Ubisoft has announced the Rainbow Six Siege esports roadmap for 2022, and fans are in an uproar over the chosen location of this year's Summer Major.
The Stage 2 Major of the 2022 season will take place in the United Arab Emirates, a country with notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Players, casters, and fans have expressed outrage that Ubisoft would bring the Summer Major to a country where many would face persecution due to the UAE's federal laws that prohibit same-sex relationships, sex reassignment surgery, and cross-dressing, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to execution.
It's also a strange twist for a game that has been trying to broaden its representation in recent years. Rainbow Six Siege now has two openly LGBTQ+ operators in Flores and Osa, making it somewhat strange that Ubisoft would host a tournament in a country where both of these characters would be arrested.
But the real concern is from players and casters who would rightfully fear for their safety just for attending the Rainbow Six Siege Summer Major. Public outcry has already resulted in a Change.org petition demanding Ubisoft change the location of the Tournament.
"UAE or United Arab Emirates has documented serious LGBTQ+ right issues in the past year, criminalizing homosexuality resulting in floggings, fines, deportation, chemical castration, forced conversion therapy, honor killings, vigilante execution, and more,” reads the Change.org petition, which was started by British Rainbow Six Siege fan Ellie Chapman, and which has also been reported on by Esports News UK.
"With the inclusion of LGBTQ+ members of R6:S talent, we believe as a collective that this decision is short-sighted, dangerous, and backwards to the developing ideology of esports, Rainbow Six: Siege and its community. Within SI 2022, there was an emphasis on the importance of Rainbow’s community, and this announcement is borderline insulting to our identity. We demand a change."
The petition received over 2,500 signatures in less than 24 hours and is well on its way to passing 5,000. Here’s hoping it's enough to convince Ubisoft to host the Rainbow Six Siege Summer Major in a more hospitable location.
Source: Read Full Article