UPDATE: Microsoft Disallows Public Lesbians on Xbox Live

[Jumplion]

(I 'ain't reading 8 pages of debate here!)

Well...what else can I say that hasn't already been said?

Basically, all this does is encourage that everyone on LIVE are a bunch of bigoted assholes.

But hey, it's a good service, right?

*couggcough*

 

[Sigenrecht]

I swore I broke my spine, the force with which I KEELED OVER and LAUGHED.

 

[lornb]

First... when did bigot become biggot?

I have conflicting thoughts towards this matter. Part of me thinks its just plain sad guys would waste their time cyber stalking a woman because she's gay.
And then there's the other part wondering if she even bothered to contact Microsoft about the ban or flew off her letter she probably already had written to grab a little attention. Dude if she even went to the Gamerchix first she would have some angry x chromosomes in her corner.

I am of course speaking of the "assaults" and not if she was right or wrong to put her sexual preference in her profile. Because no one deserves a Live lynch mob.

 

[KapnKerfuffle]

This a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don't for Microsoft. Microsoft can't sift through all the bios and check if they using terms for a sexual pref. as neutral or offensive. So, they have to blanket ban. Maybe someday they can do it to where it can't be abused. Personally, I think it is important to show the hooting dickholes on Xbox live that there are gay people and there is a diverse world outside their frat house. But I can see it from Microsoft point-of-view.

 

[Milkman Dan]

Seeing Microsoft struggle with such issues is both hilarious and painful to watch.

 

[RebelRising]

While I don't think openly admitting that she's gay was a good call, this is outright discrimination. Microsoft didn't ban her for inappropriate behavior, they banned her because they bent over backwards to mob rule. While it's a given that there are still backwards-thinking bigots online, there should be rational, respectful intervention, instead of this heinous censorship.

Basically Microsoft is telling this girl:

"Hey, sorry. A million homophobes is going to make us a helluva lot more money than one lesbian, so we respect their opinion more."

I don't want to sound hateful (because believe me, those bigots more than make up for that), but those people should be suspended/banned for trying to impose their own agenda on another's playing time.

 

[Brotherofwill]

violently anti-homosexual

Just quoting this bit for this

lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol

You can be labeled as "violently anti-homosexual" by reporting someone who states there sexual preferance... JUST BECAUSE THEY HAPPEN TO BE GAY??? You are a biggot, like a person who assumes a man who is gay must love all men, you assume all who feel it was inaproprate to state that must be homophobic.

I'm talking about the people that threaten to kill me when I'm playing games online because I happen to mention that I'm gay offhand. I mean start describing how they plan to slaughter me and laugh as I die because I'm a freak and a sick ******. I don't have a problem with people that say that it's offensive to put that information in her profile, since I know there are people who are offended by it. I'm talking about the people I have reported for threatening my life for being gay, and forwarding messages from them that said that, and being told "While we regret this kind of action, the users in questions have not violated the terms of use of our servers, and as such will not be banned".

Yes that makes more sense. Then that should have been dealt with... but why mention at all? If some people might take it wrong why say it?

Yeah, let's hide who we are inside because some people might not like it. That won't cause any sort of depression, or long term mental instabilities

I hope you like sarcasm, because there's a lot in there

What???!?
People don't get banned from the network when they threaten to kill someone and you provide proof of it? Mental note: Never go to Xbox live again

MS is seriously loosing it with me

 

[AceDiamond]

Yeah, let's hide who we are inside because some people might not like it. That won't cause any sort of depression, or long term mental instabilities

I hope you like sarcasm, because there's a lot in there

Yeah I love how not mentioning it on XBox Live where you're not allowed to mention any orientation at all counts as "hiding who you are inside". Do people on XBox Live only go on XBox Live to interact with anybody? Probably not for the most part. You can be open with your orientation anywhere else but a place where according to the EULA you can't say a damn thing because it violates the Terms of Service.

But no, I'm sure that not mentioning it counts as hiding who you are at all times, yes, surely.

I hope you like sarcasm as much as I like sarcasm.

Look, if any group won't let you express your sexual preference, EULA or not it is pretty intolerant.
It isn't just not mentioning it, it's suspending without a warning for something as simple as expressing yourself.
I actually feel pretty sorry for this lady, being harassed and banned from the matches she tries to play.

This isn't expression. Explain to me how it's necessary to brand yourself with your sexual orientation. Good luck finding a plausible reason in this day and age. I am disgusted with everyone trying to make a civil rights issue out of EVERYTHING. It's not like only people of a non-straight orientation are being "discriminated against" by this. You don't have any reason to announce what your orientation is in a gaming environment. Orientation means nothing in regards to your ability as a gamer. Nothing. So why bother mentioning it? Oh that's right, you just wanted the attention.

And attention has been gotten. If this were anyone else banned for any other reason it'd be no big deal. But oh no, clearly it's because she's a lesbian and because people are shit. Everyone knows people are shit. If you think you can just be an attention-demanding person with your orientation in an environment that doesn't need that, and you're somehow shocked that people reported you enough times to get banned, well then I'm so sorry your perfect little disney dream got shafted.

