Josh Moore lives in Fort Gay, West Virginia, a town of about 800 people. He listed his location in his Xbox Live profile, and for doing so was accused of violating the Xbox Live Code of Conduct. His account was suspended and the word 'Gay' was removed from his profile. When Moore contacted Xbox Live customer support to sort out what was clearly a misunderstanding, he was rebuffed, then threatened with a permanent ban to his (paid for) account if he dared put the name of his town back into his profile. Moore suggested the Microsoft employee he was speaking to could google his zip code for proof that Fort Gay was the name of a town, but he was told nothing could be done.
According to the CBS News post on the story, Moore went as far as enlisting the mayor of Fort Gay on his behalf, but the mayor had no more luck than he did:
Mayor David Thompson also tried to intervene, but with little success. He told television station WSAZ, which first reported the dispute, that he was informed the city's name didn't matter. The word "gay," he was told, was inappropriate in any context.
"It was so inappropriate for them, they wouldn't even say the word," Thompson told the AP Wednesday. "They said, 'that word.' It's beyond me. That's the name of our town! It's appalling. It's a slap in our face."
Eventually Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, stepped in and got the suspension lifted, and said he would apologize to Mr. Moore. Fair enough, I guess. But I do wonder how Moore would've gotten this overturned if he hadn't had a television news station reporting the story.