The Gay Geek (May 28, 2008)

Stop digging, Microsoft:

Sadly, last week’s drama over an Xbox live user who found his gamertag “theGAYERgamer” deemed as containing inappropriate sexual innuendo just got even more infuriating. This time it was Richard Gaywood, using his real name (even posting his driving license to prove it) who was deemed as being in violation of Microsoft’s Terms of Service agreement.

Much like the situation with theGAYERgamer, Microsoft spokesperson Stephen Toulouse responded saying, "While it may be clear to some that Gaywood is a legitimate surname, it may not be obvious to other Xbox LIVE members. In this case, a complaint was filed by a member of the community, requiring the Xbox LIVE team to examine the gamertag within the context of the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use. Based on the these guidelines, it was necessary for the gamertag to change."

The silliness just got gay gamers to fume more about Microsoft's Xbox live policies. Reacting to Toulouse's "Won't somebody think of the children?" response about theGAYERgamer flap last week, LesbianGamers.com remarked, "Linking ‘gay’ to some negative or sexually explicit content merely fans the fires of homophobia." Meanwhile, Dawdle over at GayGamer.net asked the very logical question as to why explaining what “gay” means to a child requires an early lesson in human sexuality that the question of where babies come from does not.

There is more potential to see sexual innuendo in “RichardGaywood” than “theGAYERgamer”, particularly if you shorten his first name to a now infrequently-used nickname. Still, I think that’s the sort of thing that falls in the category of if you’re old enough to understand the innuendo you’re old enough to see it. Otherwise, it’ll just go over your head.

Attention YAOI and Yuri readers
Robin Brenner, the author of the Eisner-nominated Understanding Manga and Anime, as well as a full-time librarian, has been helping libraries incorporate comics into their collections for the past several years. She's going to be a speaker at the upcoming American Library Association Conference on a panel about GLBTQ comics. To prepare, she is trying to expand her understanding of how gay people feel about manga featuring same-sex romances including YAOI (male romances written by women for women), bara (gay stories written by gay men for a gay male audience) and Yuri (lesbian relationships written for either male or female audiences).

Brenner has a survey set up that she's asking queer manga readers to answer. It's fairly simple and doesn't require any personal information you might not be comfortable giving. Since she's looking to understand a range of reactions, I'm sure it would be helpful if those of you who've checked out a YAOI title and decided it wasn't for you, to share your opinions as well.