Xbox Live: Not as Fabulous as We Thought

Xbox Live: the multiplayer gaming service that brings hours of endless fun to people all over the world. Unless you're gay. A gamer named Theresa found that out the hard way when she was banned from Xbox live after she identified herself as a lesbian in her profile.

As she reports to the consumerist, she "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."

It appears that a group of homophobes checked out her profile and saw that she was a lesbian. Fearing that their kids may catch the gay while just trying to have some good wholesome clean fun on Xbox Live, a group of parents started harassing Theresa in an attempt to run her off. When Microsoft got wind of this they banned Theresa, saying her sexuality was offensive to other gamers.

There's either more to this story or Microsoft's actions are completely uncalled for and inexcusable. If you have any group of people, whoever they are and whatever the reason, stalking and harassing people and following them all around in a game, they are the ones causing the disturbance. Not the one just trying to play the game. Now, who knows, maybe she was going around running her mouth telling everyone how great being a lesbian is and how everyone should try it. Right now we simply don't have all the details, but it's pretty safe to say that Xbox Live is definitely not something the gay community will be able to get behind any longer.


Edit: This just in: Microsoft has issued a response. It is their policy to forbid all people to state their sexual orientation, whatever it happens to be. I have to say that's a fair a policy, and it's the best way to avoid situations like this from happening in the future. No innocence is lost and nobody gets harassed.

Just for the record, People Liking People doesn't take a stance on sexual orientation. We like all people, whether they're straight, gay, or homophobic.