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Facebook Apologizes To Drag Queens Over "Real Name" Rule
An anonymous reader writes Facebook apologized to drag queens and the LGBT community after an outcry over the social network's policy of requiring members to use real names on their accounts. While the policy itself will stay in place, Facebook says, it will be changing how the rule is enforced. In a Wednesday post, Facebook's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox apologized to "the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks."
for being gay
If fb is serious and enforcing the policy, their user count will be reduced by at least 60 percent which essentially cut the worth of the company in half.
Good to hear that they apologized.
I see no reason why any person with a private Facebook page should be given special status or exemptions from the rules just because of some arbitrary, momentarily popular PC BS category.
Drag Queens shouldn't get an extra right to use fake names just because they're Drag Queens. If an apology is in order, it's for everyone. Otherwise, tighten up the panties and use the real name - or spend the money and change the name legally if it's that big a deal.
For turning the issue into flame bait...
Will this madness ever end?
Why would LGBT members require more of an apology than heterosexual cisgenders who desire to use another name?
The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life
Note the singular. And all other names one might be using he calls "fake names". Has it ever crossed his gender-normative mind that people might be using more than one name in "real life"? And that their drag persona and their day-job/legal identity are two spheres that many people want to keep separate?
"Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name," Cox said. "The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess."
So if Fred Phelps had gone around calling himself God's Fag Killing Machine, Facebook would obviously have let him use that name under this "understanding" of their policy. Right? Right?..
Alternative lifestyles are free to be offensive to some niches of society. Thus, neither are you, Lil Miss Hot Mess, guaranteed the right not to be offended.
Being driven by ratings based on the viewing habits of folks who have checked out, the fourth estate is there in force to address every imaginable social injustice.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
OK Facebook. Now apologize to all of the affected whistle-blowers that can't openly protest and embarrass you into action.
We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
I guess they think my account "bob disembodied brain" is a real person.
And that their drag persona and their day-job/legal identity are two spheres that many people want to keep separate?
Not everyone uses the legal identity on the day job, especially in entertainment. Consider Caryn Johnson, whose day job identity is Whoopi Goldberg. Or Paul Levesque, who goes by Hunter Hearst Helmsley professionally (or Triple H for short). Or Stefani Germanotta, who took the name Lady Gaga from a Queen song, possibly to escape No Doubt-related jokes. On the other hand, RuPaul Charles's drag name is just that: RuPaul.
Newsflash: Drag queens, drag kings, and other people in the LGBT community can often go by pseudonyms because they might happen to live with a family that would put them out on the street if they found out. Drag queens, drag kings, and especially transgendered people are subject to not just that, but downright assault as a result of their lifestyle. This isn't about people being offended, this is about the fact that Facebook's policy could cause actual, physical harm to people. Fuck you, you ignorant fuckstick.
His real name is Karl Arsenlicher. So I don't blame his for using an alias.
Seriously, that's all they're doing. Someone who wants to put on the opposite gender's clothing, make up a fake name, and act like a giant stereotype of that gender with a fake name and made up personality needs mental help, not bent Facebook rules. Did you know that every study ever has found that 80-90% of drag queen, transsexuals, etc were abused as children?
Then they should just move to tumblr, it's filled with PC anyway (except for cisgender white males).
They got their panties in a wad over nothing just to make political hay. Nobody I know uses their real name in FB.
FABULOUS!!!!!!
I have two Facebook accounts. I have to. One of them is the account my family knows about. One is the account where I post as the "real" me.
The Facebook account my family and my co-workers knows about is under my real name.
Then there's my real facebook account. That's the account I use to discuss things that I don't want my family to see, and that I absolutely can't have employers know about. It would be so dangerous for me to have the things I say with that account be tied to my real name.
It's not for reasons of sexuality or gender. I'm also not a danger to anyone, and don't promote hate speech. It's because I have more than one mental disorder, and I need to be able to talk to other people who have similar issues. It is not fair to force me to reveal that information about myself to everyone, including employers and potential employers, who may not understand such things and may choose against me if such things were to become public knowledge. I am a fantastic worker, and have never had any difficulty doing my job, but Facebook's real name policy is very dangerous to me. My livelihood and my ability to interact with family members depends on not following their ridiculous policy.
I would expect that there are plenty of other valid reasons why the real name policy is a terrible idea.
... I take offense to the term "drag queen". The particular group of people you are referring to are crossdressers.
The so-called "apology" is in itself offensive and patronizing. "Drag queens" to LGBT is what "Exotic dancers" are to being a straight woman (or a man, I suppose). The choice of names they used in the example is also not coincidental.
I wonder if reaction would have been different were facebook to require all married women to use their husbands name (Mrs Robinson), and then apologized by way by letting them keep their "Lil Miss Makemeasammich" monikers.
It's only "PC bullshit" until it's your problem.
I am a man who dresses up as a woman who likes to dress in drag. My pretend woman name is George Foreman, stop oppressing me facebook.
