Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online gaming and money grubbing service, has been notorious in recent years for cracking down on any user who actively proclaims his or her sexual orientation, for any purpose. This includes, of course, any use of the word “gay,” apparently even if it’s simply the name of the town in which a user lives.
That’s what one Xbox Live user, Josh Moore of Fort Gay, WV, found out when he included the name of his hometown as part of his Xbox Live profile. Microsoft officials suspended him from using Xbox Live and threatened to ban his account entirely, with no refund for the two years of service he had paid for in advance, if he didn’t take the word “gay” out of his profile.
Obviously, this was no mere miscommunication, though at least an Xbox Live official has, for once, admitted the company’s mistake. “Someone took the phrase ‘fort gay WV’ and believed that the individual who had that was trying to offend, or trying to use it in a pejorative manner,” Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, told the Associated Press. “Unfortunately, one of my people agreed with that. … When it was brought to my attention, we did revoke the suspension.”
“In this very, very specific case, a mistake was made,” he said, “and we’re going to make it right.”
For his part, Moore was apparently surprised, though those who are aware of Microsoft’s current policy regarding homosexual users may not be. “At first I thought, ‘Wow, somebody’s thinking I live in the gayest town in West Virginia or something.’ I was mad. … It makes me feel like they hate gay people,” Moore told AP.
“I’m not even gay, and it makes me feel like they were discriminating.”
Hate is a strong word, and Microsoft’s zero tolerance policy likely serves the dual purpose of making Xbox Live more friendly to the majority of people and covering Microsoft’s own asses. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to apologize for it, though, and every time the issue comes up, their image is damaged a little more. Gay users who are proud of who they are shouldn’t be treated the same as ignorant yokels who throw around abusive terms like it’s their job.
If only they could drop the ban hammer on all the 12-year-olds yelling gay slurs at one another in every Modern Warfare 2 match, they wouldn’t need to enforce such discriminatory policies. Then again, they’d lose half their Xbox Live population.
