When the FIFA World Cup 2026 comes to North America, it’s bringing something the world hasn’t seen in nearly three decades: a summer global sporting spectacle on U.S. soil, touching 11 host cities from coast to coast. And in Seattle — where one of those matches lands squarely in the middle of Pride Weekend — something remarkable is already happening.
On May 19, 2025, the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee launched “Welcome to Seattle. This Is How We Pride” — a multi-platform storytelling campaign that should be required reading for every FIFA host city still figuring out how to welcome LGBTQ+ fans, travelers, players, and residents to the most-watched sporting event on the planet.
LINK: https://www.seattlefwc26.org/how-we-pride
We’re covering it here on #ILoveGay because this is exactly the kind of campaign the sports world needs more of — and because Seattle just gave the rest of the host cities a masterclass they’d be wise to study before their own matches kick off.
“I Pride By…” — Community Storytelling at Scale
The campaign, developed by Michi Suzuki PR and Lisa Willis Creative (with filmmakers Maggie & Lacy Kirkland behind the camera), is built around a deceptively simple prompt: “I Pride by…”
More than 50 community leaders responded on video — and the range of voices tells you everything about why this campaign works. We’re talking about Megan Rapinoe, the two-time World Cup champion who has spent her career putting LGBTQ+ inclusion front and center on the world stage. Jordan Eberle, NHL player and Seattle Kraken star. Annette Bryan, a Puyallup Tribal Councilmember, whose presence reminds us that LGBTQ+ identity and Indigenous identity have always been intertwined in this region — and deserve to be honored together.
The result: a suite of 12+ video assets now live across platforms, anchored by the hashtag #HowWePride. A full brand toolkit — graphics, frames, assets — is available for organizations and individuals to download, share, and amplify. The campaign launch event was held May 18 at a queer-owned bar in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, featuring Orgullo Ajeno (a Latina lesbian-owned tequila brand) and a special Pride Match Day IPA from Stoup Brewing. This is how you do community activation: with craft, with heart, and with the actual community in the room.
Why This Campaign Works — and Why It Matters
Let’s be direct about what SeattleFWC26 got right, because it’s not an accident.
First: timing is everything. The campaign launched during Pride Month, tied to a match that falls on Pride Weekend. That’s not a coincidence — it’s strategy. When you align a global sports moment with a community moment that’s already built into the cultural calendar, you’re not hijacking Pride, you’re amplifying it. You’re saying: these things belong together.
Second: the storytelling is community-led, not brand-led. “I Pride by…” is an open prompt. It doesn’t tell you what Pride means. It asks the community to define it — and then it gets out of the way. Rapinoe’s answer is different from Bryan’s answer is different from a local drag artist’s answer is different from a queer soccer fan’s answer. That’s the point. Real LGBTQ+ storytelling is plural, specific, and personal — not a single rainbow-colored message pushed down from a marketing committee.
Third: the infrastructure is shareable. The brand toolkit, the #HowWePride hashtag, the video assets — these are designed to be picked up and carried forward by the community itself. That’s smart. It’s what we at Pink Media have always called Content as Advertising: start with a genuine story, give people the tools to share it, and let organic amplification do the heavy lifting. The campaign lives beyond the launch event because the community is the distribution channel.
Fourth: the intersectionality is intentional. A Puyallup Tribal Councilmember on camera isn’t a checkbox. It’s a recognition that Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it exists within a specific city, on specific land, with a specific history. Indigenous Two-Spirit people have been part of this region’s LGBTQ+ story for far longer than any Pride parade. Honoring that is both the right thing to do and the kind of authentic detail that makes a campaign resonate beyond the press release.
The Bigger Picture: Sports + LGBTQ+ Is a Once-in-a-Generation Moment
Here at #ILoveGay, the intersection of sports and the LGBTQ+ community is one of our most consistent content goldmines — and for good reason. The visibility of out athletes has grown exponentially over the past decade. LGBTQ+ fans are among the most loyal and passionate in sports. And the global reach of events like the FIFA World Cup creates a stage unlike anything else in the cultural calendar.
FIFA World Cup 2026 is going to be the largest World Cup in history — 48 nations, 104 matches, 16 host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the U.S., matches will be held in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Kansas City, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco/Bay Area — and Seattle.
Every single one of those cities has an LGBTQ+ community. Every single one of those cities has queer sports fans who are going to show up for these matches. And every single one of those Local Organizing Committees is currently figuring out how to put their best foot forward on a global stage.
Seattle just showed them exactly how to do it.
What Other Host Cities Should Be Doing Right Now
The question isn’t whether to engage the LGBTQ+ community around World Cup 2026. The question is whether your city does it with intention — or whether it shows up as an afterthought. Here’s what the SeattleFWC26 playbook suggests every host city organizing committee should be asking themselves:
Does your city have a Pride calendar conflict — or opportunity? Seattle’s match lands on Pride Weekend. That’s not a problem; it’s a gift. Know when your match is, know what’s happening in your LGBTQ+ community that week, and build around it rather than ignoring it.
Who are the LGBTQ+ community voices in your city? Not the obvious spokesperson. The queer bar owner. The trans athlete. The nonprofit director. The drag performer who’s been in this city for 30 years. Find them, give them a prompt, and get out of their way.
Do you have a shareable infrastructure? A hashtag, a toolkit, downloadable assets — these things cost relatively little and multiply the reach of your campaign exponentially. Don’t launch a campaign that ends at the press release.
Are you engaging year-round — or just for the match? LGBTQ+ audiences can tell the difference between a city that genuinely welcomes them and a city that slapped a rainbow on a stadium banner for three weeks. The campaign that works is the one that starts now, builds through Pride Month, and carries forward through the tournament.
The Pink Media Angle: How We Can Help
We’ll be transparent here, because that’s how we do things at Pink Media: we’re not just covering this campaign as a case study. We’re covering it because it illustrates exactly what we help brands, destinations, and organizations do every single day — and what we’re ready to do with World Cup host cities right now.
The #ILoveGay Content Marketing Ad Network reaches over 17 million LGBTQ+ impressions per month across display advertising, social media, email (250,000 recipients), mobile apps including Grindr and Sniffies, and connected TV. We’ve spent 30 years building relationships with the LGBTQ+ community online — not as a vendor shouting from the outside, but as a genuine part of the community’s digital infrastructure.
If you’re a Local Organizing Committee in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Kansas City, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, or San Francisco and you’re thinking about how to reach LGBTQ+ fans, travelers, and community members before and during World Cup 2026 — we’d love to talk. Content as Advertising. Authentic storytelling. Targeted LGBTQ+ reach across every relevant digital channel. That’s what we do, 24/7, 365 days per year — and World Cup 2026 is the moment to be doing it right.
Seattle wrote the playbook. The rest of the host cities have the chance to run it. We’re here to help them do exactly that.
Want to explore what an LGBTQ+ audience engagement partnership looks like for your World Cup host city or brand? Visit PinkMedia.LGBT or reach out directly at (323) 963-3653.
