Rednog said:
Considering there is outrage about the problem I think that it isn't clear to everyone that she broke the rules. The articles don't mention the fact. Both articles give an implication that Microsoft singled her out because she is a lesbian. This however is untrue, the banned her because of complaints against her. Banning someone for breaking the rule of "No mentioning of sexual preference whatsoever" is different from Banning them because the person is a lesbian. One is discriminatory and the other is not.
The rule may appear neutral with regard to sexuality, but in practice it's not.
Anyone who has spent five minutes on XBL knows that that place is, unfortunately, a breeding ground for homo-bigots, racists, and general morons. Not to say there aren't plenty of nice folks on there (or else I wouldn't be a member), but you don't have to be playing for too long before someone gets called a "******."
This is where the problem with the rule comes in: enforcement is based on user complaints. When the users making the complaints are bigoted mouthbreathers, we have a serious problem. The rule, in effect, empowers bigots to ban people whose existence makes them uncomfortable. If I put "I'm a man who loves the ladies" or something in my XBL profile, do you think I would have any chance of getting banned as a result of complaints? Of course not. Yet even that fairly benign statement is far more sexually charged than simple self-identification as a lesbian.