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Mastercard and Visa face backlash after hundreds of adult games removed from online stores Steam and Itch.io
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2025
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There it is.
if the LGBTQ+ games were not sexual in nature (why does it not say?), then that is quite damning and I approve of this conspiracy theory.
It's not all that much of a conspiracy theory as those pushing this line at the payment processoers openly advocate that since LGBTQ+ references sex by way of sexuality and gender, then that is sexual content, and is therefore inappropriate for children. This, of course, completely ignores heterosexuality and cisgender because they consider queer people existing to be harmful to children. And trying to get through to them about how important age-appropriate sexual education is in combating child abuse is an exercise in frustration.
If you google Tankard-Reist you'll find it's not a conspiracy theory - she has actively tried to block queer representation at every level in every way for decades
Fair enough
politicians have literally said that the reason for censorship bills about the internet are specifically to go after lgbtq spaces.
How can you know a game is LGBTQ+ if they don't talk about sex/gender? They look like normal humans to me, which differ in sexual preferences only? Example: How can you say this guy is gay without knowing his sexual preferences?
And how is casually referring to heterosexual relationships then not sexual?
Cognitive dissonance, naturally.
It is, did I write something wrong which negates that?
There is a difference between talking about sex and gender and something being sexual. If a shopkeeper mentions his husband, I can extrapolate that he's at least bi, but that doesn't mean the game is sexual.
In some jurisdictions, something being LGBTQ+ is inherently sexual. Places like Florida have a very psychotic view of what makes something sexual, and bans media for containing LGBTQ+ themes.
While that makes sense to logical people, there is a rabid right-wing movement in the US that in intent on defining any acknowledgment of LGBTQ+ is inherently "sexual".
I assume it doesn't say because there are games with LGBTQ+ content that is sexual and ones where it is not.