A group of San Francisco drag queens have arrived in Menlo Park and are currently sitting down with Facebook executives to discuss the controversy over forcing them to use their legal names a story which has ballooned into global outrage since SFist first broke it last week. Joining drag queens Sister Roma (who initiated the outrage on Facebook itself), Heklina, Bebe Sweetbriar, and Lil Miss Hot Mess are Supervisor David Campos, Harvey Milk Democratic Club President Tom Temprano, and several others.
And lest you think this fight is a frivolous one, it really isn't when you think about the myriad reasons you or your friends may have had for not using your full legal name on Facebook the fact that they're policing only drag queens right now is just due to the fact that an "algorithm" (according to Facebook) recently picked up on their less-than-real-sounding names.
We'll update you here as we learn more about the talks. But for now we have the above photo of the delegation's arrival, via Mr. Temprano.
Update: It looks like the people sent to the meeting on the Facebook side were just representatives from the Community Engagement team and the company's internal Pride group. Per Temprano, "We've been promised a meeting with policy decision makers as quickly as possible."
The SF group is headed back to the city now to have a press conference at Campos's office at 2 p.m.
Update 2: Well, Facebook isn't changing its "real names" policy, as AP reports, but has restored the hundreds of previously deleted profiles and will keep those accounts active for two weeks while people decide whether they want to use their real names. Sister Roma updated her Facebook page with a long post, calling the outcome "a completely hollow gesture," but saying "this is not over!" Heklina sounds slightly more positive in her Facebook update, writing "we are waiting for another meeting date that would include people from Facebook that can actually make some decisions at the table."
Previously: Drag Queens, Other Performers Outraged As Facebook Forces Them To Use Their Real Names [Updated]
Facebook Grants Meeting To Drag Queens Regarding Name Policy [Updated]
