Are hate speech bans taken seriously?

Hello!

I've been playing LoL for about a year now. I've met really wonderful people playing and generally really enjoy the game. We all have our days - I can understand that as well as others who get angry and lash out - but I don't think hate speech is ever acceptable. I generally don't report people for lagging out or even throwing out a snide comment or two. However, being gay, I report every single person who uses "gay" negatively or uses even worse hate speech such as "%%%got" and "queer". I have received notifications that those I've reported have gone to tribunal. However, none of these instances have been for hate speech. I feel like I've reported more people for language/harassment/hate speech than any other categories yet I've never received notification that they've been reprimanded.

Do you guys even ACTUALLY ban for anti-gay hate speech? I wonder if tickets are received and staff members read logs just o come to the conclusion that "they meant stupid, not actual hate speech" thus people are not banned. Do you know how serious it is for younger people who might be in the closet to be bullied in school for being gay then come home to escape to LoL and be bullied here?

I hope that with the position you're in to teach players a lesson about not using hate speech you are actually penalizing them for using hate speech.

I'd be horrified to find out that the actual banning rate of those using hate speech when referring to gay people is low as I have financially supported this company. I don't want to give money to a company that, though inadvertently, condones the use of "gaaaaay" negatively or "%%%got" or "queer".