When we last updated the Facebook “real name” story, things were looking good. Sister Roma, a drag staple in San Francisco, had called off her drag queen protest spectacular after the social network giants agreed to come down from the mountain and meet with Roma and other community representatives.
Well things didn’t go so well. Roma posted the following recap from her Facebook account attached to her “legal name” Michael Williams:
Post by Michael Williams.
Looks like it’s time to pick out the perfect heels to march back onto Facebook HQ. The cameras will be ready.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
JDean
The world doesn’t care. Shocking!
pressuredrop
Yes. Rage against the machine…
On Facebook.
What, are they going to organize their Facebook protests on Facebook as well?
vive
Seriously? They want to pick a fight with drag queens? Didn’t that happen at Stonewall?
Cam
Facebook sells your information to advertisers. They can’t get money for information that doesn’t have your real name.
It’s about money.
xamthor
absolutely it’s about money.
its about invading your privacy and selling it to many parties.
not just advertisers but to potential employers for background checks and law enforcement agencies.
Paco
I could think of better things to go after FB for. I don’t use it anyway, so consider that my support to your cause. Good luck.
DCFarmboi
this is not a human rights issue.
Xzamilio
Sorry… not getting behind this one. This is not discriminatory in the least. Just like bans on polygamy in the US, it applies to EVERYONE and targets no specific group.
mikehipp
Do mainstream celebrities also face this issue? Would John Cougar be taken down because it’s really John Mellencamp?
vive
@Xsamilio, everyone is NOT treated the same.
Drag queens, transsexuals, and transgender people in particular are suffering discrimination in states that don’t allow them to legally change their name. They are being forced to use names that are not even the correct gender, now also by Facebook. It is injury upon insult.
Many GLBT people who are at risk can be exposed to dscrimination and hate crimes if their real identity becomes known. This is especially a risk for trans people, whether transgender, transsexual, or simply transvestite, but it is also dangerous to many gay and lesbian people to forcibly out us this way. It is also discriminatory, since everybody and their cousin, including me, has a pseudonym on Facebook, yet they leave most of us alone and choose to go after culturally “transgressive” individuals, including drag queens and transgender people.
By the way, why are you not using your real name on Queerty?
vive
@Xsamilio, your argument is similar to the one sometimes used against gay marriage – namely that banning gay marriage is not discriminatory since EVERYONE has an equal right to get straight-married.
michaelroy
I’m surprised at some of the comments. This is a clear case of discrimination. There are millions of people using altered names, fake names, Nick names, aliases, and phony profiles on Facebook, and none of them are getting targeted for this so called policy. Per this rule, all of these people would not be able to match these names to any legal forms of ID. The only way for Facebook to not appear as blatant bullies is to enforce this rule across the board, and not to one single group. They’re not going to do that, so the drag performers should take this as far as they need to to get a fair resolution.
TampaBayTed
Do Madonna, Cher, Beyonce, Mr. T, Prince, etc. have to use their “real names”?
Xzamilio
@vive: Wrong, simp. Banning gay marriage IS discriminatory because it targets gay and lesbian couples. NO ONE, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, black, white, Christian, Jewish, Mormon, or any of the kind cannot engage in polygamous unions. Facebook’s policy has NOTHING to do with state discrimination with our transgender brothers and sisters, so nice try with the hyperbolic nonsense, but no dice. This policy regards EVERYONE… regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Xzamilio
@vive: And by the way, I’m not using my real name on Queerty, because this ain’t a social network. But every social network I have (except for my Twitter) I use my real name… and even on my Twitter account I not only have my picture up, but if you ask me my real name, I’ll give it to you. Laurence Holliman… no shame. What now, bitch??
Paco
@Xzamilio: A policy they agreed to when they chose to sign up with a fake name. This issue isn’t unique to drag queens. Users of a once popular online virtual world ran into the same problem when they created FB pages for their online personas. Some got caught, some didn’t. But all had agreed to FB’s rules when they made the choice to use FB.
Xzamilio
I’m not insensitive to the plight of my LGBT brothers and sisters, as I am myself a gay man. But as many of the other commenters have mentioned, this is about money, plain and simple. Facebook doesn’t give two craps about your privacy, your well-being, or your personal situations. They want the dollars, and they can’t get the dollars if they don’t have your real name. Not to mention, you can stop with the naming of celebrities since what you’re looking at are their fan pages which aren’t subjected to the same rules.
vive
@Xzamilio. “Banning gay marriage IS discriminatory because it targets gay and lesbian couples. NO ONE, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, black, white, Christian, Jewish, Mormon, or any of the kind cannot engage in polygamous unions. Facebook’s policy has NOTHING to do with state discrimination with our transgender brothers and sisters, so nice try with the hyperbolic nonsense, but no dice. This policy regards EVERYONE… regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”
It is exactly similar – you are saying it is okay for Facebook to discriminate BECAUSE it is really the state’s fault for not allowing the legal name change. That is like saying it is okay for a company to refuse to pay domestic partner benefits or for a hospital to discriminate against domestic partner visitation because it is the STATE that bans them from getting married.
