Electronic Arts and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will host a panel discussion on homophobia in gaming this weekend with panelists from Maxis, Linden Labs, Microsoft and more.
Homophobia is something of a hot topic in the gaming community nowadays. Everybody knows that it’s not easy to be openly gay on services like Xbox Live, but recent news has shown that the issue of how to handle homophobia, and homosexuality in general, isn’t just a concern when it comes to gamers themselves but game companies as well.
Some of those companies, then, are coming together this weekend to discuss the issue of homophobia in gaming and the problems surrounding it. “Homophobia in Virtual Communities Panel” is a panel discussion hosted by Electronic Arts and organized by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) that “brings together gaming industry insiders and LGBT gamers in a conversation about combating homophobia online.”
Panelists include Stephen Toulouse of Microsoft, who was recently in the spotlight during this spring’s “gay Gamertag” controversy, Flynn DeMarco, games journalist and founder of GayGamer.net, and folks from the ESA, Maxis and Linden Labs. The panel will be moderated by Justin Cole, the Director of Digital & Online Media for GLAAD.
“Panelists will be addressing such issues as how to provide safe spaces for LGBT people online, how to ensure the best policies are in place to prevent virtual attacks against LGBT people and how to educate the users of online communities about the effects of homophobia,” GLAAD wrote.
The panel is open to the public and will take place at EA’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA, and take place from 11 AM to 1 PM. It should be an interesting discussion, so if you’re in the area and interested in these issues, check it out. If you can’t make it, GLAAD says the event will be recorded for distribution, so we’ll probably hear what comes out of the panel sometime soon.
[Via GamePolitics]
