The other day, I was reading about AMD’s announcement of two new cards for their upcoming RX 400 series of graphics cards, and one of the commenters asked what the deal was with all the rainbow sashes, ribbons, and everything else. He even went as far as to ask if Lisa Su (AMD’s President and CEO) and some of the other presenters that day were “soapbox warriors” for the LGBTQ+ community.

Seriously? Did this person not bother to read the news from the past 24 hours?

To be fair, his comment and the replies to it have been removed by the site they were on (certainly for the best), but it really made me mad at the time. It’s 2016 – why should it be a problem for someone to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community? Of all the things someone could notice at the myriad presentations during E3 and the PC Gaming Show, why is it that that was the thing this person (and apparently others) gravitated towards?

Thankfully, people like him are in a minority. Sadly, though, it’s a rather vocal minority. Personally, I feel like within the last decade (and definitely within the last five years) the gaming community has taken big strides into being a lot more accepting. Games these days often represent gay and lesbian characters in a very positive light. There are even a couple games that do the same for transgender characters (such as Technobabylon). Naturally, their presence in games doesn’t mean people still support them as a whole, but I do think that representation of them does help people at least accept them.

Trolls like from the other day remind me of the fact that we still have a ways to go yet. I definitely think we’ve moved a good distance in the right direction, but we’re not quite there yet. Comments like his are hurtful, and thankfully the websites that they appear on generally realize this and remove them. If nothing else, they have no bearing on the topics at hand anyway. In an ideal world, though, they wouldn’t appear at all.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share that little tidbit.

As a whole, though, E3 has been pretty interesting this year. There’s definitely a lot to be excited for!