AllOut.org Thanks Electronic Arts (EA) for Standing Up For LGBT Youth, Visibility

In Two Days, Over 60,000 Sign Petition Urging Electronic Arts to Resist the Power of the Dark Side

San Francisco, CA - In the face of right-wing attacks by the Family Research Council, consumers and citizens around the world are strongly backing one of the largest video game makers, Electronic Arts for their inclusion of LGBT characters in the new video games Star Wars: The Old Republic andMass Effect 3.  

Within two days of launching the campaign, AllOut.org broke 60,000 signers thanking Electronic Arts for continuing to allow gamers to involve their characters in the relationships they want, gay or straight.  AllOut.org members also took to Twitter and Facebook to spread the word where celebrities like Aisha Tyler, Stephen Fry and Neil Gaiman all quickly retweeted their support.

Andre Banks, executive director for AllOut.org said, “Electronic Arts customers are speaking out loud and clear:  Being for equality is good for business.  Groups like the Family Research Council are truly on the ‘dark side’ - they put pressure on companies like EA to block fair, balanced portrayals of gay characters in gaming and other media.   You don’t have to be a gamer to understand that it makes a real difference for Electronic Arts to present positive portrayals of gays and lesbians to its community of 100 million players.”

Banks added, “We are not arguing that Electronic Arts is a perfect company, but we know that today, on this issue, they are taking an important stand that should be celebrated and supported.”

AllOut.org intends to enlist Master Yoda himself to deliver the signatures collected online to the headquarters of Electronics Arts in Redwood City, California.

http://allout.org/en/actions/theforce

UPDATE:  AllOut.org has temporarily disabled the campaign page of its website due to a cyber attack by hackers.  In the attack, hackers added roughly 3000-5000 comments and signatures onto the petition.  AllOut.org is currently in the process of removing those signatures, but can verify that over 60,000 members have sign onto the petition and continue to urge Electronic Arts to stay away from the dark side.

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AllOut.org is a global campaign organization of nearly 900,000 people from 190 countries around the world dedicated to LGBT equality. A movement working online and on the ground to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are, All Out is adding global people power to the historic fight for LGBT equality.