Xbox Live Goes Gay with Gamertags

Xbox LIVE has finally gone gay! Well, at least Microsoft announced it would reverse its previous decision users from identifying as gay with their nicknames or Gamertags.

The company changed its policy following two years of pressure. Microsoft spokespeople asserted that prohibiting gay names was a move designed to prevent words including "gay," "lesbian," "bi," and "transgender" from being used in a derogatory manner. Now, only those five words are considered acceptable terminology related to sexual orientation.

Xbox LIVE general manager Marc Whitten summed up the new policy in an open letter, PC World reported.

"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," said Whitten. "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."

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