League of Legends Tournament Removes Controversial LGBT Restrictions

A League of Legends tournament set in the Philippines has withdrawn its controversial LGBT restrictions from its all-women division after it was met with tremendous backlash.

Polygon reports that the Garena Philippines esports league has removed a recent LGBT tournament restriction after a ton of infuriated players suggested them to do so. Garena Philippines was holding an all-female League of Legends tournament, called The Iron Solari, and originally declared that each participating team had a limit of one LGBT member. Garena organizers believed that this could cause some sort of "unfair advantage" in the tournament.

"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 (sic) that Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered Women members may probably have some unfair advantage," a Garena representative claimed.

Here were Garena Philippines' original rules to The Iron Solari:

1) 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.

2) Any team who has violated the above provision, regardless if intentional or otherwise, whether discovered during the day of the event or some time after, will have all their team members (the female members as well as the Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered women member) sanctioned with a 1-year ban on all Garena-organized events, including subsequent Iron Solari Tournament.

Crowds of people demanded that Garena Philippines change its policies, as Riot Games clearly distanced itself from the event's organizers:

Garena Philippines has since apologized, and claims that "any player who self-identifies as female will be allowed to participate." Since League of Legends tournaments are predominantly attended and played by males, Garena originally intended to have The Iron Solari tournament promote diversity. That's some impeccable logic there, Garena.