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Are you homosexual? You might get banned from Xbox Live

M

madsoul

Member
consumerist.com:
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."

"... 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."
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Gaming: Identifying Yourself As A Lesbian Gets You Banned On XBOX Live

Lol, Microsoft. i got nothing more to say really. might be a misunderstanding on Microsofts side, i do hope.

gay.jpg
 
Serideth

Serideth

Active Member
Although I don't agree with what happened she was probably an attention seeker and loved being in the lime lite, for starters why state your sexually orientation in your xbox live profile? I didn't know it was a dating profile.
 
M

madsoul

Member
Serideth said:
Although I don't agree with what happened she was probably an attention seeker and loved being in the lime lite, for starters why state your sexually orientation in your xbox live profile? I didn't know it was a dating profile.
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why wouldnt you be able to do that if you can? from what i remember ( i dont have a 360 any more) you had the option to enter your sex. then i dont see the problem. it states nowhere that she was running around to other people shoating "IM A LESBIAN IM A LESBIAN!!", just that it said so in the profile.
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
You should read these other stories as well, especially the second one.
Complaints: "Gay" Player Name Banned By Xbox Live
Banned: Microsoft Confirms "Gaywood" Is An Offensive Surname, Mr. Gaywood Responds

That's just ridiculous. A guys gamertag was Richard Gaywood and his account was banned for that, despite the fact that it was his name.
I also noticed last night that I cannot enter my last name in the Real Name field of my Xbox profile, although I can put it in the Bio section — does it become less offensive a few inches further down the screen? I tried Heterowood and Homowood too (both were barred) but Straightwood was allowed, oddly. Even the words "Unix" and "Linux" seem to be barred from the Real Name field, which I find rather bizarre.
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Serideth

Serideth

Active Member
My point is MadSoul that if you're telling me that all these people made a point of following her around and harassing her JUST because of her profile saying she's a lesbian I have to disagree, there are two sides to every story and I'm sure she added fuel to the fire.
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
Regardless of the circumstances Serideth, I think it needs to be realized that the vast majority of Live users are homophobic, racist, and ignorant. The same can be said for just a lot of gamers in general I think. I can't even count the amount of times I've encountered it while using Steam.

It really doesn't surprise me if they were harassing this person just because she was a lesbian.
 
Serideth

Serideth

Active Member
Slasher said:
Regardless of the circumstances Serideth, I think it needs to be realized that the vast majority of Live users are homophobic, racist, and ignorant. The same can be said for just a lot of gamers in general I think. I can't even count the amount of times I've encountered it while using Steam.

It really doesn't surprise me if they were harassing this person just because she was a lesbian.
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Yeah true enough, most of this comes from the 15 year old kids though. This is why I rarely ever play with random people online and prefer to play with people I know (like the TF2 server.)
 
Mr. Beefy

Mr. Beefy

Suck It Trebek
Who cares if you're a homosexual? I'd be equally annoyed if someone ran around telling everyone how hetero they were.
 
N

NoEffex

Seth's On A Boat.
Gay is a slang that is commonly referred to as offensive. If you did homosexual or something you're probably better off. They could have been sued in court if they did nothing because like I said, it's considered an offensive slang(Similarly to fag).
 
FrozenIpaq

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
Most of the times Microsoft will suspend the account without much investigation, if enough people claim something they will suspend the account or ask the material to be removed. I'm interesed to see what happens in response to this.

PS: Gay is not slang
 
C

cowsruledaworld

New Member
Serideth said:
Although I don't agree with what happened she was probably an attention seeker and loved being in the lime lite, for starters why state your sexually orientation in your xbox live profile? I didn't know it was a dating profile.
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I disagree. I wouldn't say ( for example. this is not true) in a crowd that I was a lesbian, just to make it okay for me to hit on other girls, or to start dating or some shnittzle like that. It's an identity. It's like saying, hey fool! I'm muslim. I do agree that it isnt something to publicize all over the place, but it's her identity, she can do whatever she wants with it, as long as she isn't shoving it down other peoples throats. And honestly, why the hell would a lesbian be on xbox live to date other girls.... its like me getting onto this website to meet other girls, very unreasonable and disappointing ;)
 
A

andyauff

Member
NoEffex said:
Gay is a slang that is commonly referred to as offensive. If you did homosexual or something you're probably better off. They could have been sued in court if they did nothing because like I said, it's considered an offensive slang(Similarly to fag).
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How could they be sued in court? Is it illegal to offend someone? And also, I believe most people see "gay" only as offensive when used in a negative manner.
 
Nero

Nero

Mmmm...cookies
They should just remove the orientation option, who gives one if you're gay or not? I certainly don't.
 
Nero

Nero

Mmmm...cookies
andyauff said:
There is no orientation option, as far as I know. This is about his gamertag.
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Hmm ok. Before your own profile could be viewed by the public, MS should moderate it first? See if it won't cause any problems. I know that would take a long time but what else could they do?

Any other suggestions?
 
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