Update: On Wednesday, Garena posted a statement confirming that it had backed off its announced plans for restrictions in its Iron Solari LoL tournament series. "Any player who self-identifies as female will be allowed to participate," the statement read. "We sincerely apologize for any offense we caused to the LGBT and gaming communities."

Original Story

On Tuesday, a Southeast Asian e-sports event organizer, deemed an official League of Legends partner by the massive game's creator, posted a first-of-its-kind restriction about how many gay and transgender women players could participate in the company's "all feminine tournament" for the online game.

In a post that opened with "Greetings, ladies of the league," an unnamed site moderator at Garena explained that the company planned to "experiment" with participation rules for its February 22 League of Legends tournament, known as The Iron Solari. The new rule will limit each five-person LoL team to having "a maximum of one (1) gay/transgendered woman for the entirety of the tournament day," and the rules clarified that a team cannot go so far as to swap a gay or transgender player for another between matches.

As an explanation, the post described Garena's aims "to have an inclusive environment where no one feels left out," but then went on to claim that gay and transgender players "may probably have some unfair advantage." In a November 2014 New Yorker profile of a transgender Starcraft II pro player, the idea of "advantage" for transgender women was explored briefly, with a male event organizer speaking out about such accusations: "It’s kinda funny how people only want to ban transgender girls who are incredibly good.”

In late 2013, League of Legends' creator Riot Games opened its worldwide use stats up to an infographic that claimed that 92 percent of its players are male but didn't further clarify any sexual orientation among either its male or female players—nor whether sexuality affected performance among female players.

After asking Riot Games about its official partnership with Garena, along with its opinion on gay and transgender restrictions in its game, we were directed to the company's official Twitter account, which had posted the following statement: "LGBT players are welcome at official LoL tourneys. We're working with partners to ensure consistency with our values across all regions."