It's OK To Be Gay On LIVE, Says Microsoft

05 Mar 2010 at 18:17:41 by Andy Alderson

Microsoft has announced it has changed its Xbox LIVE Code of Conduct to allow its members to "more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles.”

The news was announced in a post on the official Xbox website by Microsoft's Marc Whitten who explained that the service has evolved in line with feedback from its members.

“With that in mind, I'd like to announce an update to the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct which will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles,” wrote Whitten.

“Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs.

“However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms.”

Prior to the update, Microsoft prohibited expressions of sexuality in LIVE profiles, resulting in protests by members of the gaming community.  

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