Electronic Arts, winner of this year’s “Worst Company in America,” has received a lot of heat from right wing Christian groups for allowing gay-friendly content in its games. The Florida Family Association is accusing EA of corrupting children and giving into pressure from LGBT groups in a letter campaign. EA is not going down without a fight.
“Every one of EA’s games includes ESRB content descriptors so it’s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment,” corporate communications vice-president Jeff Brown said. “EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don’t tolerate hate speech on our forums.”
Being attacked by fundamentalists is nothing new for EA. Shortly after The Old Republic launched, the Family Research Group said they gay content would “warp” children. The letter campaign seems to be another attempt to force a company to follow a certain group’s religious beliefs.
The Human-Rights Campaign is currently working on a petition to thank EA for their stance on the issue and stating that the anti-gay group is actually rather small.
[Via Destuctoid]