#pride react

I know this isn’t Facebook but bear with me.  Facebook last year released reactions specific to events around the year. One of those was the “Pride React”. This year it wasn’t released, so a lot of users are upset.  I, however, think there is a larger issue at hand: Trans discrimination. 

Facebook has had a history of removing the facebooks of trans people and drag queens for using their chosen names, yet people with accounts like “Missy LuvBoo” are active to this day. 

You may be thinking, “This issue was addressed years ago.” Sort of. 

There are people and articles speaking up about this injustice continuing past the “modified rules”.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebooks-pride-rainbows-dont-extend-to-trans-peoples-names?ref=scroll

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-facebooks-authentic-name-policy-serves-to-create_us_59c6e1dee4b0f2df5e83aed7

They still have managed to create a loophole to allow discrimination, especially against closeted trans folk.

https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576

Quoted from the link above:

“The name on your profile should be the name that your friends call you in everyday life. This name should also appear on an ID or document from our ID list.” (all of which are 100% legal documents, with no room for exceptions)

“Pretending to be anything or anyone isn't allowed.”

I understand the importance of this for celebrities and other public figures, but Facebook's reporting system can leave a lot to the interpretation of who or what reviews the profile.

I have had to personally block all of the people from my hometown from my new Facebook because of how LGBTQ phobic they are. If enough of them reported my page for being fake, I guarantee it would be removed.

Sadly, this doesn’t just affect members of the LGBTQ community. People who need to go under a fake name for protection have also faced their accounts being terminated. To make someone go under their legal name when people are out in the world, on Facebook, trying to target them (possibly even hurt them) puts their entire wellbeing at risk.  The biggest problem with Facebook is not the fact that they want legal proof you are who you say you are. It is that they continuously leave profiles like “D GucciGang” or “Savvi LuvDrake” open for YEARS while discriminating against people who go by “Elliott” instead of “Emily”.

There might be a way to repeal facebook’s actions (that is if your account isn’t immediately terminated), but Facebook is extremely inefficient at responding to reports or their counterclaims.