Teresa says that she was harassed by other players and later suspended from XBOX Live because she identified herself as a lesbian in her profile. When she appealed to Microsoft, she says they told her that other gamers found her sexual orientation “offensive.”
Teresa says:
I just recently saw a thing on your site about someones gamer tag being banned because it had the word gay in the tag.
I had a similar incident, only my account was suspended because I had said in my profile that I was a lesbian. I was harassed by several players, ‘chased’ to different maps/games to get away from their harassment. They followed me into the games and told all the other players to turn me in because they didn’t want to see that crap or their kids to see that crap.
As if xbox live is really appropriate for kids anyways! My account was suspended and xbox live did nothing to solve this, but instead said others found it offensive.
Today I received a message from another gamer calling me a fag. I am a lesbian, so they aren’t too smart if they cant get their anti-gay slurs right.
Microsoft does nothing to stop this or prevent it, but instead sides with the homophobes. No one will help me get the word out about Microsoft’s anti-gay policy. Not even the HRC who says Microsoft has a positive image with them. Not to me it doesn’t!
We’ve heard of gamers being suspended for identifying themselves as gay in their GamerTag, and even one case of a guy whose name was actually “Richard Gaywood” but his tag was suspended anyway because apparently the word “gay” is so offensive that it doesn’t matter if its actually your name.
As far as we know, Microsoft is unwilling to reconsider this position.
(Photo:Milkham)
UPDATE: Microsoft confirms their policy regarding self-identifying sexual orientation.
More From Consumerist
-
Has Your Pharmacy Automatically Refilled Your Prescription Without Asking? We Want To Hear From You
-
Southwest Owes Passengers $29 Million In Free Drinks
-
Comcast Not Cooperating With Lawyers Looking To “Shake Down” BitTorrent Users
-
Target Thinks You Want To Be Hassled By A “Beauty Concierge” While You Shop
-
Nordstrom Decides To Stop Tracking Customers’ Smartphones
I’m disgusted, Xbox Live in the first place is full of idiots who think it’s funny to continually swear and harass other players, if you think about it, most Xbox Live users are kids, kids hiding behind the fact that they are anonymous, this is absolute bullshit, you’d think that in this day and age people could at least tolerate the fact that a woman is a lesbian. And besides, to see the word you would have to view her profile, how many kids view this woman’s profile?, I suppose some sweaty fuck living in his grandmas house heard her voice and got exited and tried to add her as a friend, but was heart broken to discover she was a lesbian. Shame on you Microsoft, stop giving in to the 12 year olds demands and start making mature decisions.
I am just wondering, is it OK with Microsoft to state in ones Xbox Live username that some gamer is Hetero/Straight?
Or would such user-names get soon banned too, as they may again be offensive to the gay/lesbian community somewhere that someone so openly states being straight?
So to be clear
> your account can be suspended if you identify yourself as gay
> but you can play as a gay character in Fable 2
Brilliant – love the logic
Are people’s lives so empty that they have to rag on another person – I guess it is easier than making friends.
This woman being a lesbian is not the issue as the headline suggests. The fact that she broke the Terms of Service is what is at issue.
Microsoft has a real good reason for these rules. I like these rules because I don’t want to have to explain to my 3 year old niece what a lesbian is. I don’t want to have any discussion regarding sex with her for a while.
Microsoft, however much I hate to admit it, got this one right.
For those who argue about the blood and violence of video games, video games are rated. It is up to the parent to allow kids to see this stuff. That is why Microsoft and community as a whole has this right. Give the parent a chance to choose for their kids.
Okay, I have two things to bring up. First, there are depictions of lesbian behavior in some Xbox 360 games such as Mass Effect. If this is allowed (as it needs be under the First Amendment) what’s the problem with mention of it elsewhere? Another thing is that this bigotry is restricted to Microsoft policy and employees. Sony hasn’t said anything about the lesbian matchmaking in its Playstation Home beta network for example.
How can anyone find it ‘offensive’ that someone is a lesbian?
Seriously, how is that a personal attack on anyone?
To be offended, someone must say or do something that hurts your feelings.
How is being a lesbian hurting someone else’s feelings, especially a total stranger?
@Yamunation: No problems as long as you keep in the closit!
to anyone without a 360, its not like every game you play everyones profiles pop up. You hit the middle button and then go to friends and then recent players ( or something). Then once you are in their profile you have to go to the right tab to bio. Yes BIO, as in a biography or an About me to social netwokers. If you are going to ban someone for telling the truth in your bio then that’s bullshit. Microsoft is probably livid that Barack Obama got elected. Sorry i’m straight but i’m sick of these little kids talking shit about any little insecurity someone has when i’m paying 50 bucks a year for. That’s why i only use my mic in team tactical or search and destroy (which is full of these kids but anyways) or with friends. I will stop my rant right now.
all the kids i know who are on x-box are teenage boys, you want tolerance, look elsewhere.
what about me?
i got banned for having a negative opinion about obama!
what happened to freedom of speech and personal opinion?
if somebody were to say they don’t like bush nobody would care.
so who do i have to call to get an apology from microsoft, and my money back?
