You're mixing insecurity and reaction to social stigma into the mix, which completely misses the point. If you were to insist on "straight" being absolute and "gay" being everything else, then you could certainly draw the line that way. According to Kinsey's study, however, you'd find a vast imbalance toward the latter.
A lot of people miss the point. Thankfully, other slashdotters get it and have clarified the point in these comments.
To me, it seems clear that Blizzard is trying to prevent people from fighting by preventing them from getting to know one another...but they're doing so inconsistently.
"For your protection, we are not going to let you identify yourself as being gay."
But not...
"For your protection, we are not going to let you identify yourself as being xxxx." where xxxx is anything else that might make a person a target for harassment: Christian, Jewish, African-American, Muslim, French, female, etc.
The guilds in question are not GLBT-exclusive. They don't prohibit heterosexuals from joining. They essentially have a code of conduct that they make clear in their recruitment efforts. Given the ubiquitous "ghey" and "fag" comments seen in every chat channel in the game, GLBT-Friendly translates to:
"We do not tolerate harassment of GLBT people or slurs against them. If you cannot abide by this policy, don't even ask to join our guild. If this policy is acceptable, we welcome you."
Why is that different from "We do not tolerate foul language in our guild channel, regardless of the built-in language filter."?
It isn't about sex. It isn't about bigots. It isn't about religion. It's about Blizzard's vague and inconsistent application of their own policies in a manner that looks a heck of a lot like discrimination.
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You're mixing insecurity and reaction to social stigma into the mix, which completely misses the point. If you were to insist on "straight" being absolute and "gay" being everything else, then you could certainly draw the line that way. According to Kinsey's study, however, you'd find a vast imbalance toward the latter.
That's pretty much what Kinsey found in his study.
Doh! Sorry for the lack of formatting in that. I'm a SlashDot n00b.
A lot of people miss the point. Thankfully, other slashdotters get it and have clarified the point in these comments. To me, it seems clear that Blizzard is trying to prevent people from fighting by preventing them from getting to know one another...but they're doing so inconsistently. "For your protection, we are not going to let you identify yourself as being gay." But not... "For your protection, we are not going to let you identify yourself as being xxxx." where xxxx is anything else that might make a person a target for harassment: Christian, Jewish, African-American, Muslim, French, female, etc. The guilds in question are not GLBT-exclusive. They don't prohibit heterosexuals from joining. They essentially have a code of conduct that they make clear in their recruitment efforts. Given the ubiquitous "ghey" and "fag" comments seen in every chat channel in the game, GLBT-Friendly translates to: "We do not tolerate harassment of GLBT people or slurs against them. If you cannot abide by this policy, don't even ask to join our guild. If this policy is acceptable, we welcome you." Why is that different from "We do not tolerate foul language in our guild channel, regardless of the built-in language filter."? It isn't about sex. It isn't about bigots. It isn't about religion. It's about Blizzard's vague and inconsistent application of their own policies in a manner that looks a heck of a lot like discrimination.