Tag Archives: gay

Microsoft’s said a decision to ban an American man from Xbox Live because he lives in a town called Fort Gay was a “mistake” and the company’s going to “make it right.”

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Think Before You Speak has used the image of a gamer as part of its campaign to stop people using the word “gay” in a derogatory sense.

Mr Gamer appears on a poster bearing the slogan, “That’s so gamer guy who has more videogames than friends.”

Hit the link for more details. Via GamesPolitics and Kotaku.

Uh oh. BioWare is apparently censoring the words “gay,” “homosexual” and “lesbian” from the Old Republic message boards.

Why? According to moderator Sean Dahlberg, “As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.”

At least you’re not alone, Stephen. Just a hunch, but you can probably expect this to get quite ugly.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Jamie Durrant, a former Lionhead employee, is suing Microsoft for “hurt feelings” and lost pay to the tune of £45,000 after he claims he was abused for being openly gay.

Durrant claims that the atmosphere at work – where he’d been employed for 11 years – turned nasty after Microsoft bought the developer.

Around January of last year, Jamie says he began receiving abusive emails with subjects such as, “I’m Jim and I’m Gay,” and, “Me and my Favourite Men”.

Durrant says he was given the nickname “Fag Boy Jim”.

How pleasant.

More on the Daily Mail. Thanks, Kotaku.

Is that the whiff of common sense? The stench of reason? Xbox Live mod boss Stephen Toulouse has confirmed Microsoft is looking at ways Xbox Live users can express sexual preference on the service without getting banned.

His comment came after yet another Live subscriber was banned for ‘causing offence’ by saying they were homosexual in their profile data.

“I can’t say any more at the moment, except to say I’m working right now in finding a way to safely express relationship preference,” Toulouse said on his Twitter.

He added: “Expression of any sexual orientation (straight or gay or otherswise) is not allowed in gamertags.

“However we’ve heard from the user-base they want that capability, so I am examining how we can provide it in a way that wont get misused.”

This is the first time Microsoft has even acknowledged something needs to be done about the fact gay and lesbian people can be hounded on Live then banned.

Bit of a shame the “user-base” had to fight against it instead of anyone with half a brain at Microsoft doing something about a truly disgusting situation, but there we are. We should be thankful for small mercies, hey?

Thanks, Roybott.

Following Microsoft clamping down on the word “gay” in GamerTags, a couple of gay gaming sites have offered a mixed response to the issue.

“I’ve taken a few deep breathes, run this story over in my mind again and again and yet still return to the same annoying factor,” said LesbianGamers. “Why does ‘gay’ automatically equate to sex or ‘of a sexual nature’ and carry with it such negative and deviant overtones?

“I can understand Microsoft are trying to protect users, but perhaps there needs to be some tabled debate as to what they’re protecting whom from and what they’re perpetuating in the process. Linking ‘gay’ to some negative or sexually explicit content merely fans the fires of homophobia.”

GayGamer’s take was a little more sedate.

“I’m somewhat on the fence with the issue, having played many MMORPGs and seeing the many annoying and disturbing names that can come from idle minds on the internets, and it seems as if Microsoft is putting up the normal “we can’t make exceptions” defense,” said a writer on the site.

“All of this, however, is greatly outweighed by the fact that it is his given name, and despite the connotations it may carry with it, he lives with that name every day.”

Thanks, GamesPolitics.

This is going to run and run. Not content with banning the word “gay” in GamerTags, Microsoft has stopped a Mr Cummer from using his name on Xbox Live.

With all due respect, this is beyond parody.

“I wasn’t offended,” Cummer, a Canadian, told The Globe and Mail. “I understand the reasoning. I wasn’t trying to be offensive, but there are people more sensitive and much younger than I who are on Xbox Live. I think it’s reasonable.”

Nothing we can say would make any of this more ridiculous. It’s the modern age applying a 1984 filter to entertainment one sex-related surname at a time.