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"More than 60,000 people have signed a petition calling on Electronic Arts to resist the &amp;quot;dark side&amp;quot;, after the firm came under fire from Christian groups over the inclusion of gay characters in its games. US publishing giant EA has been at the centre of a storm for featuring lesbian, gay and bisexual characters in recent blockbuster role-playing games, including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3.    EA and developer BioWare have been criticised for offering homosexual subplot scenes in Mass Effect 3, while campaigners are concerned over optional gay romantic sub-plots in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Right-wing groups in America, such as The Family Research Council, have accused the publisher of corrupting children and young people.  Hundreds of letters have reportedly been sent to senior bosses at EA - many coming from a group called the Florida Family association - and some have threatened to boycott EA games unless there is a change in policy.  &amp;quot;In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!&amp;quot; said Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council. However, EA appears ready to stand its ground in the case, after labelling the campaign &amp;quot;political harassment&amp;quot;.   &amp;quot;Every one of EA&amp;#039;s games includes ESRB content descriptors so it&amp;#039;s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content,&amp;quot; said EA&amp;#039;s chief spokesperson Jeff Brown in a statement. &amp;quot;This isn&amp;#039;t about protecting children, it&amp;#039;s about political harassment.&amp;quot; Campaign group AllOut.org has launched a campaign in support of EA, including an online petition that has now attracted more than 60,000 signatures urging the publisher to &amp;quot;resist the power of the dark side&amp;quot;. The group wants EA games to continue allowing players to see characters in a variety of relationships, gay or straight. The campaign has received widespread support on Twitter and Facebook, as well as the backing of celebrities such as Aisha Tyler, Stephen Fry and Neil Gaiman. &amp;quot;Electronic Arts customers are speaking out loud and clear: Being for equality is good for business,&amp;quot; said Andre Banks, the executive director AllOut.org.  &amp;quot;Groups like the Family Research Council are truly on the &amp;#039;dark side&amp;#039; - they put pressure on companies like EA to block fair, balanced portrayals of gay characters in gaming and other media.  &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;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.&amp;quot; He added: &amp;quot;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.&amp;quot; AllOut.org said that it intends to ask &amp;quot;Master Yoda himself&amp;quot; to deliver the signatures collected online to EA&amp;#039;s headquarters in Redwood City, California. However, the organisation has since taken down the comment section of its website due to a &amp;quot;cyber attack&amp;quot; in which around 3,000-5,000 comments and signatures were added to the petition.  These comments are being removed and AllOut.org is attempting to verify that more than 60,000 legitimate signatures have been secured. &amp;gt; &amp;#039;Mass Effect 3&amp;#039; extended cut announced, free update to clarify ending &amp;gt; Electronic Arts wins &amp;#039;wort company in America&amp;#039; award Watch the multiplayer DLC trailer for Mass Effect 3 below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/mass-effect/news/a375821/electronic-arts-urged-to-resist-gay-character-criticism/>