Also, EVERYONE is not at risk of getting fired or gay-bashed for using their real name, so this policy disproportionately affects GLBT people, which makes it discrimination.
queertyrone
@Cam: Cam, and @xamthor, you’ve nailed the point exactly. there was a phrase floating around the Internet sometime ago, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.” Facebook is about real names, real ages and, most of all, trackable demographics. businesses make their money somewhere. if you are using a service you don’t pay for, it’s because they’re selling the information they collect about you. period. if they feel they make enough money doing so, it’s worth it for them not to charge you. if you happen to be attached to a cause, no matter how noble, that doesn’t feed their bottom line, you simply don’t count. if you think Facebook is unaware of the huge numbers of altered or fake profiles on their site, you’re sadly mistaken. when those are held up to the profits made off of “legitimate,” revenue generating profiles, however, the loss is absorbed just like it would be in any other business. unfortunately, when the idea of floating these “freeloaders” is encouraged, in such a public way, as to invite potentially millions more to follow suit, the company simply won’t stand for it; and Sister Roma needed to be displayed as an example.
SteveDenver
Facebook has become integral to log-ins with numerous comment, chat and posting systems. When Facebook asks for my phone number, they don’t get it. When friends request my phone number through Facebook, they get an instant message to contact me through another system. I have many friends who have purchased temp phones and used those numbers to fuel their online addiction. I stick to forums that don’t want to own my info and make me part of their network of valuable data.
DuMaurier
To answer a question asked of someone else, I use a fake name on Queerty because I like anonymity. I hated putting my real name on Facebook (and it was two years before I put up a profile pic), but it was fun the way it re-connected me with old school chums (even if it was just “Hey, what’cha been up to?” and then mostly nothing)But I don’t post when I buy a new car, I don’t read about other people putting in wood flooring, and if I’m close enough to a FB friend they’ll TELL me personally that they’re having surgery or obviously we’re not close enough for me to give a chit.
My point? Facebook is all about breaking down the way we (used to) compartmentalize ourselves in different situations–being one person at a keg party vs the office, e.g.–and being splat out there the same for everybody (which has had negative results with prospective employers and college admissions boards and even law enforcement, as we all know) So, use a fake name if you can get away with it–I support you–but don’t complain that you signed up on a site that is all about stripping away every last bit of mystery from your life and then complain that you can’t maintain your mystery. It…makes…no…SENSE. (Or just open a fan page, dummies)
jayj150
@TampaBayTed: “Do Madonna, Cher, Beyonce, Mr. T, Prince, etc. have to use their “real names”?”. Except for Mr. T, all of those celebrities actually use their real names: Madonna Louis Ciccone, Cherilyn Sarkisian, Beyonce Knowles, Prince Rogers Nelson. I don’t love the policy, but I don’t think it targets gay people. Anyone using a fake name will be asked to change it if reported. To compare it to opposition to gay marriage is absurd.
Xzamilio
@vive: Let’s get one thing straight, babe: You don’t need to tell me what I am saying, because I’ll just freaking say it if I want to. At NO point did I say it was okay for Facebook to discriminate against anyone, so save the words-in-the-mouth action for when you and your boyfriend are playing Penis Scrabble. I wasn’t even addressing state legislature concerning transgender name changes, and quite frankly, neither is this article, as the main discussion was concerning DRAG QUEENS, and DRAG QUEENS are predominantly cisgender gay (or straight) men who go by their performance names and are not looking to change their legal names.
You’re the one arguing a strawman, so GTFOH with that crap. Sorry, but no one is forcing anyone to have a FB account and since the policy pertains to ANYONE using a fake name or performance name on their personal account, it’s STILL not discrimination targeted to one group.
NiceNCool1
I quit Facebook. It’s just a means to collect your data and monitor you.
Tickerage
Facebook needs to get over itself. It isn’t a government. It’s just a rather frivolous website that lets you stay connected to former classmates and former co-workers. That’s it. Post stupid photos of stuff you’re eating, etc. Why make such a big deal about “legal names”? You aren’t applying for a loan or renewing a photo id. Chill out facebook, your fascism on this and other issues is making you less fun therefore less relevant.
dewin
Facebook is all about the $$$- Won’t use it or respond to any site that wants me to “sign in to Facebook” to send you comments-
Sure-
Not-
timmycrawford1967
It’s stuff like THIS that gives the LGBT community as a whole a bad name. We want to be recognized in everything, demand equal rights, and we are pulling crap like this. If Facebook does not want to cooperate, then MOVE to another site, or create a Facebook fan page. It’s not that damn hard, folks!! GEEZ!!!
frickeepoo
@queertyrone: You are so right…so frighteningly right. And once again, I find myself wondering why I don’t just close my account. The answer is that if I want to be included in a worldwide society of internet users, it’s facebook or nothing. They should just change the company’s upturned-thumb trademark to a middle finger and make their motto “facebook…like it or lump it.”
