Gay Gay runs into telecom troubles

A KIWI WOMAN'S ATTEMPT to contact Telecom New Zealand's help desk failed because the company's profanity checked deemed her name to be inappropriate, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The company's automated reply to her email informed Gay Hamilton that her message had been identified by its content filter as containing language considered inappropriate for business-like communication.

A Telecom NZ spokesbunny said that the monitoring system exists to prevent the misuse of email in the workplace and act as a deterrent to harassment, adding that the list of banned words included 'gay' and 'heterosexual', so at least the company cannot be accused of bias on the grounds of sexual orientation.

In one of those amazing you-couldn't-make-it-up coincidences, Gay Hamilton actually is gay, and when we discover that a lady called Hamilton lives in a town called Nelson, amazement is surely no longer adequate. µ

L'Inq
Sydney Morning Herald