Microsoft: ‘Gay’ still not allowed on XBL profiles — except Gay Tony, he cool

Didn’t you find it even just remotely curious that Microsoft allowed a game harboring the word “gay” in its title, and yet at the same time they refuse to allow their Xbox Live users from even hinting that they’re gay in their profiles? The game referred to above would be Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and their answer to the gay profiles remains to be a no.

Didn’t you find it even just remotely curious that Microsoft allowed a game harboring the word “gay” in its title, and yet at the same time they refuse to allow their Xbox Live users from even hinting that they’re gay in their profiles? The game referred to above would be Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and their answer to the gay profiles remains to be a no.

Even me, no?

Coursing a question via Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo, a fan asked how Microsoft “reconcile the fall offering of [Gay Tony] with the fact that [they] still don’t let gamers mention their sexual orientation in their Xbox Live profiles or use the term gay in their Gamertag.”

Replied VP of XBL software and services, John Schappert, “I think the two are very separate issues.” He furthered:

That said, [Stephen] Toulouse continues to work with our team and we continue to look for ways for people to personally express themselves and you can look for more features coming to Xbox Live, but nothing to announce right now. They’re working on some stuff and the community has been very involved. We try to walk the fine line where we do the right thing to allow people to express themselves but not have it be taken overboard.

So will we be seeing professions of gayness on XBL anytime soon? Most probably not for a while. But Schappert did say that “we are working on that issue.”

• XBL bans again: this time cos her profile says she’s a lesbian
• Xbox game designer sues Microsoft for homophobic discrimination
  

Via Kotaku