Microsoft admits to, defends banning Lesbian Xbox Live user

Ben Kuchera writes: "Xbox Live isn't known for the social graces of its users, and one gamer was harassed for outing herself as a lesbian... with Microsoft then banning her account. The company tells Ars that gay or straight, discussion of your sexual orientation in your profile is verboten, but "don't ask, don't tell" doesn't work too well."

[Foxgod]

plain and simple, dont mix live with sexuality, and youl be fine.

This is the same situation as a company getting seud for racism for firing an ethnic minority.
And later on it turns out that the ethnic minority sucked at his job, and was fired legit grounds.

[Timesplitter14]

It has absolutely nothing to do with this. Revealing your sexual orientation isn't a lack of performance.

It's just that Microsoft is a bunch af friggin retards that think sexuality is "ewwww!"

[Foxgod]

ofcourse, a company thinks sexuality is eewwww.
a company is not a living breathing entity.
A company is a stack of policy's that enforces its rules trough roles.
Live does not have a minimum age specification, so children can get on it as well, which means sexuality has no place on live.

MS protects this girl from getting herassed, and makes sure that no children get exposed to sexuality, this way Live remains a clean platform that can also be enjoyed by minority's.

[II Necroplasm II]

"Microsoft is a bunch af friggin retards"

I think their wallets and bank accounts say otherwise bud.

Edit*

Microsoft and 50 cent is two different worlds. MS don't make rap music for kids and wannabe gansters they make software.

'To throw that in your point is simple and cheap

But with the story, first of all her homosexuality should have not been brought out into a gaming community online cause it will not go well with the rest... Then MS will have to deal with the harassment complaints. and who knows she could have been preaching her homosexuality to others.

You know they do have community management policys they have to work with..

[Timesplitter14]

The problem here is that you seem to think that homosexuality is ''filthy'' and immoral. Stop listening to the pope for a second and start listening to reason. There's nothing wrong with children acknoledging the fact that some people are homosexual.

And do you REALLY believe that MS saw this and said "Guys... this poor girl will be harrassed if we do nothing. Let's ban her."

@ II Necroplasm II

Yeah well I guess 50 cent is a genius too

[Foxgod]

i dont give a flying crap what someone sexual preference is, and neither does a company.
Fact is sexuality doesnt belong on Live, doesnt matter wether your straight or homo or asexual, it doesnt belong on live, its a video game service, not a meet and greet for people wanting to get sexual.

Oh, and i dont give rats about the pope either, i believe in a creator and an afterlife, but religion is crap in my opinion.

[LightofDarkness]

I've been thinking about this. At first I took the stance that everyone seemed to take, the "Bah, who cares, shoulda read teh polisees..." position. But then, I realised something. Why should someone being gay offend anyone?

Now, the usually first resort tactic is the "Think of teh childrunz!" otherwise known as the "Soccer mom" approach. Thing is, by agreeing to those terms of use you are *certifying* that you are 18 years old (or the age of majority, dependant on country or region), otherwise known as a discerning adult. Those little kids shouldn't be there in the first place.

As well as this, perhaps it is this aversion to exposing children to homosexuality that is the problem. We have no problem showing them heterosexual emotion and love, and they find it normal. I believe it's when you shield them from it until they're older that it becomes an issue. At that point, it's considered abnormal behaviour by someone, as they've been very accustomed to the idea that romantic love only truly exists between men and women. Might just explain why this girl was harassed so vehemently.

The second defence that is usually is usually brought up is the big brother tactic, the "saving them from themselves" idea. What a load of crap. They should have to hide or change aspects of their personality to appease the disagreeing and harassing masses? Remember the 18 years old certification, that means that they are discerning adults, willing to accept the responsibility of deliberately outing themselves via their profile. This is often a significant aspect of their lives, it is a character defining milestone. They had the guts to tell everyone how they really think, which is something that should be celebrated, not silenced and banned.

[Foxgod]

calling something a soccer mom, or a big brother tactic really isnt going to change the fact that MS did this on valid grounds.

[Ryudo]

I agree with Microsoft There's nothing wrong with being gay or lesbian. But I never understand the reason someone would feel the need to shout if from the rooftops with out being an out and out prick. At the end of the day being gay and going to a gay bar only offends idiots. But think about the xbox live community It has alot of children. Being gay going to a play ground wearing a pink shirt with your nipples showing making out with men on the park bench would offend people. And people would have the right to be completely offended.

At the end of the day if your gay then cool you have a sexual choice and a brave one at that. But does that mean you have to tell 10 year old children about that sexual choice instead of just letting them make there own minds up in life no. There is no need what so ever to have "I am lesbian" in your profile its a gamer tag for gamers. Besides your only inviting your self to get stalked by extremely sad 16 to 22 year old gamers.

There's a time and a place for everything being gay in a gay bar or giving your partner a quick kiss down the street, Doing what the hell you want in private places is fine. Making out with your partner in the middle of a playground is pushing it in peoples faces that don't want there kids around it the same apples to xbox live. Microsoft are stuck between a rock and a hard place keeping Xbox live child friendly and having to cross messy area's of human rights.

If I had that choice I would of asked it been removed and explained my reasons behind such actions. If they for some reason felt to get petty over it and demand it remains for some foolish reason I would of taken the same action and banned them.

