Identifying yourself as gay, lesbian, transgendered, bi, or even straight anywhere in your profile has been against the Xbox Live Code of Conduct since the service launched. This was a big deal a few months back. The LGBT community on Xbox Live had felt their rights were being stifled after one of their members had a run-in with the Policy Enforcement team.

Today, Microsoft's Marc Whitten announced in a letter to Xbox Live members that the Xbox policy team has listened and they are now allowing certain terms used in gamertags and profiles.

From the updated Code of Conduct:

You may use the following terms to express your relationship orientation in your profile or Gamertag:

• Lesbian
• Gay
• Bi
• Transgender
• Straight

Other terms regarding relationship orientation are not allowed. In addition you may not use these terms or any other terms regarding relationship orientation to insult, harass, or any other pejorative use against other users.

Here's hoping the rest of Xbox Live is willing and able to be grown-up about this.

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