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Garena Philippines eSports”

The original story about the controversy is below:

A relatively large eSports league based in the Philippines called Garena eSports, has created a stir in the professional gaming community after revealing its gender-specific women-only tournament, dubbed The Iron Solari, will restrict the number of “lesbian, gay [and] transgendered women” to one player per team, in their next League of Legends (LoL) tournament.

“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,” reads a “ruling update” on Garena eSports’ official website.

Aside from the problematic premise of limiting LGBT participation to one player per team, the policy also lumps transgender (the preferred term, not “transgendered”) women and gay women. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same thing.

The league cites the dubious concern of LGBT women have an “unfair advantage” in the tournament.

“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.”

The league claims it consulted those who participated in previous Iron Solari tournaments, particularly members of the LGBT community, before making this decision.

“We’ve given a lot of thought on this subject, and we’ve similarly consulted and talked with various parties including the female teams who joined the 1st leg of Iron Solari, and a number of LoL players belonging to the Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women community. ”

Garena eSports goes on to explain the league wants to create an “inclusive” environment, but that the new rules were included to ensure the tournament remains fair and balanced. Garena reportedly has a history of similar strange decisions related to gender.

Garena eSports new rules also delve into even more specifics in terms of team member gender-related limitations. eSports and online gaming in general has long suffered from systemic gender-related issues, particularly in the fighting game community.

Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, is often heavily involved in the eSports scene related to their flagship game, but is known to not have direct-involvement in international tournaments. Many are calling for Riot Games to intervene and fine Garena eSports for the league’s discriminatory policies. The developer recently tweeted the below statement regarding its stance on LGBT players.