[Arsenic13]

Ok so hetero ppl dont spread their sexuality by saying, "shes hot, i did your mom" Thats saying they like the opposite sex, so thats sexuality. Plus the thousands of gamertags related to heterosexual sexual innuendos. Its a double standard. And its BS

[SL1M DADDY]

Are gay and want to run out in the middle of the road and scream your sexuality for all the world to hear but keep it at that and leave it off Live. I am on Live to game, not hear about your sexuality. It has nothing to do with your sexuality being "eeww", it's about respecting those of us that don't want/need/care to hear about it.

[skimming]

Just don't bring up sexuality at all so that as a parent, I don't feel like I have to filter for content. It's one thing to just mute an idiot spouting nonsense on a Live mike, it's definitely another to be told continually that a lesbian just killed you, over and over again.

Believe me as a parent, if I have to filter for stuff like this, Live gets cancelled the next day.

[Parappa The Rappa]

HE got insanely rich thu some investment deals. He made a sh*t ton of cash off Coca-Cola thru the Vitamin Water deal(about 400mil--100mil after the IRC took their share).

Not every wrapper out there ends up as broke as MC Hammer, lol.

If youre gay, good for you, but nobody needs to hear about it.
I dont get up in the morning and say "Oh my god....im soooooo straight, its crazy! I do chicks all day!" to every person I meet.

[Cryos]

There is only 1 way to determine if this is not right, ask these questions,

"if someone was declaring they were straight, would they be banned?"
"if someone was declaring they were celibate, would they be banned?"
"if someone declared they were Christian, would they be banned?"

if the answer is "no" or "probably not" to any one of those, then banning her was wrong.

[ExXxilE]

Homosexuality is "filthy" and immoral, not to mix religion and our political debate here, the bible states that a man should love a woman. Not a woman and a woman, nor a man and a man. The facts are that this practice is out there and I don't believe for a second that it is right for a company to ban a person for expressing their beliefs. They need to accept the fact that some people who play their games are going to be of the homosexuality variety.

What Microsoft did was way out of line and I think that there should be some sort of reprimanding happen to them. They need to learn a lesson and not just say "oops, we did a bad thing, here is an 'apology' we are 'sorry'".

[Elven6]

Microsoft is one of the few companies to hold a 100% fair work employeer rating with the LGBT which is why I find this matter odd. I think what may have happened was a bot is simply sent to look through this stuff, once something is reported it scans for unacceptable words and takes appropriate action?

I personally don't have anything against people of a different orientation, although if someone just publicly goes out and announces this kind of stuff to get attention I might have a problem with them, but not the community as a whole.

[incogneato]

Yup. I am very proud of Microsoft for this one. Standing up to the cry baby liberals, wow. There are very few companies who will do that. They all want to be politically correct.

Microsoft just earned some of my respect.

[darthv72]

I would expect sony to be as strict with their service as ms. I think sexual preference falls in line with religious belief and should be a personal thing.

This same thing will happen in home you can bet on that.

[XxZxX]

want more freedom? PSN welcome you.

[uie4rhig]

no matter 'how much they want to defend this girl' microsoft is going against the law.. i cant remember specifics, but i think it is the sex discrimination act 1986.. they can legally be sued and it is very hard for them to come out on this..
@foxgod
you seriously don't have to defend microsoft.. microsoft is liable for discriminating against an individual over their sexual preference and they shouldnt discriminate.. i doubt you'd like it if you were gay and you were banned..

meh either.. MS is wrong here, and they shud put this right rather than defending such an action!!

[Elven6]

^^^^You bring up a interesting point, although Microsoft will have records that may shed more light on just what she was banned for (aka did she send a message to her friends saying "Ban me so I can do XXXXX", times are tough and people are doing some pretty insane stuff to enter into law suits and such. IF that is the case.

Although wouldn't that law only apply to the workplace? An area where Microsoft is already on good terms with various HR groups including the LGBT?

[TheDude2dot0]

I may be wrong, but I think they banned her because they might be misconstrued as a dating site or whatever. Not something you want for Xbox Live.

[ps3d0]

I love how these so called "journalist" make up head line to blow this all out of proportionjust just to get people to look at there sites. MS didnt banned anyone they suspended her there is a HUGE difference. With a suspension all she has to do is change what her profile says and she can get back online. If she was banned she never be able to get back online. Also she broke the toa so MS was right to suspend her. The toa says you can not talk about your sexuality on your profile no matter what it is.

[Timesplitter14]

I'm not sure if I understand what you said.

Basically, we agree but your first sentence says homosexuality is immoral.

[ambientFLIER]

"Plus the thousands of gamertags related to heterosexual sexual innuendos. Its a double standard."

Microsoft bans people when they have enough complaints about them. Gay people don't complain about straight people, so Microsoft doesn't ban them. It's that simple. Microsoft doesn't seek people out to ban. They are forced to do what the community demands.

[FrankenLife]

I will side with freedom of speech at all times. Censoring this kind of speech is not the right thing to do despite MS having the right to do it.

On the PSN you can say whatever you want.

[ps3d0]

FrankenLife your one of the biggest idiots in the world if you actually believe that fanboy BS your spitting out. PSN has the same clause in their toa plus when home 1st came out the words lesbian and gay were censor to *** and ******* sony only removed them after they got enouhg complains about it