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Facebook apologizes to LGBTQ community over name policy

After a two week flap with the LGBTQ community, Facebook apologies over policy that says people have to use their real names.

By Heather Records

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- On Wednesday, a Facebook executive issued an apology to the LGBTQ community for the social network's policy that inadvertently deactivated or suspended accounts of drag queens or other people who did not use their real names.

The flap between Facebook and drag queens in the San Francisco area began two weeks ago when the company began enforcing its name policy.

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That policy reads in part:

Facebook is a community where people use their authentic identities. We require people to provide the name they use in real life; that way, you always know who you're connecting with. This helps keep our community safe.

A well known LGBTQ activist, Sister Roma called the policy discriminatory.

Wednesday night, the two sides met at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters to work things out.

At the end of the meeting, the company apologized and Facebook's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox gave this explanation: "The way this happened took us off guard. An individual on Facebook decided to report several hundred of these accounts as fake. ... 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."

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Cox did not say exactly what is being done to fix this issue, only that it is "taking measures" to better accommodate people affected by the problem.

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