Reader Grant says that his gamer tag “theGAYERgamer” was recently banned by Xbox Live. He hoped that a call to customer support would sort things out but all he received was a confusing explanation from an Xbox Live supervisor. According to the supervisor, it wasn’t that she found the name offensive, but it was the “greater Xbox community” that found it offensive. Screenshot above. Grant’s letter, inside…

Consumerist,

I have had a bad morning. Last night when i tried to sign into my xbox live account “thegayergamer” I was told that it had to be changed. I figured that it was just from people reporting it as an offensive name being that the greater Xbox live community isn’t exactly welcome to gay people, i spend a lot of time muting people on Halo3. I assumed that once i called Microsoft they would straighten things out.

I talked to a supervisor there, Roxy, who told me that she didn’t personally find the fact that my gamer tag had gay in the name offensive, but that the greater Xbox community did, so i would have to change it. I hope I’m not the only person who finds this don’t ask, don’t tell policy disgusting… eek

From Grant, thegayergamer

We think you deserve a better explanation than this. Despite what this Xbox Live CSR told you, we’re not convinced that it’s the “greater Xbox community’s” job to classify offensive material. At best it sounds like this “supervisor” was trying to pass the buck. At worst, it’s downright homophobic discrimination. Would “theHETEROgamer” also be banned?

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