Microsoft Boots XBox Gamer for Identifying as Lesbian
For gamers, interactive play is all about relaxing and unwinding to some harmless virtual mayhem, without the world's worries and gripes, be they major or trivial, interfering in the fun.
That's the way it's supposed to work, anyway, but for gay and lesbian gamers, a declaration of their sexuality can get them shot by their own teammates or result in their playing privileges being suspended; the latter reportedly happened recently to a self-described lesbian player.
In the interests of fairness, all player profiles are supposed to be kept free of any reference to the player's sexual orientation, be it gay or straight.
But the vagueness of the reasons for that rule, and the fact that an XBox Live playing lesbian says she was harassed by other players and had her account suspended by Microsoft for disclosing her sexuality, has led to what XBox Live's program manager for policy and enforcement calls a "'Microsoft sides with the homophobes' meme."
According to gaming site Register Hardware, the complaint came from a woman identified only as "Teresa," who self-identified as a lesbian in her profile and, when her account was suspended, said that other players had taken offense at the disclosure.
Saying that she had been harassed for being a lesbian, Teresa claimed, "Microsoft does nothing to stop this or prevent it."
Teresa also said that their policy forbidding statements about players' sexuality in their profiles and the suspension of her account on that basis meant that Microsoft was in league "with the homophobes," the site reported.
Xbox Live's program manager for policy and enforcement, Stephen Toulouse, declared that "harassment of gamers of any type be it homophobia or racism or other, is expressly forbidden and my team will take action against it, up to and including a permanent ban," the site reported.
At the site TeamXBox, a Feb. 27 article noted included a statement from Toulouse, who said, "There's been a ton of commentary on a Consumerist post about Theresa, an Xbox member who was suspended (not banned) from Xbox LIVE over expression of her sexual orientation in her profile."
Toulouse wrote, "I don't know the particulars, because the Consumerist article doesn't give me much to work with from an investigation standpoint.
"But since most of the commentary has become rather emotionally charged, I wanted to talk about how things work inside Xbox because I think a lot of people are latching on to some kind of 'Microsoft sides with homophobes' meme."
Toulouse went on to say, "Our current policy for Gamertags and Profiles does not allow expression of sexual orientation under the Terms of Use. That applies to *any* orientation, straight or gay or otherwise.
"Gamers can however self identify their orientation in voice chat, where context for their statements can be provided," Toulouse added.
The official statement from Microsoft was also posted at the Team XBox site, and reads, "As stated in the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use, a member may not create a gamertag or use text in other profile fields that include comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate content of a potentially sexual nature.
"Profiles that do are asked to change the language and suspended until changes are made," the statement went on.
"In regards to sexual orientation, for gamertags or profiles we do not allow expression of any type of orientation, be that hetero or other.
"Players can, however, self identify in voice communication where context is more easily explained to all players involved," the Microsoft statement reiterated.
"Harassment of any kind is not condoned and is taken very seriously; we strongly encourage Xbox LIVE members to immediately report inappropriate behavior through the compliant tools in the service so that it can be investigated and the appropriate action taken.
"The Xbox LIVE community grows daily, and we continue to explore methods and levels of enforcement to enhance the ways our members connect and have fun, while adhering to a code of conduct that encourages respect and keeps the service safe and fun for all our members."
Toulouse was also quoted at gaming site Play.tm in a Mar. 2 posting on the furor.
Said Toulouse of the general ban on expressing sexual orientation in profiles, "It's not an elegant policy.
"It's an objective policy, but that doesn't mean everyone's going to experience it in the same way."
Added Toulouse, "We're taking a look at a way in which we can provide the ability for people to express themselves in a way that can't be misused."
This is not the fist time that GLBT gamers have encountered prejudice in the world of online gaming. A story carried last November in the gay press related how a male player who disclosed that he was gay was harassed by other players while playing the game Halo 3, even hearing from another gamer that gays all ought to be executed by hanging.
The player, who had taken the gaming tag "xxxgayboyxxx," posted a video at GayGamer.com to share his experience, saying, "One thing you don't see are the betrayals. I was shot by my own teammates.
"Most don't want to party up with me," the gamer continued. "They even say, 'Gayboy, don't party up.'
"Some even leave mid-game so they don't have to play with me," the gamer said.