It a break, if don't feel that problem; a few NIGGER community other5 what to market share. Red 6uggernaut either dim. If *BSD is Whether you
In 2002 my brother went into witness protection. His new name was not good enough for Facebook and after changing to his real name the mob found him within 2 weeks.
RIP, Jimmy "The Rat" Nelson.
I'm a lesbian, trapped in the body of a man.
Have gnu, will travel.
I do not think it means what you think it means.
Teachers and counsellors often don't want the kids they work with to be able to easily find them on facebook, so they use fake names. I have many friends who do this. So far they haven't been affected by any rule enforcement.
Benjamin Franklin and a number of founding fathers for this country often used aliases. They wrote letters to newspapers for various reasons. Perhaps it was because it was safer. But I can see how sometimes a letter written by an unknown would have more impact or simply burden the writer less than for them to use their own name.
... . you mean like, "asshole."
Hey, look at me, I'm using a pseudonym.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Teachers and counsellors often don't want the kids they work with to be able to easily find them on facebook, so they use fake names. I have many friends who do this. So far they haven't been affected by any rule enforcement.
Well, that's one solution. Another is for them to use their real name on Facebook and a fake name in class... some hilarious options come to mind.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. George Orwell
The only way to win is not to play.
Give facebook your real name. Give everyone else your fake name.
Dear Facebook, All you have to do is restrict your audience to mature adults. This non-issue would no longer be an issue. Perhaps the "LGBT community" should grow up for once. There is absolutely no reason to cater to their kind (aka kids)
Try and prove that my real name isn't really "Mcbutt Mcmuffin".
Seriously, who cares if a drag queen bitches about something?
They're fucking repulsive. Best to shame them out of society, if you ask me.
Maybe its because I have been in online forums since I was a teenager, but, as far as I am concerned your "real name" is exactly whatever you say it is, and, you can have as many real names as you want, because your real name is whatever you accept that people call you. Period. That is as much realness to your name as I recognize.
You tell me your name is voltron. Your name *IS* voltron as far as I am concerned. your real one.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
> that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks.
It's been that way for years, what the fuck is this shit?
Fuck facebook.
CAPTCHA: puberty
Yes, but there livelhood won't be impacted of there accounts are closed, unlike profession entertainers who don't want that chance. These specific entertainer have a grope of people who are ALWAYS trying to cause them problems, so getting reported to facebook is much more likely.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In response to this incident, I hope the Bishop of Rome will ban all catholics from using Facebook, because pandering to homosexuality and bestialism is a lethal sin. According to Law V. of Moses, the sodomite shall be punished by stoning.
You fucking people need to learn to jerk something, other than your knees.
I haven't logged onto facebook in like three, four years now?
Explain to me again why entertainers are groping people?
Kind of hard to believe Facebook really is trying to protect the integrity and reputability of its users, and applying rules to people equally. Mark Zuckerberg's dog has a fucking account -- tell me how that's ok?
What the fuck is a "real" name? All names are made up... or were, at some point in time.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
Its less expensive to allow them to hide their names then to have to enforce the TOS against people who would harass them. Its all about the $$$$$$$ boys and girls.
Jack of all trades,master of none
What is it about this topic that compels certain boys to proclaim their hatred of queers, loudly and emphatically? Why so sensitive about this topic? Your insecurity is showing, kid.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
Just how many people have the last name "420" or "Fourtwenty", or a first name like "Saskboy"? The policy is bullshit and applied on the whim of power mad Facepolice, not an *implemented* or *enforced* policy. As far as I'm concerned, the drag queens were being persecuted for their lifestyle, not because they were using "fake" names.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Is Sandnigger McSizeQueen
Just wondering. It seems there's all kinds of characters besides drag queens that use fake names. Plus so many entertainers use stage names, but their drivers license and passport don't have those names. I'd not be surprised there is a Randall Stevens promoting people to let him handle their investments even though he does not exist ("Shawshank Redemption").
mfwright@batnet.com
They're apologizing if you're gay, but if your spouse or government is stalking you, then fuck you in the eye with a broken bottle.
Real name policies are flat-out harmful, and the work of thoughtless, heartless idiots who think an imaginary right to not be offended trumps the actual right to not be assaulted. Such policies are a huge, flaming signpost that says "Management is too stupid to pour piss out of their own boots."
If you *want* to use your real name, that's perfectly fine. But if you don't, you should always have that option. Always.
I originally started with BBSes, which due to character limitations REQUIRED handles (8 chars FTW! Same with unix, at least for software support until what, late '90s early '00s?), plus being underage you shouldn't give out your real name or age. (Do kids still/ever do that?) Later was MU*s and then ICQ, which allowed slightly longer handles, but also had first/last name and other details available in your profile. Most people put fake info in, but plenty more put their real name. During the same period tech savvy people started putting up personal webpages on Geocities, and Angelfire and all those other 'free personal websites', which stated they could use your provided information in any way, or take down your information if it was in some way illegal. I think yahoo's webmail started up or became popular after this, which was when the push for personal information really got going. Then Myspace sprung up and everybody was whore out their personal info like it was everybody's business. Facebook just managed to capitalize on that and eventually become the better myspace. The myspace era indoctrination, combined with the huge influx of sheeple is what lead to the current situation today... the 'gentrification' of the internet, from a place of handles, aliases and pseudonyms, to a place of checkpoints and scrutiny and panopticon.
