I don't particularly see a need to merge the forums, though since discussion on the forums is arguably on the decline I wouldn't necessarily be strongly opposed to it.
One thing I might actually suggest though, surprisingly, is a Pride-like Discord channel. I've noticed a few times people discussing LGBTQ+ topics sometimes get told by others to move the discussion to #politics, and of course it can be distressing to see people's very lives/identity/existence to be seen as political. So perhaps a dedicated channel there may be good, especially since casual discussion has moved more towards Discord recently.
Keep in mind that combining this section of the forums would mean the homepage has room for a new section of the forums to go up, which you as a community would also get a hand in deciding.
This bit I don't get though. There isn't a set number of sections/subforums? Removing/merging existing subforums doesn't free up space for more subforums because the space is always there to begin with.
I think what he's getting at when he says that is when it comes to the idea of clutter because of too many forums. Yes, you can create an unlimited set of forums basically, but there is a point when it becomes too much, and you're doing way too much scrolling through way too many forums to find the one you're wanting to post in. Otherwise, no, there's no actual limit on how many forums you can create.
Outside of that, I also voted to keep things as is. I realize a lot of this discussion has been because of the Pride Forum being a little quiet and this mainly being centered around removing it because it's been a little quiet. Personally, I don't see that as a reason to remove it just yet as while it may not get intense discussion now, it could always later down the road. To throw out an example, I'll look at the Hall of Art and Writing, where we
did end up removing it because it was considered inactive, only for us to bring it back because people wanted it back...and now while it's not
as active as...say the Howling Tavern or Gaming Lounge (which I do agree with Gerrick that it should be split between reviews/game discussions and merging the multiplayer scheduling with the Frostmist Arena...I'd even argue that discussions could be the main forum, and reviews could be a subforum in the Lounge)...but it's still been decently active since its revival. If we remove the Pride forum entirely, I see that being a similar outcome to where people will just end up wanting it back. Though I do agree with the idea of a Pride-centered discord as well.
Likewise, I definitely don't agree with merging the Hall of Great Discussions and the Tavern. I look at it similarly like I do with Discord's separate channels...Howling Tavern should be more about just regular, campfire discussions that are more light, whereas Hall of Great Discussions was meant to be about the heavier, more controversial and potential political discussions that were meant to spark debate and had the potential to become heated. I think both should be kept separate.