Running Together, Proud Forever

Running clubs give runners an opportunity to meet new people, enjoy the camaraderie of other runners, and work as a group to smash collective goals.

But there’s one running club that goes a little further than that.

More Than a Running Club

For a half-century, the Front Runners has given LGBTQIA+ people the opportunity to come together as a community in a way that allows them to fully participate in the sport in a welcoming environment that makes sure everyone is valued and supported.

Formed in San Francisco, Front Runners – which takes its name from the 1974 novel by Patricia Nell Warren – now has clubs in 39 states and dozens of countries on four continents around the world.

Meet Truth: Finding Community Through Stride

Looking to establish a community and find people to run with, Truth Future Bachman joined Front Runners New York in the fall of 2021. The New York chapter, which has around 1,300 members, became a true community for them, and this year Truth is serving as the 2025 Trans & Non-binary Director at Large, and earlier this spring was added to the Board of Directors.

Truth, who has run four of the World Marathon Majors, likes the fact that when they travel to other cities to compete, a friendly group of runners is waiting there for them.

“I can show up in a city and walk in with another group of Front Runners and while you’re meeting new people, you feel like you know what the community is and what the vibe is, which is always very welcoming, and really lively and fun,” Truth said.

Running, Learning, Belonging

Front Runners New York offers a “robust” member experience, and it certainly delivers. Along with fun runs, group runs, and weekly long runs, Front Runners has coaches on staff for both running and multisport athletes.

Each spring, Front Runners offers a beginners clinic for new runners that helps them get started in the sport. This year around 50 people participated in the program, which also gets them a free bib into the LGBT Pride Run.

“They learn stretch drills, they learn pacing, they learn nutrition, all of the things that they need and to start their running journey,” Truth said. “We run in pace groups and with buddies so they’re not left by themselves, and we will always have somebody to run their pace. Athletes will form a special bond as kind of like you could think of it like an incoming class (to FRNY), which is pretty awesome.

“The vibe is really friendly. New York’s a tough city, and (as a community) we’re all going through so much on a national level and intercommunal levels, there’s so much happening. I think it’s really refreshing to just enter a space and say, ‘Hey, I’m here to learn a thing’. And we’re like ‘well, let’s help you out’.”

The Power of the Pride Run

Of course, the LGBT Pride Run is the biggest event on the Front Runners’ calendar, held this year on June 28 in Central Park. First run in 1982, this year the run reached its 10,000-runner capacity in around an hour.

The four-mile race welcomes runners from all over the country, and has a vibe like a “town fair”, with various stands and vendors helping kick off a weekend that continues with the Pride Parade the next day.

Stewardship is also part of the club’s DNA, and each year FRNY has a charity component to the run, making a contribution to an organization that champions LGBTQTIA+ causes. This year’s benefactor is Lambda Legal, which fights for the civil rights of those in the community through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.

Giving Back with Every Stride

Giving back to the LGBTQTIA+ community has long been important to Front Runners. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, FRNY lost a lot of members, and eventually started a fund to help those in need, and while needs have changed over the years, there are still people in the community that at times need help.

“It’s really people showing up for other people out of the kindness of their hearts,” Truth said. “Like, how can we be there?”

More than anything, Front Runners aims to bring friendship and camaraderie to people in a community who haven’t always had love and support in their lives.

“I think for most of us who grew up queer or gay or trans or somewhere on the spectrum of gender or sexuality, that was different from the norm,” Truth said. “We lost large swaths of our life where there was not that kind of a community, that shared aspect of our life was not a given, and for many people it still is not.

A Joy-Fueled Finish Line

“There are, there are kids all over the country and world who live in towns where there’s nobody like them, where they can’t be public, where coming out is still an issue, and we are fighting for that. And I think it’s the joy that we have with one another that is the bedrock of our community, because it’s that joy that sustains us. It’s that joy that propels you over the finish line, that brings you to the cheer zone, that makes you want to volunteer your time, even though you won’t get anything monetarily in return.

“For me, that’s the joy in sharing that space with people who are having it for the first time.”