For months now, drag queens across the nation have been waging legal war with Facebook over their strict policies that force drag performers to use their real names on their personal pages instead of their drag monikers. Now, the legal battle is heating up even more as the drag world’s supreme icon, RuPaul, has now chosen to throw her weight behind the cause.
Over the past several months, drag performers across the nation have been shocked to find that Facebook has logged them out and then forced them to use their real names to log back in to their personal pages.
Hundreds of drag performers and several others on Facebook have argued that they need online anonymity for safety reasons. For instance, LGBT people in extremely homophobic areas need anonymity to avoid oppression or even violent attacks.
It’s worth noting that Facebook has had a rule about using one’s real name for years, but the rule is only enforced when a complaint is filed about a person’s page, leading many to believe that LGBT people, especially drag queens, are being targeted.
Despite the outcry from angry users, Facebook has refused to budge on their name policy. And now RuPaul is stepping in to use her star power to help sway Facebook to change its policy.
“In showbiz, there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right,” RuPaul said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But it’s bad policy when Facebook strips the rights of creative individuals who have blossomed into something even more fabulous than the name their mama gave them.”
LGBT stars, especially drag queens, may be becoming more popular and socially accepted in the media, but that doesn’t mean that they still don’t face extreme violence and oppression. It’s understandable why drag queens would want the option of anonymity and we hope Facebook really listens to their complaint before shutting out the option of user anonymity. – nicholas robinson
