Stephen Toulouse Has Passed Away.

Stephen Toulouse, also known as Stepto, has passed away earlier today at 45 years old. The announcement was made by his brother via Twitter.

Stephen Toulouse was the Director of Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement at Microsoft, as well as former co-host of Larry Hryb's "Major Nelson Radio," an Xbox-related podcast.

Stephen was a very progressive yet firm influence on what should be allowed within the Xbox Live community. He pushed the banning of hateful ideology in Gamertags and profiles such as swastikas years before places like Reddit and Twitter began to crack down on them.

In 2009, Xbox was receiving a great deal of adverse attention due to not allowing the mention of any and all sexual orientation in the written section of one's profile. While discussion of one's orientation was allowed in voice chats, any mention of it in "writing" was a bannable offense. After seeing the community's discontent, Stephen Toulouse swore to change the policies to allow the expression of one's sexual orientation. This change was then implemented the following year, leading to The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praising Toulouse for his efforts to combat homophobia in online gaming.

Stephen was a gamer himself too, with an Xbox 360 gamerscore of over 130,000.

Stephen was experiencing health issues that eventually led to a coma. My condolences go out to all those affected by his passing.