Microsoft might as well ban anyone who’s straight. Oh, but wait. They wouldn’t do that…they’d lose a large chunk of their income. I think it’s lame that someone gets banned from an online community just because of their sexual preference. After all, there are hundreds upon hundreds of other online community type sites that have people on that are, homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual. The only difference is that XBOX LIve involves video games. Let me put the importance on that…VIDEO GAMES! They’re virtual reality, not physical reality. No physical contact involved. Therefore I say that one’s sexual preference shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be banned. The only people who should be banned are those who harass homosexual and bisexuals. Even those who would harass someone for being heterosexual, though that’s probably rare, it’s still sexual harassment.
To me, this seems nothing more than a side product of the fight of the gay and lesbian community against the use of ‘gay’ as a blank pejorative — using it in the same sense we now use ‘lame’ and ‘retarded’ with much less hassle.
If you’re going to say that certain uses of ‘gay’ are insensitive / hate speech, then how can you fault Microsoft for saying “fine, it’s just not acceptable to refer to one’s sexual orientation in Gamer Tags or Profiles”? Should Microsoft be allowed to research each user’s racial background to determine if they should be allowed to use ‘n*gger’ in their profile or not either? Should they be expected to see if my gamer tag has a picture of me in my best zoot suit outside my favorite speakeasy before I talk about looking for a ‘gay old time’?
It would be a nightmare of staggering proportions.
So, if there are complaints about use of sexual orientation as a pejorative (as in the standard “OMG that’s so gay!”) then just making the topic off limits is the most efficient and overall least offensive policy by a large margin.
In my opinion, of course.
I didn’t know lesbians played Xbox. Gives new meaning to playing with your joy stick!
Seriously, it wasn’t the fact that she is a lesbian that got her banned from Xbox. I, too, got banned from xbox live and I didn’t do anything to provoke it. Even after all the harrassment I had to endure for being a female gamer, I was banned. So, I decided to give Xbox a little call and find out why this happened. Later to know, that one of the guys I had ignored sent several complaints every day for two weeks. It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation, they just kick you off from what they receive. In return, what do you do when someone harrasses you, file a complaint.
I understand the technical hurdles involved in enforcing the Terms of Service against things said over voice, but M$ had better figure it out — otherwise enforcing ToS against upstanding LGBT users but not enforcing it against harassment and purile homophobes is, of course, going to look bad. The last time I played CoD:MW over Live, it was a constant string of “fag” “homo” and “queer” that had nothing to do with a gamertag, but simply taunting and insulting other players who simply weren’t that good. I asked the guys to stop, they said no, I called a vote to boot the worst offender, and it was overwhelmingly in his favor. I vowed to never play on Live again and that was about a year ago. I never have since, and I doubt that I ever will.
Is this bashing? Or is it simply MS trying (in vein) to keep the online network kid friendly? There are a LOT of puritanical parents out there still. Their beliefs about keeping your sexuality to yourself really confuses children when they see this kind of thing.
I don’t understand why this is such a big deal:
1) She created her own problems by publicy identifying herself as a lesbian to a (very obviously) immature community
2) She broke the rules, and as such, was justifiably banned by Microsoft
This isn’t about gay or straight or whatever. She broke the rules, she was punished. Simple as that. Besides, why the hell would you be showing off your sexuality like that if you weren’t either cruising or just being an attention whore.
I’m not justifying the immaturity of the people harassing her, but like I said, she created her own problems by showing off her sexuality to a community that EVERYONE knows is predominantly immature little punks
from microsofts point of view this is a very hard decision because 90% of people whom would use the term “gay” or “lesbian” would do so in a derogatory manner and from their perspective the only way to deal with it is to just not allow any form of sexual orientation to be described in the profile they are not censoring you because you can express such things with your voice in games but just not in text. i was listening to a podcast about this and they are trying to come up with a way to settle this maturely but you cant make everyone happy the right way is not always the best way.. one more thing to everyone who tried to test the boundaries and put any form of straight or heterosexual in there profile after reading this heard you got in some hot water your selves so its not microsoft being homophobes just trying to make a fair playing field for all
As a public traded company they are on dangerous ground either way. By encouraging hate in this manner they are guilty of discrimination based upon sexual orientation. Which is prohibited by law, and has been reinforced by Supreme Court decision.
The only recourse for this person is to bring suit against Microsoft until it reaches the Supreme Court. I think the decision would go against M$ at a lower court and be supported all the way up.
Sounds like she was kicking somebody’s but on Xbox LIVE
…ahh haters. Getting more creative by the day…
I think its really stupid to ban Gamers for implementing their orientation…No one would have a problem if I put “STRAIGHT MAN ALL THE WAY WOOH LOLOOL” but if I put “Gay and proud” or w/e I get banned? Okay that makes sense?
But at the same time, I dont understand why someone would want to put their orientation on their profile anyway..no one cares what orientation you are..stop trying to attract attention
I understand totally the indignation of you as lesbian and you think about the social injustice and your voice not being heard by microsoft. But there is no need to continue to ask for Justice for Xbox. It is not the only game product on the market. Try to ignore and move on. All the best. I’m hetero, I don’t find the use of sexual orientation on a game account.
mutuelle