According to the BBC, when 26-year-old Josh Moore entered his home town into his Xbox Live account, he was banned from the service for breaking its code of conduct. It turns out, despite Microsoft’s initial suspicions, that Fort Gay is in fact a town in West Virginia – and that Mr Moore wasn’t implying that his town was ‘gay’ in any way.
Initially, Microsoft wouldn’t look into Mr Moore’s appeal over his ban, but later Microsoft responded with an apology to him and the community of Fort Gay. Microsoft has been known for strict enforcement of rules regarding anti-social and discriminatory behavior on Xbox Live and claims that this was simply a miscommunication, with a spokesperson adding that staying ahead of slang and policing Xbox Live is a constant challenge. Mr Moore claims that, although he wasn’t gay, he felt as though Microsoft were discriminating.
The Wikipedia article on Fort Gay claims that Fort Gay was originally chartered as ‘Cassville’, but renamed to Fort Gay in 1932 – most probably to differentiate it from another Cassville in West Virginia.
Of course discrimination still happens on Xbox Live, especially if you’re playing Halo against a girl (warning: offensive language).
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