Microsoft Homophobia Suit Exposes Bravery, Possible Non-Discrimination Shenanigans?
I was startled to read yesterday's report of a Lionhead employee suing Microsoft for homophobia for several reasons, not the least of which is that Lionhead, as a studio, has been one of the most welcoming and encouraging studios when it comes to gay representation in games. And Microsoft, for all its public foibles with gay-themed gamertags, is generally a gay-friendly company.
Things must be different in the Guildford office, however, where 11-year Lionhead veteran designer Jaime Durrant was given the extreme HR runaround. After enduring mocking emails sent around the workplace and homophobic messages posted in public areas of the office, Durrant tried to gain the aid of his HR department - which exists in part to moderate such offenses.
A promised email reminding the staff "how to behave responsibly in a diverse office" never went out, and months later Durrant was told that the firm would have to draft new policies before such a letter could be sent.
But Microsoft has a very active queer employee community, and was one of the first companies to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy. In 1989.
Twenty years should be long enough to draw up some basic guidelines for handling complaints of discrimination.
Further proof that Durrant's HR department failed in their duty to protect him is the evidently untruthful letter they asked him to sign, stating that he was happy with the handling of his complaint and that he agreed not to sue. Durrant refused.
Everyone around these parts should stand up and give Jaime Durrant a huge round of applause for staring down Goliath, especially in the face of an apparently hostile or inept HR department. Almost regardless of the circumstances, there's an intolerable implication that the HR team supposedly responsible for protecting Durrant went out of its way to shirk its responsibility - perhaps going so far as to lie about Microsoft's twenty-year-old policy of protecting its employees from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Bravo, Jaime - its a lot harder to stand up for gays-in-gaming on your side of the fence than from mine. You'll always be welcome in our community of gamers!
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 25 March 2009
· Comments (9)
Other stuff like this: homophobia, hr, jaime durrant, lionhead, microsoft
I'd just like to echo the support put forward by Tiny. Well done Jaime. It can't be an easy thing to do. Never compromise!
I worked once in one of these "homophobia-free" places... yeah, right... the worse places are the ones that tells you they gonna protect you... Jaime, wish you all the best!
The only thing worse than blatant discrimination is doing it behind your back while smiling to your face. Go Jaime!
My first reaction to this story was..."But...Lionhead always seemed so cool about this sort of thing?" Then I remembered, a lot of people are completley passive agressive about their "progressive tendencies". On another note, I saw that the Teamxbox.com reply section regarding this article was 91 responses long. I couldn't bear to look at what sort of moronic kneejerk responses were the majority...but I've never seen that many responses on the site.
I agree with g_whiz, people are totally passive agressive, and a lot of them are also really uncomfortable taking on issues of discrimination and minority rights. They don't want to "make waves", and they'd rather close their eyes and wish problems like this would go away.
Which is really dumb because then the problem just gets worse.
And I have also been completely avoiding the comment sections on all the blogs reporting this.
Kotaku's comments had some of the most ignorant people posting. But, there were probably twice as many people calling them on their BS.
The main point people seem to be laughing at and I agree is the "hurt feelings" quote.
And I agree, that sounds beyond retarded. They should say that he is suing for discrimination which he IS but marking it as "hurt feelings" just makes it sound frivolous
Brute
Are you basing your entire opinion on the facts from both sides, or just how Jaimie feels they went down?
Discrimination is always a terrible thing, but so is jumping to conclusion amidst what's sure to be an important legal battle. As you mentioned, Microsoft has a good history of protecting same-sex rights and implementing such anti-discrimination policies.
Perhaps they're due a fair shake, and to let their side be told before passing judgment? Is that too much to ask?
Duper:
I can say from personal experience that it is VERY SCARY to be one single gay man standing up to a corporate giant to defend himself.
Even if he's wrong, that guy deserves the support of the LGBT community, because either way he's setting an example for other LGBTs to be empowered to stand up for themselves.
And part of being supportive is giving someone who says they've been mistreated the benefit of the doubt while the truth is worked out.