Facebook faces the ire of the LGBT community as it enforces a legal names crackdown on drag queens and nightlife performers, saying the use of legal names "helps keep our community safe." This despite a PR campaign launched earlier this year to promote the 50 new options for Facebook users for their gender information, with the options ranging from "Male" and "Female" to "Neutrois" and "Two-Spirit."
The crackdown was first reported by Sister Roma, a member of LGBT-friendly Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence non-profit human rights and drag performances group, who says Facebook locked her out of her Facebook page and said she could only log in again if she changes her Facebook name to her legal name, "like the one that appears on your drivers' license or credit card."
"They seem to know my real name already," Sister Roma says in an interview. "I've been Sister Roma for 27 years. If you ask anyone my name, in or out of drag, they will tell you it's Roma. Is it the name on my driver's license? No. But it is my name."
Queerty reported that Sister Roma, whose Facebook name has now been changed to her legal name Michael Williams, is not alone. Plenty of other performers, including Roma's friend Sister Unity had risked having their Facebook pages deleted. In some cases, Queerty says, Facebook required them to submit a copy of their birth certificate or driver's license.
"Facebook deleted Sister Unity's profile for nor being real," says Sister Unity on her Facebook page, which shows a photo with a cat superimposed on her body. "They allow cats to have their own pages, however. And so it has come to this. #mynameisSisterUnikitty."
Beyond forcing them to use their legal names, Facebook also seems to be deleting private messages regarding the crackdown. In one of her private threads, Facebook has deleted messages from Sister Unity discussing their plight because it was "identified as abusive or marked as spam."
CENSORSHIP! @Facebook has gone too far. My private messages w @SisterUnity discussing the name change were deleted. pic.twitter.com/xaWp6lL6KU
— Sister Roma (@SisterRoma) September 11, 2014
A Change.org petition started by performer Olivia LaGarce points out that names not connect to the person's legal identity do not exist simply for marketing purposes. Stage names help provide privacy and anonymity for public performers, especially for those for whom it is not safe or comfortable to "out" themselves publicly just yet. This includes performers who have faced harassment, abuse and violence from certain groups.
"Facebook claims that the restriction on using 'real' names 'helps keep our community safe', but in fact this restriction enables our communities to be attacked and degraded, both online and off," says LaGarce in her petition, which has so far garnered more than 5,000 signatures.
Facebook says users have a number of options if they want to use an alternative name, such as using their stage name under their legal name or setting up a Facebook page for their public persona.
