Facebook Protest Draws Crowd

About 100 people representing a diverse cross section of the LGBT community and allies gathered in front of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park June 1 to protest the social media company's real names policy, which has caused accounts of some drag queens and others to be frozen.

At issue is the company's policy of using legal names instead of stage names or other names on Facebook pages. Last fall, a group of drag and trans community members, along with gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, met with Facebook officials but a formal agreement was not reached. The social media company did restore some drag queens' pages that it had removed.

Since then, however, drag queens and transgender people report being locked out of their Facebook pages for not using their legal or birth names. Facebook did announce 56 gender identity options last year, but anyone can still report alleged "fake" names with the click of a button.

It's this fake name reporting option that has caused the greatest controversy. Many drag and trans community members have said that Facebook is trying to prevent them from identifying as their authentic selves.

"Facebook's fake name reporting option punishes identity and not behavior," Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence told the Bay Area Reporter. "Users on Facebook are using this reporting option as a tool to maliciously target and report members of the LGBT community and others who they find objectionable for whatever reason."

For some, not using their birth names can be a matter of personal safety. For others, it cuts to their identity.

"I was told that my name wasn't real," Sadaisha Shimmers, a 31-year-old transgender woman, told the B.A.R. at the protest.

Shimmers said that she was cut off from friends and political organizations she supports when her Facebook account was frozen.

"When Facebook chooses to make you go back to a given name it can make your family aware of your choices before you have chosen to include them in your transition," she said.

The real names policy has also affected sex workers.

"My family may not want to have a dominatrix in the family tree, and that's OK," said Beth Bicoastal, speaking at the rally on behalf of the leather and sex worker communities.

Two busloads of people rode down to Menlo Park from the Market Street Safeway parking lot at 10 a.m. on June 1. The buses were sponsored by Ello, another social networking site. The protest was organized by Sister Roma and drag artist Lil Miss Hot Mess. Facebook security allowed the buses to park inside the Facebook parking lot, but building security and Menlo Park police requested that the protest take place just outside Facebook's main entrance. The protest proceeded peacefully, with the police and the protesters addressing each other respectfully.

Attendees included drag performers Bebe Sweetbriar, Mutha Chucka, and Campos.

"We want actions, not words," Campos said as he addressed the crowd. "We are tired of hearing the right words and nothing happens."

Campos and Sister Roma now claim that Facebook went back on its word to lift the real names policy.

Sister Roma told the crowd that they were "beautiful," and that they were representing the rights of millions to self-identify.

"Facebook needs to immediately end the fake names reporting option," Roma said. "They are condoning bullying. It's targeted and malicious."

As Roma spoke, many protesters gave a "thumbs down" - in contrast to the thumbs up Facebook like symbol - to the rainbow flag colors that graced the Facebook sign for Pride Month.

Alex U. Inn, a member of the drag king performance group Mama's Boyz, said they also experienced being locked out of their Facebook account.

"One day I logged on and I was gone," Inn, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, said. "The black community is targeted because our names don't represent what American names are supposed to sound like."

Samuel White Swan Perkins, a representative from the Native American community, expressed these same sentiments.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Souvall declined to comment specifically on the protest but provided a link to Facebook's safety page.

Another Facebook executive said that U.S. users can now act quickly if their pages are reported.

"We now provide people in the U.S. access to their account while they verify or update their name," said a June 1 posting from Justin Osofsky, Faceboook's vice president of global operations. "We also offer the option to act immediately or within seven days."

Osofsky wrote that Facebook has also expanded the types of documentation they will accept for name verification, which can now include mail, a library card or a magazine subscription.

"We clarified language throughout our site to make it clear that when we say authentic name, it does not necessarily need to be a legal name," Osofsky wrote.

The protesters aren't buying it and vowed to continue the fight.

"We are all human beings and we all have the right to be called whatever we want," said Shimmers.