To: Chris Cox, Facebook products SEO and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder and CEO
Demand that Facebook discontinue or change it's "real name" policy
Every year on November 20th we as a world wide trans* community hold the very solemn event of trans* day of remembrance in order to remember and mourn the loss of the many hundreds of trans* identified people who were murdered during the last year strictly because of their identity. Any time a trans* person is outed in any way it puts their life at risk.
We are demanding that Facebook look at its "Real Name" policy and, if they cannot find a better way to stop outing trans* people completely, then they must get rid of using this policy completely until such time as they can.
We are asking that Facebook's Chris Cox and Mark Zuckerberg attend one of the hundreds of TDOR'S that are held world wide each November 20th so that they understand how dangerous their policy is.
We are demanding that Facebook look at its "Real Name" policy and, if they cannot find a better way to stop outing trans* people completely, then they must get rid of using this policy completely until such time as they can.
We are asking that Facebook's Chris Cox and Mark Zuckerberg attend one of the hundreds of TDOR'S that are held world wide each November 20th so that they understand how dangerous their policy is.
Why is this important?
Last month many of us, especially those of us in the trans* community, spoke up and complained about Facebook suspending and locking out many Drag Queens and Kings from their Facebook accounts. This caused a huge inconvenience as these were the pages that these performers needed and used to promote themselves and their acts.
In a like fashion I used my 'middle name" on my Facebook page to promote my not-for- profit which designed to benefit the entire LBGTQ community as well as anyone who is struggling. Last Monday I found my page suspended and I was locked out. Personally this was not a huge deal as I have not had the time or money to work on my non-profit. However as that has been my name for several years now, it did cause many of my friends to wonder if they did have the correct Sheri "AmericanRainbow" Proctor.
Now we find out that Facebook is also using this policy to suspend and lockout trans* people in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, forcing these people to prove that the name they are using is their real name! This is in direct conflict with Facebook's "Authentic Name" stated in their terms of service. Facebook needs to know and understand that outing trans* people all over the world will far too often lead to their murder. Especially in parts of the world where this could come from the local or regional government!
http://planettransgender.com/saudi-arabian-transgender-woman-leena-newest-victim-of-facebooks-name-policy/
In a like fashion I used my 'middle name" on my Facebook page to promote my not-for- profit which designed to benefit the entire LBGTQ community as well as anyone who is struggling. Last Monday I found my page suspended and I was locked out. Personally this was not a huge deal as I have not had the time or money to work on my non-profit. However as that has been my name for several years now, it did cause many of my friends to wonder if they did have the correct Sheri "AmericanRainbow" Proctor.
Now we find out that Facebook is also using this policy to suspend and lockout trans* people in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, forcing these people to prove that the name they are using is their real name! This is in direct conflict with Facebook's "Authentic Name" stated in their terms of service. Facebook needs to know and understand that outing trans* people all over the world will far too often lead to their murder. Especially in parts of the world where this could come from the local or regional government!
http://planettransgender.com/saudi-arabian-transgender-woman-leena-newest-victim-of-facebooks-name-policy/