Nexus Mods has deleted an anti-LGBTQ mod that switched the gender of Dame Aylin in Baldur’s Gate 3 following a public blowback.
Alongside removing the mod, Nexus Mods also took the extra step of banning the user who uploaded it, referring to it as “a throwaway account” and reinforcing the company’s policy: “We are for inclusivity, we are for diversity. If we think someone is uploading a mod on our site with the intent to deliberately be against inclusivity and/or diversity then we will take action against it.”
The mod in question, called ‘Ser Aylin’ was the headline element of a larger mod pack that was explicitly intended to remove references to homosexuality and other non-heteronormative and non-binary identities to “match medieval status quo” and remove “modern day irrationalities.” The justifications, of course, reflect a bigoted, narrow-minded view of history — as well as completely ignoring the fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 is, in fact, a work of fantasy containing plenty else that doesn’t reflect medieval realities, as emphasized by the creator of The Forgotten Realms setting back in 2016.
The anti-LGBTQ mod first gained the ire of fans via the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit, where the poster outlined the full intent of it, including the creator’s history of creating similarly problematic mods.
It’s not the first time Nexus Mods has taken steps to deplatform anti-LGBTQ+ content. The site’s policy first came to the limelight when it removed a mod that erased Pride flags from Marvel’s Spider-Man and has since continued that policy for similar mods targeting games including Fallout 4 and Hogwarts Legacy.
