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Xbox Live Now Allows Gender Expression
Last year we discussed news that an Xbox Live gamer was banned for identifying herself as a lesbian on her profile. Microsoft said at the time that nothing sexual in nature could appear in Gamertags or profiles. Now, they seem to have reconsidered their stance, and they've updated their Code of Conduct accordingly. Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten wrote:
"[The update] will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles. 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."
I'm sure you'd feel different if heterosexuality was in the minority.
While the entire concept of "marriage" is just societal (religiously motivated) dogma, enshrining of which in law is frankly an unforgivable assault by religious wackos on the rest of us, I cannot exactly stand by your "equivalence" as there is this little problem of sexual reproduction involved that has no place in the fountain drinking you've referred to ...
I think all these "alternate" sexuality types are shooting themselves in the foot when they go on these crusades in the vain of "our two-man family is just like that man-woman one next door!" ... err .. except it isn't. No amount of wishful thinking can hide the fact that exclusively same-sex sexual interaction is simply a genetic deficiency doomed to reproductive failure, or in case of lesbians in the absence of technological insemination. Does this warrant persecution or social shunning? Hell no. But at the same time you cannot pretend that it is not likely to cause all sorts of strange reactions by the sex-controlling circuitry of the brains of those who have the "standard" wiring, ranging from discomfort to outright instinctive (genetically-dictated) hostility.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not quite, that's a straw-man argument...
Homosexuality is a choice, not biology, regardless of what crank science says. Race is based off biology, not choice, and is readily observed. You cannot equate the two, sorry. Further,
1. "marriage is between a man and a woman" is the firm belief of many people based on religious principles. That is not bigoted regardless of how much some on /. think most/all religious people are blind religious zealots who do not think for themselves and hate others as a result. THAT kind of stereotype is close-minded.
2. "coloreds don't drink from the white fountation" is based off of bigotry. No one chooses their race anymore than someone chooses to be conceived and subsequently born. Such behavior in America's past was shameful.
3. Using #1 as an argument to whether or not two people of the same gender can live together is wrong.
4. Polls show that most people in America believe in #1, so get over it. Just because people believe in #1, doesn't mean they're going to beat down the doors of a homosexual and get violent with them. Nor, does it mean such people will argue against homosexuals carrying life insurance, holding various jobs, etc.
It's the difference between tolerance and acceptance. I can tolerate the RIGHT of a homosexual to CHOOSE how to live THEIR OWN LIFE... That RIGHT to CHOOSE is something they are granted by God. But, that in no way means I have to ACCEPT such choices, just as God does not accept such choices. To force me to accept that is to take away my rights to choose how to live and what to believe.
I am sure they would ban one of us for doing that, but we had better god-damned respect this crap. This has no place in the gaming world and it is only done to provoke people into getting into fights. There is no need for this and Microsoft needs to grow a backbone. I doubt Microsoft would allow me to put into my profile, "Straight male that enjoying sleeping with hot women", so why should others be allowed to put that they enjoy unnatural sexual activity?
Headkase: You could not be more wrong. People discriminating based on skin color(which does not make a human apart of another race) is, in no way, similar to being a homosexual or transsexual. The latter is a choice; a person cannot choose his or her skin color.