The City of Heroes / Villains official site has been updated with a look at a recent event held in in-game called the Rainbow Prom. The event was held for the prominent gay and lesbian community in the City of Heroes / Villains games and was featured on Gay.com.

Hundreds of super-powered lesbians and gays let their magical hair down at a new LGBT prom recently. They danced, flirted, elected a prom king and (drag) queen, played outdoors in their underwear at a mountain ski resort, and levitated with robotic boots and angels' wings until they crashed the server. Yes, they were in a virtual online world called "City of Heroes."

Queer gamers have been making strides toward virtual equality for a while now. They've won the right to marry in "The Sims," "Fable" and "Fallout 2." A gay pirate named Bertram romances male avatars (game characters) in "The Temple of Elemental Evil." "World of Warcraft" nearly shut down an LGBT guild (players' group) in 2006, but ultimately backed off and apologized. Makers of the new online "Lord of the Rings," on the other hand, have scrapped the option of marriage altogether -- for straight as well as gay hobbits -- rather than face the issue of same-sex nuptials, not to mention interspecies wizard-elf unions.

"City of Heroes"' Rainbow Prom may have been the first virtual LGBT prom ever. Gamers were invited to finally enjoy the high school dance many missed when they were 18. At least 200 'toons showed up, organizers reported, and partied so hard they actually forced NCsoft to reboot the computer generating their virtual world -- several times.

Read the full article on Gay.com.