While the internet itself is still useful to the 'old guard' and 'classically trained' now, the Internet 3.0 is going to have to be a grassroots efforts funded and controlled and kept unregulated by us rather than handled by ANY government entity, anywhere on the planet. Not cheap, not easy, but the only way to 'be sure'.
I'd be a lesbian, except turning my current body into a semi-attractive chick just won't ever happen, so I have to wait until technology gets to the point of full body replacements, which may or may not happen in my lifetime.
Kind of falls into the same situation as people doing extreme body mods, be they gender alterations or addition/removal of other appendages (like those two brothers who supposedly had the one brother's arm grafted on the other's body). While I can understand *WHY* they would want to do such things, I can't understand why they would do it now where's it's strictly a haphazard cosmetic alteration that doesn't provide the full physical benefits of the alterations in question. What's the point in having a vag or a dick if it doesn't self-lubricate/ejaculate, and what's the point in a third arm if it's non-functional dead weight?
Obviously I lack that last psychological piece that causes people to go to such great lengths for a substandard modification.
I think that about sums it up :)
I have a friend who did it when he got his US citizenship. He'd lived here since he was 10 or so, and due to his culture he had a 'child's name', which also happened to result in lots of jokes in English. He was two years into medical certifications when he got his name changes... by ONE LETTER. He spent the next two years trying to get his old certifications to match his new ones, with his new certificates blocking on the receipt of the prerequisite certificates with his new name stamped on them. This actually resulting in him going from a highly motivated career path with a desire to help people to a couple years of depression before changing careers altogether.
As an aside: This is the only other EASY way to change your name besides marriage. Any other requires newpaper ads announcing your change of name, time in court to ensure you don't have any outstanding debts or other issues linked to your former name, etc. Additionally, from what I've heard, it's quite a bit more expensive doing it that way than either marital or citizenship name changes, which are either free with the requisite marriage/citizenship certificates or extremely low cost.
and I don't want potential employers judging me for my hobbies - a fake name (and the ability to say "I don't have Facebook") - solves that problem
religion fit on the spectrum of mental illness?
I'd really like to know, since I imagine your mental illness claims are in some way related to your religious beliefs or upbringing.
Facebook needs to understand that many of us DON'T use our real names! I have gone by a nickname all my life, and most folks only know me by it! I was unable to use that name because my parents spelled it very uniquely, which I have kept that way, but the xx messes with their stupid name censor and I had to use my "Real" name. Why is the name I go by any less real than the one on a fancy piece of paper? I will always be my nickname, so why not let me use it?
It depends on the definition of what "famous" really is. My friend is a musician, and well, she is famous. In Russia. But Facebook apparently does not know abou this. They forced her to change her last name in FB account to real, and the problem is, her fans do not know (or did not know) her real name.
On the other hand I see many people who are using nicknames or invented names on FB for years without problems. This could be because they are _not_ famous, and there is no way for FB to tell that "John Smith" is actually "James Kowalsky". Especially if this another name is actually is in a language other than English.
Now my neckbeard is the last remaining obstacle I have to passing fully for a woman!
Transgender = man or woman who wishes to be opposite gender.
It's not a desire thing, asshole, it's a non-correlation between body morphology and the morphology of a region of the right amygdala in the brain, as has been proven by MRI studies of diagnosed (as opposed to self-identified) transgender individuals.
You make it sound like a fucking choice.
"Normal is a precious kind of freedom, and if you don't have it, it's all you ever want" - Justine Jones
voter id laws are in no way racist.
Except that people at the bottom of the economic ladder, which are disproportionately minorities, are much less likely to have a valid ID. They are also much more likely to vote Democratic rather than Republican.
Then that's a fantastic incentive for the Democrats to stage "Get your ID, get out the vote!" events, and help these disenfranchised people get their IDs. It's not like they can open a bank account, or cash a check without one, and they're more likely to be run in or hassled (at least temporarily) in any police interaction without an ID.
Unless, you know, it's not about them being disenfranchised in society - they can stay that way - as long as they can vote, then as long as they vote, to heck with all the other stuff, right?
Both political parties are only out for themselves; it'd be nice if there were rules in place that made them actually positive social forces, rather than opposing ruling classes. Voter ID requirements does that, to a degree, and addresses at least one real social issue that neither party would otherwise spend money on helping resolve otherwise.
So it's a hate crime, then. Nothing but a gay bashing hate crusader trying to destroy people's lives.
What a piece of shit. Let's get this fuck doxxed already so things can work out on their own, both in a court of law and in the court of public opinion.