(Update below)
A league in the Philippines dedicated to eports gaming has set a quota on the number of lesbian or transgender players for teams in a women's-only "League of Legends" tournament this month, claiming too many would be an unfair advantage.
In a ruling that is real and not some piece of satire, Garena eSports issued this edict on team makeup for a Feb. 22 tournament in Manila called "The Iron Solari":
1) Each team will be allowed to have a maximum of one (1) Gay/Transgendered woman for the entirety of the tournament day. Therefore, teams cannot do the following: Team_A's first game will be 4 female members and 1 gay, then on Team_A's second game, they will have 4 female members and replace with another gay or transgender member.
2) Any team who has violated the above provision, regardless if intentional or otherwise, whether discovered during the day of the event or some time after, will have all their team members (the female members as well as the Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered women member) sanctioned with a 1-year ban on all Garena-organized events, including subsequent Iron Solari Tournament.Garena eSports gave this rationale for its decision:
For any events we do, we always want to make sure we are able to have an inclusive environment where no one feels left out, and of course for everybody to enjoy. On this angle, we believed that allowing more to be eligible to join is obviously the answer and as many of our female teams have expressed — Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members are their friends too. On the other hand, for any competitions, we seriously look at ensuring there's a fair level playing field for all participants. And there are arguments and concerns from other participants who disputes that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage.
For starters, lesbians and transgender women are women, so there is no need to segregate them from non-LGBT women. Second, how the hell does a lesbian or a transgender person have an unfair advantage playing video games? I didn't know being lesbian gave one superpowers. Canadian technology writer Patrick O'Rourke is equally stumped as were commenters on Garena's website, one who wrote:
I think the real question we should all be asking here is… just how much oxygen were the organizers deprived at birth that ANY of this makes sense to them?I mean, lets forget the mere fact that they are suggesting LGBT individuals possess some sort of… magical… video game playing… superpowers.
The thing that blows me away here is… they managed to do something so incredibly stupid, that it's making us all forget the fact that they think gender segregated video games make sense… because… men play video games with their dicks?
The competition will use the popular "League of Legends" game, and O'Rourke said that many gamers are calling on Riot Games, the company that created "League of Legends" to intervene and "fine Garena eSports for the league's discriminatory policies." That would be a start.
Riot Games sent us this Tweet they posted today, so they are aware and taking steps:
LGBT players are welcome at official LoL tourneys. We’re working with partners to ensure consistency with our values across all regions.
— Riot Games (@riotgames) February 3, 2015
