Microsoft: "Gay" Almost Always Used as a Pejorative on Live

July 18th, 2009, 23:02 Posted By: wraggster

This weekend the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is hosting a talk about homophobia online and in games and Xbox Live's head of policy and enforcement will be on hand to hear what they have to say.

Stephen Toulouse is going top the talk at Electronic Arts as his team works to find a solution to Microsoft's current position on mentioning one's sexual orientation in a Gamertag or profile on Live. Right now it's not allowed, but Toulouse says that will change once they figure out the best way to implement that change.

"The overall policy we have today is that the expression of sexual orientation in a Gamertag or text field is not allowed," he told Kotaku today. "That doesn't matter what the orientation is."

Toulouse said the team felt that the policy was even handed in its treatment of the issue, but have since learned that some consider it unfair.

"We recognize that the policy is not just, that some communities feel like they are being targeted," he said. "Our challenge is how do that. We are working on that now."

When looking into the issue Toulouse's team found that 98 percent of the uses of the word "gay" on Live was pejorative.

The team is working now with GLAAD to best figure out how to resolve the issue in a way that allows people to identify themselves without allowing for something that could amount to hate speech.

"I don't know what shape or form it will take," Toulouse said, "but yes we will go back and figure out how to make it work."

http://kotaku.com/5317094/microsoft-...rative-on-live

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