"…and I’m proudly angry at the world, and Russia’s laws."  - Jovan, Sims Community founder

The Sims 4 Wedding Stories was one of the best game pack reveals I have seen. Huge emotions, a lovely world, and upgraded weddings, it all was a glimmer of hope for everyone, that The Sims 4 knew what to do to deliver a quality pack that will keep us going for more.

The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories reveal showed us a queer couple, Camille Soto and Dominique Umeh. Camille is bisexual, and Dominique is lesbian. Their story of Camille originally marrying to a man in the new world of Tartosa, and then falling in love with Dominique during her wedding, it showed us that you can love whoever you'd like to.

But it also delivered content that represents endless cultures around the world. America, China, India, Italy, etc. I am a Simmer who loves to upload families from around the world onto my gallery (gallery ID is 'Gameboy2936', if you're interested), to showcase that in Sims 4, we can make people from anywhere in the world, where we can express ourselves, our cultures, our personalities, and especially in this case, our sexualities.

But then, The Sims 4 made their ultimate betrayal of our Russian simmers. Gay marriage is illegal in Russia. And @TheSims decided to ban My Wedding Stories for Russian players. On the first day, everyone was happy that The Sims is standing against homophobia. But from the second day and onwards, every single person is outraged. And now I am too. And this is what happened when we saw our fellow Russian simmers' reactions on twitter.

- "Many of us saw their refusal to adjust promotional material + stand by their values as a positive, but these well-meaning intentions actually harm the Russian LGBTQ+ community in denying them access to the pack. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone with my response last night." - @lilsimsie

- "Maybe a lot of people don't understand BUT: No one is asking them to change the cover! In our country, the game is 18+, which means that such a cover can be used, sold and advertised! We have no law against it!" - @HovoGivili

- "Okay, @TheSims I have one question. Where were your principles when you showed a gay couple's wedding in the Russian trailer earlier?
The game is 18+ in Russia and NO law prohibits you from releasing new content. You are lying to improve your reputation." - @AlamiraGames

- "All you need to know about EA's policy is that My Wedding Stories will be released in Morocco, where contact with the opposite sex is punishable by imprisonment for several years." - @RetroMabel

- "Hungary, who has very similar law like Russia, will still get the pack. Reason? @EA can't ban Hungary, because Hungary falls in region with other Europe countries, like Italy or France - they would have to ban entire region, basically entire Europe." - @The_AmazingMiky

- "Hi everyone. Why the decision to ban Wedding Stories in Russia is not about the defense of LGBTQ+ rights: a thread. Please, sit down. It will be a loooong ride. This is really huge im so sorry" - @SimplyHao (view full thread here)

- "I spent a lot of money on this game and now I feel like I’ve been spat in the face. We didn’t really care that Slavic culture isn’t represented but this is too much. We don’t feel welcome in this community anymore." - @Marzina24

- "The way you handled this is very disappointing. I understand if you want to address the controversy separately from the livestream (and IMO that would be better in another stream, letter or video message), but closing down chat entirely sent a poor message." - @mitzy247

- "Dear @TheSims. We, Russian simmers, feel deeply disappointed and betrayed by all this situation with the game which we loved and supported for many years. We respect the values of The Sims Team, they are incredibly important in the modern progressive society." - @sims_mix

- "Refusing to sell My Wedding Stories is homophobic. You had a chance to say, "We are with you no matter what. Love and be free at least in the game. We support you in this battle because we are grateful to have all our Simmers around the world." But you didn't say it." - @Creamy0Moon

- "This story is still being developed and will continue throughout the rest of the coming days through several articles. As an LGBTQ+ person living in the Balkan area of Europe where we still don’t have basic rights to be our queer selves and marry who we want I’m still processing this information. Sure, this is just a video game and a decision like this doesn’t mean a lot to you – but as someone who’s been playing The Sims in means of escapism through the harsh realities of the real world where our rights are stripped I’m everything but surprised. This is an everyday thing for us." - Jovan, Sims Community founder

This news is heartbreaking to all of those who cannot purchase the pack in Russia, or perhaps also other CIS countries that sell The Sims 4, such as Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan. My heart goes out to all those affected.

As one of the quotes in the list above have said, because The Sims 4 and all of its packs are rated 18+ in Russia, they are allowed to use same-sex on their packaging, advertising, and in the gameplay itself. There is not a law against it at all, so there's no point in banning this for anyone.

Love is love. Sims 4 is the place to be where we, as @TheSims said, love who we want to love, be who we want to be, and tell the stories we want to tell where we can escape the harsh realities of our lives.

We may be against this ban for Russian simmers on Twitter, but if we really want to make a difference, change.org is the website that will do just that. I hope you all can take a stand together to change this ban and let our Russian simmers say "I do to My Wedding Stories."

Thank you for reading. I hope we all can make a difference together. If you want to read @TheSims' statement on their website about this ban, you can go here.