and inclusion in the sport in cities worldwide. Examples of this collaboration have included hosting membership drives and community fun runs, organizing local events, and more.

Brooks continues to donate to the International Front Runners, who oversee and distribute funds and gear to local chapters. We also have a relationship with the local Seattle chapter and have invited them to walk alongside us at the Seattle Pride parade.