You know what? I'd just love to see the responses if this happened on PSN. People would probably be defending Sony to their last breath for this even though they, like Microsoft, would not be directly responsible for this at all.

 

[AceDiamond]

Yeah, let's hide who we are inside because some people might not like it. That won't cause any sort of depression, or long term mental instabilities

I hope you like sarcasm, because there's a lot in there

Yeah I love how not mentioning it on XBox Live where you're not allowed to mention any orientation at all counts as "hiding who you are inside". Do people on XBox Live only go on XBox Live to interact with anybody? Probably not for the most part. You can be open with your orientation anywhere else but a place where according to the EULA you can't say a damn thing because it violates the Terms of Service.

But no, I'm sure that not mentioning it counts as hiding who you are at all times, yes, surely.

I hope you like sarcasm as much as I like sarcasm.

Look, if any group won't let you express your sexual preference, EULA or not it is pretty intolerant.
It isn't just not mentioning it, it's suspending without a warning for something as simple as expressing yourself.
I actually feel pretty sorry for this lady, being harassed and banned from the matches she tries to play.

This isn't expression. Explain to me how it's necessary to brand yourself with your sexual orientation. Good luck finding a plausible reason in this day and age. I am disgusted with everyone trying to make a civil rights issue out of EVERYTHING. It's not like only people of a non-straight orientation are being "discriminated against" by this. You don't have any reason to announce what your orientation is in a gaming environment. Orientation means nothing in regards to your ability as a gamer. Nothing. So why bother mentioning it? Oh that's right, you just wanted the attention.

And attention has been gotten. If this were anyone else banned for any other reason it'd be no big deal. But oh no, clearly it's because she's a lesbian and because people are shit. Everyone knows people are shit. If you think you can just be an attention-demanding person with your orientation in an environment that doesn't need that, and you're somehow shocked that people reported you enough times to get banned, well then I'm so sorry your perfect little disney dream got shafted.

It doesn't matter if it is necessary, or if it is important to skills as a gamer.
Your argument is: "It's okay to censor something that isn't relevant."
Besides, who cares if she did it for attention; she still has the right.
Also, the reason people are jumping on this is why people think Hitler was worse than Stalin: Hitler's reason for mass murder was intolerance.

Yeah cause banning someone's over-reported account for something that logically was a TOS violation and illogically was people being ingorant fuckheads totally equals mass murder. Way to godwin this whole thread. You aggrivate me so much. You and all the other people who feel we need to go around with signs saying what we like, because who cares if that's relevant to this or not? People have a right to know at all times who's gay and who isn't! Life as we know it would end otherwise!

Eff. That. Noise. There is a time and a place for everything, and XBox Live is not facebook. We do not need or require the sexual orientation of gamers at all times. I don't care what gets you going in the sack, I care about whether or not you can play. And that's all anybody should need to care about.

 

[sanzo]

Yeah, let's hide who we are inside because some people might not like it. That won't cause any sort of depression, or long term mental instabilities

I hope you like sarcasm, because there's a lot in there

Yeah I love how not mentioning it on XBox Live where you're not allowed to mention any orientation at all counts as "hiding who you are inside". Do people on XBox Live only go on XBox Live to interact with anybody? Probably not for the most part. You can be open with your orientation anywhere else but a place where according to the EULA you can't say a damn thing because it violates the Terms of Service.

But no, I'm sure that not mentioning it counts as hiding who you are at all times, yes, surely.

I hope you like sarcasm as much as I like sarcasm.

I wasn't talking just about on live; I was responding to the "Why do it if people don't like it argument." Because, obviously, what the masses think is always right, so conform, or else. And those jackasses who call other people "fags" and teabag corpses obviously aren't violating the EULA. Most certainly not.

The people who use racial and sexual slurs are a lot worse than this, because they're using it in a derogatory way, whereas this woman was just expressing who she is. See what's wrong about that?

It's like I said before: Just because it's hard to catch, doesn't mean it's not wrong.

And yes, I do love sarcasm; it's delicious

Yeah and I'm sure you did everything you could to report the people who use such slurs. No of course you didn't. Continue to blame Microsoft for everything though, cause clearly they took a personal vested interest in this case, just like every case. They clearly have the power to observe millions upon millions of reports.

No you just want to blame people you think you can harm, rather than the users who gave her the trouble she brought on herself by thinking it was soooooo damn important people know her orientation. Because you know, that's apparently the only place she could be open about it, despite the explicit statement that she couldn't (perhaps because it has nothing to do with gaming)

"Man if only we'd asked that lesbian to play, we wouldn't be getting our asses kicked on Valhalla"

Sweet, delicious, straight-from-the-tap Sarcasm.

Thanks for assuming things about me, and then making a personal attack. I really appreciate that

As I've already stated, I don't even own and x-box; which would mean I don't have an account, meaning I have no way of reporting said people. I have played on live before, and I've heard some of the stupid shit that gets said.

