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A video gaming company has backtracked on a ruling which limited tournament teams to just one gay or transgendered woman player.
Garena eSports – which runs gaming events across Southeast Asia – planned to implement the rule for its all-female Iron Solari League tournament.
The company planned the new rule because they wanted to “ensure a fair level playing field for all participants”.
It said in a statement : “There are arguments and concerns from other participants who dispute that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage.”
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Garena wanted to limit each team in its all-female tournament to “a maximum of one gay/transgendered woman for the entirety of the day” and gave some guidance to assist players:
“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.”
Teams were warned that if they broke the new rules, they would be subject to a year-long ban on all Garena events, which caused both anger and amusement online.
After the new rule was roundly ridiculed online, Garena backtracked in a second statement .
“After discussing the ruling with our partners and re-examining our approach, we have decided to remove these restrictions completely,” the company said.
“This means that any player who self-identifies as female will be allowed to participate.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense we caused to the LGBT and gaming communities.”
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