Drag Queens Want Facebook Booted from S.F. Pride

The battle between Facebook and the drag and transgender communities continues, amid calls for the social media giant to be barred from participating in next month's San Francisco Pride parade.

At issue is the company's policy of using legal names instead of stage names or other names on Facebook pages. Last fall, a group of drag and trans community members, along with gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, met with Facebook officials but a formal agreement was not reached. The social media company did restore some drag queens' pages that it had removed.

Since then, however, drag queens and transgender people report being locked out of their Facebook pages for not using their legal or birth names. Facebook did announce 56 gender identity options last year, but anyone can still report alleged "fake" names with the click of a button.

"As it stands, everyone on the site is vulnerable to the fake name reporting option and having their accounts suspended with one click," said Sister Roma with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who had been helping people restore their suspended accounts and has been in regular contact with Facebook. "Everyone can lose contacts to their friends and families. People will lose contact with their social network, which for many people is a virtual lifeline to their well being."

Now, nearly nine months later, local drag queens have announced a June 1 protest at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters. Organizers are also asking the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee board and the board of Heritage of Pride in New York City to bar Facebook from participating in Pride parades in both cities.

Facebook has participated in San Francisco Pride in recent years. In 2013, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg was photographed as he rode on the company's float.

San Francisco Pride officials said they have not yet made a decision about the drag queens' request.

Gary Virginia, SF Pride board president, told the Bay Area Reporter that the organization continues to talk to Facebook officials and to protest organizers.

"The SF Pride board of directors has the authority to decline participation in our parade and celebration if a group is not in accord with our mission statement," Virginia said. "No decision has been made regarding Facebook at this time as we are still gathering information."

New York City Pride officials said there were no plans to ban Facebook from the parade.

"We are aware of a petition to ban Facebook from participating in the NYC Pride March," NYC Pride March Director David Studinski said in an email. "Our march is an inclusive event to which all are welcomed, and while we understand there are unresolved concerns, there are no plans to ban the group. Facebook employs strong allies and members of our community who deserve the ability to show their Pride, and they will be able to do so on the same streets as the petition's organizers come June 28th."

Drag queens say that their personas are professional brands and that they need to use their drag names on Facebook to promote themselves and their events. Sometimes, transgender people have not completed legal name change documents.

As the controversy escalated, it was pointed out that abused and battered women, some of whom live in hiding from their attackers, could be placed in harm's way if they were forced to reveal their legal names online.

Organizers of the protest have launched a website: http://www.mynameiscampaign.org. Naturally, it is being heavily promoted on Facebook, where 509 people have committed to attending.

"No one fails to see the irony that we are using Facebook to spread the word and garner support for a protest of Facebook," Roma told the B.A.R. "But where else in today's world would you go to raise consciousness, call attention to pressing social issues, and reach out to your friends besides Facebook?"

Roma explained why the event organizers think that Facebook should be banned from both the San Francisco and New York Pride celebrations.

"We feel that Facebook's continued endorsement of the malicious targeted reporting and account suspensions of the LGBT community is not only unfair and discriminatory, it is dangerous, especially for trans men and women," said Roma.

"For many users, having your legal name revealed and your identity exposed [can lead to] bullying, harassment, and housing/employment discrimination," she added. "And in some cases physical violence."

Drag performer Lil Miss Hot Mess reiterated the dangers that the real names policy causes to transgender people.

"Facebook should be barred from this year's Pride parade," she told the B.A.R. "They've done a lot of good for the LGBT community in the past, but this is a major blow to our community. Trans people face disproportionate rates of suicide and violence, and shouldn't have to show ID to prove their authentic identities."

Lil Miss said that her own Facebook account was suspended.

"I've personally heard from nearly 1,000 people who've had their names reported," she said. "All these people have stories about why their chosen names are important to them, how humiliating it was to have their legal name added to their profile without their permission, or how terrible it felt to be cut off from their online community."

A Facebook official did not respond to the B.A.R. 's requests for comment.

A Change.org petition https://www.change.org/p/noprideforfacebook-ban-facebook-from-sf-ny-pride-parade has received over 2,000 signatures as of May 12