Xbox game designer sues Microsoft for homophobic discrimination

Jamie Durrant has been designing Xbox 360 games for Lion Head Studios for eleven years, until Microsoft bought the company two years ago. For the last seven months, he has been off work for depression. Why? He’s gay – but that’s not why he’s depressed. It’s because people at work have been giving him such a rough time at work just because he’s homosexual. Now he’s suing Microsoft for homophobic discrimination.

Jamie Durrant has been designing Xbox 360 games for Lion Head Studios for eleven years, until Microsoft bought the company two years ago. For the last seven months, he has been off work for depression. Why? He’s gay – but that’s not why he’s depressed. It’s because people at work have been giving him such a rough time at work just because he’s homosexual. Now he’s suing Microsoft for homophobic discrimination.

Nicknamed “Fag Boy Jim” by his officemates, he says emails started spreading around the office in January last year, with headings such as “I’m Jim and I’m Gay” and “Me and My Favourite Men.”

He went to their HR to talk about his situation, but agreed not to raise a formal grievance ’cause he didn’t want any uneasiness in the office. Uneasy would be putting it lightly. He then said that he was asked to sign a document agreeing not to file a formal complaint and that he was okay with the way the problem is being handled. Naturally, he refused. After that, he found another abusive message put up in the staff kitchen. That was the last straw.

Durrant said the HR managers “blatantly disregarded” his complaint. They offered him counseling, but he said, “They’re making out that I’m the one with the problem.” Now Durrant is slapping them with a £ 45,000 (about US$ 66,000) lawsuit. Microsoft denies his claims and declined to comment.

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Via Daily Mail