Drag queens, drag kings and members of the transgender community are among those joining together to call for Facebook to be banned from San Francisco and New York pride parades over the continued use of its ‘real names’ policy. They say members of the lgbt community continue to be maliciously targeted and reported based on their identity. “Our accounts are being unfairly suspended and we're being forced to ‘prove’ who we are. Many of us, especially trans men and women, do not have any government issued ID that reflects our authentic identity. Our community is disappearing from Facebook — and they're letting it happen.” Last year a group of San Francisco drag queens, drag kings, burlesque performers, members of the transgender community, and city government officials created the #MyNameIs Campaign. It followed a number of people all over the world, including in New Zealand, being reported to Facebook as having ‘fake names’, and having their accounts frozen or removed. Within two weeks, Facebook issued an apology and promised to make changes to its policies. “Rather than continue with plans to hold a protest, we accepted Facebook’s apology as sincere and agreed to work with them to create a safe environment for our community as well as the millions of other users affected by the ‘real’ names policy. “Since then, we have met with Facebook four times to review the policy and the reporting process. We have also assumed the burden of personally assisting thousands of individuals who were falsely reported regain access to their Facebook accounts using their chosen authentic names.” The group says it has become clear Facebook’s apology was empty and the social media giant refuses to budge on its policy. “To this day the malicious reporting against our community continues as thousands of lgbt users are locked out of their accounts, lose access to their photos, news feeds, and are cut off from their social network.” Wellington bearded lady Laquisha St Redfern is someone who was recently impacted in this way. The group calling for the Pride bans says it’s cyber bullying which endorses bigotry and discrimination against people who use names that express their true identity that cannot be proven on a government issued ID. “They continue to ignore the fact that this problem is particularly dangerous to the trans community, many of whom live in constant danger of being exposed on Facebook, making them vulnerable to discrimination, bullying, and violence. “Several members of the #MyNameIs core team have received email from users who feel defeated, disregarded, abandoned, alone, frightened, and even suicidal as a result of being banned from Facebook because of their identities. “It is clear that Facebook’s continued adherence to this short-sighted and unfair policy, which results in the continued harassment, discrimination, and malicious bullying of LGBT users, is dangerous and harmful to our community.” The group says Facebook should therefore be banned from New York and San Francisco prides. They have a petition here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 30th April 2015 - 11:03am