And I never blamed Microsoft for everything, as, I have already also stated in this thread, I realize Microsoft can't keep track on everyone, they just happened to step on a land mine this time.

And yes, I realize that x-box live isn't the best place to bring up your sexual orientation or the like, but.... are you ready? it shouldn't fucking matter!

My problem is not with Microsoft, not in the least: They saw a person who was getting a lot of complaints, they took action, just as I'm sure they would have done in a normal situation. My problem is with the people who reported her for, to our knowledge, something that was only stated on her personal profile.

Sorry if I seem snippy, but please don't just assume stuff

 

[AceDiamond]

Yeah, let's hide who we are inside because some people might not like it. That won't cause any sort of depression, or long term mental instabilities

I hope you like sarcasm, because there's a lot in there

Yeah I love how not mentioning it on XBox Live where you're not allowed to mention any orientation at all counts as "hiding who you are inside". Do people on XBox Live only go on XBox Live to interact with anybody? Probably not for the most part. You can be open with your orientation anywhere else but a place where according to the EULA you can't say a damn thing because it violates the Terms of Service.

But no, I'm sure that not mentioning it counts as hiding who you are at all times, yes, surely.

I hope you like sarcasm as much as I like sarcasm.

I wasn't talking just about on live; I was responding to the "Why do it if people don't like it argument." Because, obviously, what the masses think is always right, so conform, or else. And those jackasses who call other people "fags" and teabag corpses obviously aren't violating the EULA. Most certainly not.

The people who use racial and sexual slurs are a lot worse than this, because they're using it in a derogatory way, whereas this woman was just expressing who she is. See what's wrong about that?

It's like I said before: Just because it's hard to catch, doesn't mean it's not wrong.

And yes, I do love sarcasm; it's delicious

Yeah and I'm sure you did everything you could to report the people who use such slurs. No of course you didn't. Continue to blame Microsoft for everything though, cause clearly they took a personal vested interest in this case, just like every case. They clearly have the power to observe millions upon millions of reports.

No you just want to blame people you think you can harm, rather than the users who gave her the trouble she brought on herself by thinking it was soooooo damn important people know her orientation. Because you know, that's apparently the only place she could be open about it, despite the explicit statement that she couldn't (perhaps because it has nothing to do with gaming)

"Man if only we'd asked that lesbian to play, we wouldn't be getting our asses kicked on Valhalla"

Sweet, delicious, straight-from-the-tap Sarcasm.

Thanks for assuming things about me, and then making a personal attack. I really appreciate that

As I've already stated, I don't even own and x-box; which would mean I don't have an account, meaning I have no way of reporting said people. I have played on live before, and I've heard some of the stupid shit that gets said.

And I never blamed Microsoft for everything, as, I have already also stated in this thread, I realize Microsoft can't keep track on everyone, they just happened to step on a land mine this time.

And yes, I realize that x-box live isn't the best place to bring up your sexual orientation or the like, but.... are you ready? it shouldn't fucking matter!

My problem is not with Microsoft, not in the least: They saw a person who was getting a lot of complaints, they took action, just as I'm sure they would have done in a normal situation. My problem is with the people who reported her for, to our knowledge, something that was only stated on her personal profile.

Sorry if I seem snippy, but please don't just assume stuff

And it was something that shouldn't have been stated on her personal profile. I agree it shouldn't matter, but the fact is it does, because people are stupid. And that's why it doesn't need to be said and shouldn't be said. Especially because it really really comes off to some people (including me) that you're trying to define yourself by what you like.

And sorry that I lumped you in with the idiots here who think not buying XBox Live gold or cancelling their subscriptions is an actual protest measure. That truly was bad of me.

 

[Radelaide]

UPDATE: Xbox Live policy director Stephen Toulouse responded to the Consumerist story via Twitter [http://twitter.com/Stepto?page=3] (via VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/02/26/microsoft-finally-looking-to-stop-gay-bannings-on-live/]), "Expression of any sexual orientation (straight or gay or otherswise (sic)) 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. 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."

I'm sorry, what? You're not allowed to be proud of your sexual orientation because some XBL arseholes don't like it? Fucking hell. I hate the world sometimes...

It's blatant discrimination on Microsoft's behalf.

 

[AceDiamond]

UPDATE: Xbox Live policy director Stephen Toulouse responded to the Consumerist story via Twitter [http://twitter.com/Stepto?page=3] (via VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/02/26/microsoft-finally-looking-to-stop-gay-bannings-on-live/]), "Expression of any sexual orientation (straight or gay or otherswise (sic)) 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. 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."

I'm sorry, what? You're not allowed to be proud of your sexual orientation because some XBL arseholes don't like it? Fucking hell. I hate the world sometimes...

It's blatant discrimination on Microsoft's behalf.

It's not discrimination when it applies to everyone. And given the treatment this person got, it's easy to see why. Take off the rose-tinted glasses for a second.

Also put on whichever pair of glasses it is that makes you understand what the word "discrimination" means.