Drag queens living in the Bay Area feel "disappointed" after their meeting with Facebook representatives over the "real name policy" that the social network has started to implement.
The group of drag queens raised their concerns about the policy in meeting, which ended in a disappointing stalemate.
The meeting was set up after the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, along with the group's supporters, began to protest the messages that some individuals received on their Facebook accounts that stated that their account was placed under temporary suspension because "it looks like you're not using your real name."
The Facebook policy requires people to use their real names as their account names. Nicknames are only allowed if the names are a variation of the user's real name. Alternative names can be added to a user's profile, but not in place of the user's real name.
Facebook said that the policy was implemented for the safety of the community to curb issues such as nameless bullying. However, "Lil Miss Hot Mess" said that the policy is doing the opposite.
"Lil Miss Hot Mess," who had to use her legal name of Harris David, said that the policy is threatening the safety of some users.
"Their policy is to provide a safe environment, but we feel that by requiring people to use their legal names it makes people more unsafe by opening them up to attacks," she said.
"Facebook is discriminating by basically not allowing a large part of the community access to a public forum because of this policy," she added, referring to the members of the LGBT and transgender community and people who wish to remain anonymous for several reasons, such as being victims of domestic violence.
"Heklina," one of the drag queens present in the one-hour meeting with Facebook representatives, said that no decisions were made. However, the group is looking forward to future meetings to come up with a fruitful resolution.
"Heklina" changed her account name to "Heklina Grygelko" but was again suspended. She had to change the account name to "Steven Heklina Grygelko," which is a name that she does not perform under and does not identify with.
A petition on Change.org has been started against the policy, with close to 20,000 signatures already on it. The movement is being spread through Twitter, featuring the hashtag #MyNameIs.
Facebook only allows exemptions for celebrities, such as Lady Gaga, from the policy as the social network believes that the world knows the individuals through that name.