DarkZephyr
While this may not specifically target LGBT people, it certainly creates a lot more difficulty for many LGBT people who want to use Facebook but also want to be anonymous and for those who cannot yet change their names to match their identity. Also, as was pointed out by another poster, many websites are using Facebook for their comment system. I think there is something to be said for anonymity in certain online situations. So I think its about time for me to ditch Facebook and stop commenting at sites that require Facebook, because I am entirely uncomfortable with the kind of internet that Facebook is creating. Perhaps someone else will come along and create a social media site that allows for anonymity and for the use of stage names for artists and performers. I would have said “Maybe MySpace will make a comeback” but if you go to MySpace you will see the option to “sign in with your Facebook account” lol. Its also not quite what it once was anyway. The irony becomes even greater when you consider the fact that MySpace was created by Tom Anderson as a reaction to the policies of Friendster that are identical to the policy of Facebook that is discussed in the above article. From the wikipedia entry on Tom and his founding of Facebook: “…He founded the site partly as a reaction to Friendster and that social network’s policy of blocking accounts that did not use real names.”
buffnightwing
Mark zuckerburg is a greedy mean ole jew.
vive
@Xzamilio, drag queens are also targets of discrimination, so so much for that little argument of yours, my dear.
gskorich
sister roma is acting like a spoiled brat. Facebook would allow her to set up a fan page where she can be her fabulous self and keep a personal page with her real name. not that difficult.
jtrimble789
it’s even simpler than it seems……and it’s not about facebook needing your name to sell your personal info.
facebook makes no money of “person” accounts, which is what most individuals have, and use to communicate with their “friends” who are also person accounts.
they do make money off “pages” which is what the policy says public figures or drag queens should have.
how does this work?
it’s free for a drag queen wants to promote a show to her friends with a person account, but if she tries the same thing with a page, less than 30% of people who like the page will see it (according to facebook’s algorithm). typically 15-20%.
in order for the other 70%+ to know about it, she has to pay $6.99 (up from $5) to promote the post.
ALSO— facebook knows how hard it is to get people who are “friends” with a public figure to switch over and like a new “page.” that means drag queens would also likely have to spend money promoting their new page in order to stay connected with their current followers.
net, now you have to pay to build your following, and then pay more money to communicate with followers you’ve spent money to acquire.
facebook was a free, profitable ride for drag queens and lots of others for a long time, but these tech guys are smart, and the free ride is over.
all dollars and cents…..remember facebook is a for-profit business, not a public service. caveat emptor.
[my qualification: online marketer and one of the early 6-figure advertisers on facebook]
vive
@jtrimble789, most drag queens are not public figures. For many drag queens, that is simply their identity, even their main identity.
Nuttypea
My problem with FB’s name policy is the way they word it. It would be fine if they said “Legal Name”, but they don’t (unless you dig through the fine print). Rather they say “Real Name”. I have a native american friend who tried to get her tribal name as a FB name because it is her REAL name but couldn’t…
For some reason I doubt that if I went through the trouble of legally changing my name to “Peanuts; My first name is my last name”, that FB’s name filter wouldn’t still hassle me.
Xzamilio
@vive: You are so damn dishonest!!! We’re talking about FACEBOOK’s name policy, not drag queen or transgender discrimination… those are two different things. Facebook is not discriminating against transgender men and women or drag queens as this policy applies to EVERYONE!! And now you’re just dishonestly trying to juxtapose my stance on Facebook with transgender men and women in real life. You are a piece of shit, plain and simple, and if you have a point, it’s lost in your deceptive talk. If you’re gonna come to playground, little boy, be prepared to f*cking play!!!
Ridpathos
I also do not use my real name on Facebook for other reasons. If Facebook tried to compel me into using my real name, I’d be outta there immediately. These companies need to stop trying to make a buck off of us and share our personal info with everyone.
Honestly I just need a reason to close down my Facebook account. I haven’t gotten anything out of it except wasted time.
Alyssa3467
@TampaBayTed:
Madonna: This is a Facebook Page, and Pages are allowed to use stage names. This is not a Facebook Personal Timeline/Profile
Cher: Same as above
Beyoncé: Same as above
Mr. T: No official Facebook presence that I could find. (i.e. one with the blue “Verified” checkmark)
Prince: No official Facebook presence that I could find.
Weird Al: Facebook Page
Wil Wheaton: Facebook Personal Profile/Timeline. Note that this is his real name. “Wil” is a derivative of “William,” his middle name, which is allowed under Facebook’s policies.
Patrick Stewart: Personal Profile/Timeline. Again, real name.
If you have a Personal Profile/Timeline, you have to use your real name. If you want to use a stage name, use a Page. These rules apply to everybody.
What needs to change is how they handle people transitioning and changing names, since it’s not always easy to get documentation. That’s a trans* problem, not a drag problem. Not allowing fake names isn’t discriminatory. Nobody is allowed to use a fake name on a Personal Timeline/Profile; to borrow from Lady Gaga, “no matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender,” the rules apply to everybody.