Facebook is under fire from several San Francisco-area drag queens after the social network said they must use their real names rather than their stage names on Facebook profiles.
As reported by SFist.com last week, Facebook locked the accounts of several drag queens and ordered them to change the names on their personal profiles and set up separate fan pages for their drag personas.
That includes Sister Roma (pictured) from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who was forced to change her name on Facebook to her legal name, Michael Williams, the Bay City News Service reported.
Sister Roma has a Facebook fan page, but said she would prefer to use a personal page because she can interact more easily with friends and followers. "I use FB to raise awareness, support civil rights, promote charity events and keep in touch with friends," she tweeted recently.
"Bottom Line: I've been Sister Roma for 27 years. Ask anyone what my name is, in or out of drag, and they will tell you it's Roma," Roma posted on her Facebook fan page last week.
In a statement, Facebook said that "if people want to use an alternative name on Facebook, they have several different options available to them, including providing an alias under their name on their profile, or creating a Page specifically for that alternative persona. As part of our overall standards, we ask that people who use Facebook provide their real name on their profile."
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos said on Friday that he "reached out to Facebook and am working to schedule a meeting at City Hall between Facebook officials and local drag queens as soon as possible."
"Facebook may not be aware that for many members of the LGBT community the ability to self-identify is a matter of health and safety," Campos continued. "Not allowing drag performers, transgender people and other members of our community to go by their chosen names can result in violence, stalking, violations of privacy and repercussions at work."
That sentiment was echoed by Heklina, who was also forced to change her name on Facebook.
No offense to adoring masses, but there's countless reasons public personas like @SisterRoma, @Heklina & I might not WANT legal names known.
— Pollo Del Mar (@TheGlamazonPDM) September 12, 2014Facebook's community standards page says that "on Facebook people connect using their real names and identities."
"Claiming to be another person, creating a false presence for an organization, or creating multiple accounts undermines community and violates Facebook's terms," the social network said.
Facebook generally only reviews profile pages when someone complains about or reports them (my own Facebook news feed has a number of posts from people not using their "real" names). If that's the case in this situation, Sister Roma said "it looks like we may be in fact dealing with targeted homophobia and online bullying."
Facebook has made efforts to be more inclusive. In February, it announced the addition of customizable gender terms, such as androgynous, bi-gender, intersex, gender fluid, or transsexual. Among those who worked on the project was Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison, who was able to change her identity from "female" to "transwoman."
The "real name" issue, however, is something with which other tech firms have grappled, including Google. After trying to enforce it for awhile, though, the search giant abandoned that effort in July. The only catch is that users get a limited number of name changes, and may need to wait up to three months to tweak it again.